Clown on why Slipknot won’t share festivals with Foo Fighters

Slipknot
Slipknot

Slipknot’s Shawn “Clown” Crahan says that he and his bandmates won’t share festival bills with Foo Fighters for fear of alienating their fans.

The percussionist was speaking at Pollstar’s recent event Underground To Mainstream: What Are Metal And Hip-Hop Doing Right (And Where Does It Go From Here?) in Los Angeles when he explained the band’s position.

He said (via Blabbermouth): “I ask myself, does Slipknot want to play next to the Foo Fighters? The answer is no, because my kids don’t want me to do that.

“If we play alongside the Foo Fighters, we are going to get new fans – I agree with that. I love that, but I’m worried about the kid that won’t come to the show, because we’re playing with the Foo Fighters. He wants to know why we’re not playing with Nine Inch Nails.”

Clown adds: “Those kids tell all of us what they want. So, don’t try to figure out ways of how to combine things for the new fan.

“I don’t need the new fan, I need the fan that has anxiety, parents are getting divorced, social problems, gender problems – I need them to come to the ultimate show. And they’re going to get that at Knotfest.”

Crahan reported in December that while he, Jim Root and Jay Weinberg have been writing material, Slipknot wouldn’t return to the studio for at least another year.

Clown: Next Slipknot album could be my last

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.