Clown Addresses ‘Misunderstandings’ About Who Started Slipknot

Who started Slipknot? Band figurehead and percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan said in a new interview that there are “real misunderstandings” about Slipknot’s formation.

The topic came up as Crahan was discussing sacrifices he and his family have made along the way to rock stardom. But to ward off any disagreement, he said the three musicians who originally started Slipknot were himself, the late Slipknot bassist Paul Gray and the lead vocalist Andrew Rouw, otherwise known to Slipknot fans as Anders Colsefni.

Those three, along with the late Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison, guitarist (and subsequent .5: The Gray Chapter contributor) Donnie Steele and guitarist Josh Brainard, are who play on 1996’s Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., the group’s independent debut album.

READ MORE: Every Slipknot Song Ranked

“There’s all these real misunderstandings about who started the band or whatever,” Crahan tells The Break Down With Nath & Johnny in an interview from Monday (Feb. 12). “And the bottom line is it was Andy Rouw, the original singer, myself and Paul.”

However, “Andy ended up leaving really early in the game,” the founding Slipknot percussionist explains. “And so once we were signed, it was just basically Paul and I.”

Going back to those early sacrifices he made — specifically in regard to family life — Crahan proclaims, “I’m here to tell you my friend Paul Gray was at my wedding three years prior [to] he and I and Andy starting the band. And that’s that. And so I had family.”

Indeed, “I had two kids at that moment,” he says. “When Paul came to the wedding, we were eight months pregnant walking down the aisle.”

Crahan continues, “Then we start the band, and then a year or so after starting the band, we get pregnant and have our third child, and we have that child before we’re signed.”

At that time, “we have three children, and [it’s] lots of work raising children,” he adds. “And I’ve been married now five, six, seven years. Three years before we even started the band. So everybody needs to kind of figure it out about [the] reality of what sacrifice really is.”

Clown’s Daughter’s Death

Speaking of family, it would be almost impossible to sum up Crahan’s journey without remembering the untimely death of his 22-year-old daughter Gabrielle Crahan in 2019.

“First and foremost, I made a decision to take a pretty selfish path,” Crahan says. “I can say that. We’ve lost a child. When something as horrendous and unexplainable as that is [happens], you look back on your path and you realize the decisions you made.”

The musician concludes, “It’s not too hard to realize the ones that were bad decisions real quick, when you don’t get to say goodbye to someone or hello to someone again.”

Watch Clown’s full interview video below.

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Slipknot’s Clown Appears on The Break Down