This summer, Des Moines, Iowa's own Slipknot — along with Disturbed, Mastodon, DragonForce, Machine Head, the Red Chord, Suicide Silence and a handful of others — will be taking part in the inaugural run of Warped Tour mastermind Kevin Lyman's Rockstar Energy Mayhem festival (otherwise known as the tour that effectively immobilized Sharon Osbourne's long-running Ozzfest).

But Slipknot percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan doesn't care what you call Lyman's latest brainchild, so long as you understand that it's not a festival at all — it's a Slipknot tour, plain and simple.

"It's a bunch of bands opening for Slipknot," Crahan told Metal File last week, during a brief break from the studio, where the band is working on its fourth, still-untitled LP, which should arrive in stores by summer's end. "We're headlining, as it should be. Sorry — it's a Slipknot show, kids. We've been gone for two years, and you've all had the chance to do what you're going to do. But now we're back; step in line. That's what's up. We're the DNA that keeps whatever cell this is moving. Period.

"With me, I've been out with a lot of bands, and I don't care," he continued. "We're back, and it just happens to be this thing called the Rockstar Energy Mayhem festival. That's cool. But we didn't want them, they wanted us. Everyone wants our f---ing money and our kids. We're playing a show, and a bunch of great bands are playing too. But we're back, so get out of our way. Call it what you will, but we're headlining. It's our show, and we're here to kill you."

And he's not kidding. Crahan said he's keyed up for Slipknot's return to the stage, following two years of hibernation, and promises that this summer, the boys will preview some of the new material they've been working on since early February.

"We're going to cast some magical spells, and you're going to get more than you can choke on," he said. "Slipknot is a philosophy, a way of life. We're a great band, and if you don't know that, I don't know what you know. We've been doing it longer than most bands can, and no one has done it harder than us."

According to Crahan, Slipknot brought an abundance of songs into the studio and is nearing the completion of the effort, under the direction of producer Dave Fortman (Mudvayne, Superjoint Ritual). And while he wouldn't go into detail about the LP (frontman Corey Taylor said in a recent interview with Billboard that the album would "rip your face off"), he scoffed at the suggestion that it's the band's heaviest offering to date.

"I'm not that guy who's going to tell you it's harder," he said. "Harder, to me, doesn't mean anything. I could give a sh-- about hard. Hard means nothing to the Clown. Slipknot is a phenomenon, it's an enigma, and the enigma weighs on your emotions. And the emotions aren't just heavy, they're cerebral, they're surreal and they're on a whole other level. I just know that this album is different than anything we've done."

When asked to elaborate, Clown refused, saying that the music, once it's released, would speak for itself. "Listen, we are the hardest ever," he said. "We blow all bands away. I don't give a f--- who your band is. I've probably played with your band, and you don't show me sh--. So, it's like, is this band heavy? Oh, yeah, we're the heaviest. We're heavy thinkers, heavy hitters, heavy writers and heavy people, but it's emotionally heavy. There's a lot of emotion on this record, and we're all on the same page with our own emotions, so you're finally seeing the kings of all the courts bringing their kingdom's jewels in for one gigantic war."


But Clown did admit that the record sounds more mature than anything they've done previously, because, well, they're all grown up.

"It's a record made by a bunch of f---ing adults, and that's why it's different. Every record should be different," Crahan said. "Our self-titled came out in '98, and the second record, people were thinking maybe we'd give 'em more commerciality, and give in like everybody else does. But instead, we go completely against that, and we made the anti-sophomore record, and we get all the respect for that.

"The third record, we start moving in directions we always wanted to. Basically, on the second record, it was like, 'We're the drug penetrating the vein, and we're on our way to your brain and your heart,' " he continued. "The third record was, 'Now, I'm in your brain. Check out this other sh--. No other band can handle this. No one can fathom what we do. This fourth record was done by a bunch of crazy guys in their 30s. That doesn't mean we're slowing down or not as intense — our brains are different, so we're bringing different emotions, different feelings and different anxieties to the table now. This record is another diagnosis of our insanity.

