Michael Shawn Crahan (born September 24, 1969), also known as Clown, or by his number #6, is an American musician known as one of the two custom percussionists of Slipknot, and the drummer of To My Surprise and Dirty Little Rabbits.
Crahan was born in Des Moines, Iowa. In his youth, he performed in bands such as Heads on the Wall, One Cup Fat and Quan. By the early 1990s, Crahan was an alcoholic, which he exacerbated when he purchased a local bar in Des Moines, called The Safari. Frustrated by his lack of success, he says he would have turned to suicide had he not met his future wife, Chantal.[
1] Crahan's parents financed Slipknot early in its history, and he professes nothing but the utmost respect for them.
As well as lending his percussion talents to the band, Crahan has also sung backing vocals on a number of songs Slipknot has both recorded and performed live. He also wrote the original draft of "Tattered & Torn", which appeared on the band's self-titled album, Slipknot. Outside Slipknot, Crahan has founded Big Orange Clown Records, a vanity label within Sanctuary Records, which has so far signed the metalcore band Gizmachi. He also acted as director for, and assembled Slipknot's 2006 DVD, Voliminal: Inside the Nine, while the band engaged a brief hiatus.
He also performed with To My Surprise, recording drums and vocals for the band's self-titled debut. The band received little interest due to their album being released amidst the success of Slipknot members Corey Taylor, James Root and Joey Jordison's side projects, Stone Sour and the Murderdolls, respectively. To My Surprise was later dropped by Roadrunner Records. In 2007, Crahan began performing as drummer for Dirty Little Rabbits. The band was a supporting act for Stone Sour during their North American tour in Summer 2007,[
2] and has since released one EP, titled Breeding.
Crahan has a wife named Chantel and four children, two boys named Gage and Simon and two girls named Alex and Gabrielle. His eldest daughter Alex is currently working on an album, of which the release date is unknown
Birth name Michael Shawn Crahan
Also known as #6, Clown, Kong
Born September 24, 1969 (1969-09-24) (age 39)
Des Moines, Iowa
Genre(s) Alternative metal, experimental rock, funk metal, indie pop, indie rock, industrial metal, nu metal, metalcore, pop punk, progressive metal, psychedelic rock, rap metal
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s) Custom percussion, drums, backing vocals
Years active 1993–present
Label(s) Roadrunner, Big Orange Clown, Nuclear Blast, Pale One, -ismist
Associated acts Slipknot, To My Surprise, Dirty Little Rabbits, Heads on the Wall,One Cup Fat,Quan
Slipknot
1996: Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.
1999: Slipknot
2001: Iowa
2004: Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
2005: 9.0 Live
2008: All Hope Is Gone
To My Surprise
2003: To My Surprise
Dirty Little Rabbits
2007: Breeding
produced albums
2000: L.D. 50 - Mudvayne
2001: Invitation to the Dance - 40 Below Summer
2003: To My Surprise - To My Surprise
2005: The Imbuing - Gizmachi
1999: Welcome to Our Neighborhood
2002: Disasterpieces
2002: Rollerball
2006: Voliminal: Inside the Nine
2008: Nine: The Making of "All Hope Is Gone"
trivia
According to the Mayhem Festival Program, Crahan has some pieces of his deceased father's skull in a jar in his desk.
Crahan plays drums on the bonus track Til We Die on their new release All Hope Is Gone.
Crahan performed vocals on parts of the full length version of Danger - Keep Away from Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). The full length version is found on the special edition of the album.
Nicknamed "Kong" - Shawn's mom told him he looked like a silver-backed gorilla when she watched them practising one day, so they started calling him Kong. Anders: "She watched a videotape of one of our practices in my basement and had this to say: "Anders looks like a Timber wolf, ready to attack. Shawn, you look like a Silver-back Gorilla. The whole band looks like what I envision to be the band that entices a caveman hunting party into a frenzy before going out to bring down a Mammoth."" Born September 24, 1969
Shawn adds an interesting sound to Slipknot. His drum set is made of titanium. He made it himself, because he has a background in welding, and he's good at it. Shawn starts a good amount of fights on stage, when he's not playing, and has a sort of rivalry with Sid. Shawn is also one of the co-founders of Slipknot with Paul (2) and Anders. He is the second percussionist and has a wife, Chantal, and 3 kids. ("I'm a perfect father and a fucking psychopath, ok? No contradiction") Shawn does most of the interviews and ran
www.slipknot2.com, Shawn has a habit of ramming his head into walls and has injured himself many times in performances ( He has fractured knuckles, split a collarbone, suffered slipped vertebrae, bruised his pelvic bone, dislocated a shoulder, gotten a concussion, partially severed a finger, and smashed his head often enough to require 22 stitches ) He also goes onto AIM to chat with fans and he is by far the craziest member of Slipknot. Shawn has recently changed his mask and it is also named "Dude". Shawn is the oldest of Slipknot. In the old days Slipknot did not wear the jumpsuits they wore other costumes, @ one of these shows Shawn decided to wear a huge purple "Barney" suit.
