Here’s How Slipknot’s Clown is Spending His Time on Lockdown
We make fun of Slipknot percussionist Clown a whole lot here at MetalSucks for his interview quotes, which often traffic in the abstract and border on nonsensical. That said, Rolling Stone checked in with Clown, at home in Iowa on lockdown like all of us, and the man was atypically coherent, reflecting on the approaching one-year anniversary of his daughter’s death, how others have it much worse than him right now, and the value of doing manual work.
At first, anyway. Before too long Clown dives right down the usual rabbit hole inside his mind and begins talking about apocalypse prepping, the “music” of nature and, well, we’re not entirely sure.
But let’s start with the grave stuff:
“I think I’m going inward more than anything. I have several pet peeves: one of them is wasting food and another one is litter. I spend a lot of time thinking about the humans who are cold, hungry and have nowhere to live.
“We see it all the time, but now it’s on another level. Yeah. So, I’m spending a lot of time trying to go inward, trying to remember how blessed I am. I have a great family. You couldn’t ask for more than that.
“I’m trying to feel the heartbeat and pay attention… So I’m trying to be manual. I’m doing nothing but manual work… I’ve been reflecting on my daughter’s death…
“I’ve had a lot of deaths in a short amount of time and my therapist and I agree that I’ve never really had any time to really grieve these people that mean so much to me.
“I lost my daughter less than a year ago [on May 18, 2019]. It’s coming up on a year anniversary. Sorry to bring it up, but it’s real. And the only way that I can get through it is to speak about it now. I haven’t been [speaking about my daughter’s death], but the anniversary of it is next month.”
We certainly wish Clown all the best during what must be an incredibly difficult milestone for his family.
But here’s where he starts to get back to his usual Clownisms:
“And quite honestly, I’m preparing myself. I’m out here with survival gear. I think everybody would laugh at the Clown – be like, ‘Look at this guy.’ You know, I FaceTimed my manager one day and he was like, ‘What the hell?’
“You know, I saw Castaway about right when it came out and it changed my whole life. I worry about stuff like that. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an island, man. You could be stuck in Queens for a night or some weird obscure town in Iowa. You just would freak out.
“I made fire five days ago for the first time in my life [with a knife and kindling]. It was a challenge. It was not easy… It’s like the beginning steps of survival, which I’m very interested in. Not because of what we’re going through, but more of a personal journey of understanding.
“Instead of being in a house and in an office, on a plane, on a stage in a bus, blah, blah, blah, blah, right now I’m watching a blue jay get into some peanut butter. [I put together a bird feeder the other day.]
“For me, it’s all about opening the box and reading the directions, following through and actually succeeding. And right now I’m watching a bird. I hauled the merchandise, I put it together, I hung it, I read it, and now there is a bird and I’m just like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It’s pretty cool, you know? Hopefully everyone’s got stuff like that.”
So, in short, Clown is wearing survival gear because he watched Castaway and wants to be prepared in case the power grid goes dark on account of the coronavirus for some reason, meanwhile he’s in awe that birds eat food, and he’s patting himself on the back for being able to follow instructions. Got it!
Next, the interviewer asked “What music do you turn to in times of crisis for solace and comfort, and why?” Like many of us recently, he’s been diving deep into a particular artist’s (or artists’) catalogue:
“I have always explained to people that music is the only God that I’ve really experienced. It’s the only thing that’s always been there. Never asked questions, never denied me. I don’t even need to hear it to have it. It’s in my head. I hear it in birds, insects.
“So since this all started, I have spent half a day outside with no music and I listened to the Earth’s music – because there’s a lot of it. And then it gets interrupted with sirens and a bunch of bullshit and you know, then, well, it’s time for some music.
“So I’ve been starting at the beginning of an artist’s catalog. So the other day, I went to the Who, which is a band that I’ve loved since I was a young man.
“I’m trying to learn more about classical; it finally hit me about five years ago. So I’m really trying to understand the movements and trying to educate myself more on jazz as well.
“I’ve been playing jazz personally since college, so I’m having more of a grip on that. I’m not like some profound jazz player or anything like that, but I dabble because I love it and it’s a good time. And then John Carpenter – I’ve been going through his scores while cutting down honeysuckle because it’s trying to choke out my maple.”
I don’t know about you all, but Apocalypse Clown is a guy I feel like I’d want to hang out with. Think of all the fun: survival gear, John Carpenter and birdhouse projects!
Read the rest of the interview over at Rolling Stone.
[via Ultimate Guitar]