"No one has done what we have done," he added. "This is a war, man. The sh-- that we do, nine guys trying to f---ing write together, and keep this insanity going? Does anybody take the time to realize that? For me, this is like going to Vietnam, serving your tour and then the government asking you to do another tour because you're a badass. We've got 10 purple hearts, and we're f---ing killers. This isn't your rock and roll; this is our rock and roll."

For Crahan, making the record hasn't been a picnic. The music has taken an emotional toll on him ("This sh--'s real, it hurts, and I've cut myself open and given everything to this record," he said), but he's cool with that — so long as Slipknot's allegiant fans, the Maggots, aren't disappointed with it.

"The reason the fans love us is because they sense and feel something they've never gotten from anybody else — it's loyalty, it's respect and more importantly, they've finally found someone who feels like they feel," he said. "We're not your normal band. We represent something to kids they never gotten from school, or their parents, or other bands. We supply a feeling only Slipknot can supply. We have our own culture, because, we've done this 10 years for you, and 12 years for ourselves.

"We have nine guys, and all nine are different," Crahan went on. "But we're still doing this, so I'm amazed. That's how f---ing badass we are. Some stupid band with three members or four members wants to bellyache to me? Come on, man — this is the 'Knot. This is nine guys, an assault on the senses, a physical war through music, and it's going to be force-fed down your throat, and it will turn your insides out. It's been designed to destroy you."

SLIPKNOT, CARCASS and DRAGONFORCE are among the confirmed bands for the Loudpark 08 festival, set to take place October 18-19 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City, Japan.

The festival billing is shaping up as follows:

SLIPKNOT
CARCASS
SONATA ARCTICA
DRAGONFORCE
APOCALYPTICA
OBITUARY
MESHUGGAH
SECRET & WHISPER

More bands will be announced soon.

SLIPKNOT percussionist M. Shawn "Clown" Crahan recently told Radio Iowa that the music industry has changed so bands now make their money from concerts rather than albums.

Crahan said. "I'll just be honest. I've never made a dollar on a record. We make our money on the road."

Crahan's band plays a lot of shows in Europe where the festival scene appears to be much more vibrant. "I think America needs to look toward Europe and see what they're doing because over there they all get crazy and they need to have festivals and they just go and they take, like, weeks off and everybody — it doesn't matter if it's your boss or your mom or whatever — it's festival time," Crahan said. "I've played these festivals and they're more than just music. It's cultural. It's have a drink. Have food. Let's take a break from our job and let's really figure out life and then you come to America and it's all, like, selling buttons and this and that and, you know, it's really difficult."

Hungarian webzine HitKit recently conducted an interview with drummer Roy Mayorga (STONE SOUR, AMEBIX, ex-SOULFLY, SEPULTURA, MEDICATION).

HK: As for Stone Sour....what the status of the band now? Seems that Slipknot is gettin active, it means you are on a small lay-off?

RM: Yeah SS is on a Break until end of 2009…until then I’ll be doing drum clinics/sessions and touring with AMEBIX in December January tentivly. Also Black Presidents on Warped tour August 2008. I’ll also have time to develop my self and work on new ideas with drumming/composing and what not. Very excited about that.

HK: “Hell & Consequences” is a very special song, i’m heavily into it… what are your personal feelings about it?

RM: Very special song for me…..I really love to play that song live. Its just a solid pounding song. It was the first song I tracked on the record so it has a very special place in my heart. I feel the same for most first song first takes on past recordings i’ve done…..one most memorable to me other than Hell is “Eye for an Eye” off the first Soulfly record.

HK: “Sillyworld” and “Through Glass” are a bit more melodic ones… hows your relationship with them?

RM: I really love to play those especially because its so different to what I’m use to playing. It allows me to get in more on the dynamic side of drumming which is something i never got to do with past bands….so thats pretty special.

HK: The special edition contains six bonus tracks…you recorded that ones during the album recording sessions or whats the story behind them?