Shawn was an executive producer for the MuDvAyNe CD LD.. 50. Clown has also made a brief appearance in the American Head Charge video, 'Just So You Know'. He has also remixed one of their tracks for the 'Just So You Know' single release.
Tracklisting:
1. Just So You Know (Short Attention Span Mix)
2. Just So You Know (Clown #6 Remix)
3. Real Life
4. Just So You Know (Video)
"Crahan is the band's engine, the core of the madness. There are slogans: "I don't want to push the envelope, I AM the envelope" There is darkness: "I want to do a documentary on the slaughter and sectioning of livestock carcasses." But most of all there is the splendid hatred of society's rules. "Be a boy! Ride a bike like this! Breathe this air! No dude, I've had enough! Fuck that! I'm checkin' out!" Crahan says he had a happy youth. His parents financed Slipknot in the early days and he professes nothing but the utmost respect for them. In the early '90s he had a drink problem, exacerbated when he bought a Des Moines bar. Frustrated by the lack of success, he says he would have killed himself if he hadn't met his wife Chantal. "My saviour, my hero," he says. "She saved my life." - Q Music - Find the complete article under the articles section of the site.
CROW: Shawn found a dead crow in his driveway, and kept it in a big, commercial pickle jar, and carried it around at shows until it turned to mush. During shows Shawn would open the jar, this would cause him to vomit all over the place and also cause fans to start vomiting all over the place. It was (sic), it was kept in the jar with all the bacteria and flesh eating creatures. It started secreting this brown liquid and became a fine sauce. Some kids broke the jar open and played catch with it for a while and now it's disposed. At one radio interview Shawn took it along and freaked out the radio person who was also afraid of clowns.
BEAVER TAIL "Rumour": A cop gave Shawn a dead beavers tail because the cop didn't know how to get rid of it. Shawn didn't know what to do with it so on stage he and corey squeezed all the juices out of it into their faces and then they ate it. Afterwards they were throwing up like crazy and asking each other why the fuck they did that.
Runway: Shawn was a regular attendee to the "Runway" club for which he paid $7 to enter each time. It was where the people who liked proper music gathered. However within this club Shawn was still disgraced at the number of competing cover bands that would out shine other; more original bands. Crahan did however manage to allow "all aged" shows to take place within the club on Sundays. For a while Shawn's discontent was settled with such bands as Modifidious and Body Pit, however these bands all broke up within a very short space of each other and the metal Scene had once again disappeared. Shawn now had to put up with cover bands once again. At this point Shawn knew he had to do something different and one day the concept of Slipknot came to him.
Safari Club : Shawn owned the "The Safari Club" within Des Moines for a short time (he bought it in January 1997), one of the only places to see new rock and punk acts. As Slipknot got huge though, it became too much to manage and had to be shut down, it later re-opened as Hairy Mary's (information about club in history section of site).
Shawn doesn't like surprises. But he does like Wolfpac: Website
Quote - "I've wanted to be a clown because there's something nice about me, and something pretty twisted as well. If someone stares at me on my way to the stage, I don't get up until they look away first."
I am on a world-dominati
on mission. Slipknot isn't just an average band. It's not just music. It's a way of life and it's the real way of life. When I go on-stage, the rock'n'roll cliché can go die. There's no place for that anymore. My whole deal is, when we've reached everyone and everyone understands, I'm gone. I'm out. I've done it." - Shawn Crahan (Clown masked Percussionist and founding father (#6).
Mask - Shawn had a clown's mask that he found around 15 years ago. MEANING: "I'm going to fucking kill every motherfucker here! What was the question? The mask? IT represents my death."
INSTRUMENT: Shawn uses custom titanium drums that he made himself. The whole set is mounted upon hydraulic lifts.
Drums:
2 Mount Toms
1 Floor Tom
1 Bass Drum (set up like the floor tom so you can hit it)
1 Anheuser-Busch Beer Keg
Drumheads:
Mount Tom Batter: Remo Clear Pinstripes
Floor Tom and Bass Drum: Remo Coated Ambassador or Emperor
The drums used are from a company called " Dunnett "
Sticks: Zildijan Absolute Rock sticks
Bands: Not in many bands, mainly occupied with welding and family life.
Heads on the wall :93 - 95 Shawn - Drums Quan - Guitar: This band played four shows with Joey's band, Modifidious.
Slipknot : 1995 - CURRENT
back totattered and torn
Stumble!