SLIPKNOT's CLOWN Says PAUL GRAY Will Never Be Replaced

On Friday, June 29, Robert Herrera sat down with SLIPKNOT mastermind/percussionist M. Shawn "Clown" Crahan during his book signing at Book Soup in Hollywood, California. Clown talked about his photo book, "The Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey"; Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival; and future plans for SLIPKNOT. You can now watch the chat below.

When asked how SLIPKNOT's upcoming two festival dates, Knotfest, will mark "the end of the beginning," Crahan replied, "Well, it's end of the thought process of the fans and us griving the tragedy together — not leaving them alone, not us doing it alone, but helping each other. That's the end. But it is not a new beginning without [late SLIPKNOT bassist] Paul [Gray, who died in May 2010 from an overdose of drugs]; there is only nine. There'll always be nine. I don't need to think about a new bass player, I don't need to think about a new member — I don't have to and I won't. There won't be a new member, there won't be. There's nine. There'll always be nine. There's songs he's written — they'll be on the next record. His bass will always be on stage. He will always be there — for life. So it's not the end of an era on to the next thing. It's just the end of this grieving period together. We decided to do it with our fans, end it in America, end it with Knotfest for a little fun, just like he would have liked it, and then take some personal time for us, write a record, record a record, [prepare] a tour, get out on tour, and do what we do."

Crahan recently embarked on a signing tour for "Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey".

Published by MTV Books, "Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey" is a collection of explorations in darkness and light from Shawn's experimental photography, his second and equally powerful artistic outlet which he has honed for over a decade. Weird, wired, paranoid, endlessly imaginative and cancerously prolific, he's created thousands of dangerous representations of reality through eye-gouging Polaroids in numerous styles in this hand-picked collection.

SLIPKNOT began its return last summer with a European tour, continued it earlier this year with jaunts through Australia and South America, and will now complete it this summer with a headlining slot on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. The icing on the cake will be Knotfest, two festival dates put together by the band itself on August 17 in Council Bluffs, Iowa and August 18 in Somerset, Wisconsin.

In addition to the headliners, both days will include sets from DEFTONES, LAMB OF GOD, DETHKLOK, SERJ TANKIAN and PRONG.

Also playing at the Iowa show will be THE URGE and DIRTFEDD, while the Wisconsin show will also feature CANNIBAL CORPSE, GOJIRA and THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN.

Knotfest is being positioned as a "dark carnival experience," and the event will feature circus tents, pillars of fire, amusement park rides, burlesque performers, fire-breathers, stilt walkers, drum circles made of junkyard cars, graffiti walls and even a SLIPKNOT museum.

SLIPKNOT will tentatively enter the studio sometime in early 2013 to begin recording its fifth album. In the meantime, a greatest hits collection called "Antennas To Hell" arrives on July 24.

SLIPKNOT will also release its first-ever mobile app, Wear The Mask. The app will be made available simultaneously with "Antennas To Hell" and is marketed as part mask builder, part social connector for fans.