In addition to debuting new drummer Eloy Casagrande during their first show of 2024, Slipknot debuted new masks. In an interview with Paper, percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan details the Knot’s approach to the masks, which marry elements from Slipknot’s 1999 self-titled debut era with more modern touches.

“There’s a lot going on right now in the world of Slipknot,” Clown says. “[If] I’m putting on exactly what I wore 25 years ago, I think it’d be insulting to who I was 25 years ago and for the people that knew that, and there is no way in this reality I can be that human being again, I just wouldn’t be true. We all agreed to do takes on how we are and what we feel, and that’s the inspiration … to take the past and make it the present for the future.”

“It’s inspiration from the past, but it’s also talking about oneself right now reminiscing, the pain, the sorrow, the love, the work of that 25 years of that character that we been that’s been requested,” he continues. “[It’s] sort of like say a prayer almost, to oneself to bring something out, that feels real for everyone.”

Slipknot is celebrating the 25th anniversary of their debut on a U.S. tour in August.

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