RM: Those are songs all from the same session as the album. Basically the songs didn’t make it on the album originally. But We thought they were great songs just that at the end of the day you have to pic which ones stand out the best to put on an album that hold you
know 13-14 songs. So now that the special addition was in the works We had not only the idea for the Russian concert (Ramp Video Awards) to be included We thought why not put the rest of the songs we recorded too. Would be a shame not to get to share that with
everyone. So it all worked out in the end.

HK: I think Stone Sour is still heavy, but in a different, not the “classic” way. Hows your fanbase mainly looks like? More straight metalheads or just fans of rock music etc.?

RM: We have a very mixed crowd of people from the age of 10-45. All walks of life…punks/metal kids…..parents…you name it. I think the reason is We have a pretty well rounded sound to the band. Theres a song on the record for everyone. The unity of all people and all cultures is a very important thing to me….always has been. Music is the one thing left in the world that has that power to do so. Everyone leaves their bullshit at the
door and comes together and has a great time. I’ve experience that recently in the biggest way possible at the DESSERT ROCK Dubai festival 2007. Not only did you have all of Middle East on the field, you had Australia/India/Asia/Africa/Europe/Russia/….let me just say the whole world rocking out hard and smiling. It was a beautiful thing to see and I’ll never forget it.

HK: As a drummer, how much you feel connected with the lyrical contents of the album (for example by the title track of “Come What(ever) May” -with its political edge)?

RM: Well lets just say I can’t wait until election day. Lets hope the next person We have representing our country will be more worried about taking care of the people not only in the States but sincerly helping others around the world and not worry about how much
money they can make in capitalizing on Oil. Yes I’m a Left wing liberal.

HK: What are your next future plans?

RM: I’m gonna start to get involved in perfoming in Drum clinincs around the world such as DRUMMER LIVE in UK coming this June and after that i have a couple one off tours with Black President and AMEBIX……after all that I’ll be working on writing songs to contribute for the next Stone Sour album and some solo drum arrangement. More on a world, tribal beat sense like i mention earlier.

Europe... your time has come.

After spending the summer tearing up North America on the Mayhem tour, we will finally bring our chaos to you. Joining us on this journey this time around will be Machine Head and Children of Bodom. It's been a long time coming... we know the European fans have been waiting for this. We are breathlessly waiting as well. We cannot wait to throw down with you.

Remember, if it doesn't come from us, the choice is yours on whether or not to believe it. See you soon.

Hard rock enigma SlipKnoT has posted the 7th teaser photograph from a recent photo shoot on the splash page of its web site. Check out this teaser picture here:

According to the French concert information/ticketing web site InfoConcert.com, SLIPKNOT, MACHINE HEAD and CHILDREN OF BODOM will perform at the Zenith de Paris venue in Paris, France on November 21, 2008. This may or may not be the first leaked date of a massive European tour this fall.

SLIPKNOT will co-headline this summer's Rockstar Energy Mayhem tour with DISTURBED, beginning on July 9 in Seattle.

SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor told Billboard.com on Tuesday (May 13) that the band's new album, tentatively due out on August 12, will "rip your face off," adding, "I don't think the world will be ready for this album." The group's yet-to-be-titled fourth effort will follow up 2004's "Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)", with Taylor calling it a "very dark" cross between that and its 2001 sophomore CD, "Iowa". Taylor described the new record as having "so much power in it and yet there are so many great spots for melody...It's a controlled chaos that hits you right out of the gate."

As many of you are already aware, Slipknot will be retourning to the UK, Austria and Germany this August.

The band will be appearing at this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals alongside none other than Tenacious D and Metallica! Dates are as follows:

August 22 - Leeds Festival
August 24 - Reading Festival

It doesn't end there...

Slipknot will also be appearing on the Two Days A Week Festival in Wiesen, Austria on August 29th, followed by an appearance at the Area 4 Festival in Ludinghausen, Germany on August 31st.

Other tour announcements to follow very shortly...