Slipknot’s founding percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan has recently shared his thoughts about the future of the music industry, mentioning that its “future headliners” are “horrible bands.”
In a recent interview with NME, Shawn “Clown” Crahan talked about British rock band Sleep Token headlining the Download 2025 festival. Although the 55-year-old musician gave the band some credit, it was not done positively.
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan makes the following statement:
“They have their niche, and they must be doing their business well. The old me might have torn it down, but the new me, the real me, is just like ‘Hey, it’s always up to the fans.’ The fans let the business people know what to do. The fans speak, and the business people listen.”
Crahan goes on after that, though, criticizing fans’ music taste:
“They must be very popular, and you’ve got to remember that there’s not a lot of good music out there. There just isn’t. In my opinion, these days, there are so many horrible bands right now.”
He adds about Sleep Token:
“I’ve seen Sleep Token, I’ve watched them for a bit, and I’ve downloaded their stuff. They have their niche, and they have a fan base. It doesn’t matter if it has divided (Download fans) because that means 50 percent are getting what they want.”
He adds:
“I no longer worry about these sorts of things, I just worry about being me and about being in the moment. If they’re a good band, and if they work hard—as it seems like they do—They deserve everything they get.”
At this point of the interview, Crahan was asked if he thought that concert organizers have accountability to exhibit younger and up-and-coming bands. The musician made the following reply:
“The days of great music have come and gone at the moment.”
He also added:
“As I was saying, there are so many horrible bands who are going to be our future headliners. You don’t want me to start naming off names because we’ll both start laughing and laughing.”
He continues:
“The days of great music have come and gone at the moment. We’re seeing the backlash of the computer, and we’re seeing the backlash of everybody being able to get in (to the music industry). But where is everybody that got in and did it themselves? They all need validation.”
He also makes a personal statement about why he got into music:
“I didn’t get in a band to get validated. I validated myself. When someone said I needed to work harder, I worked fucking harder. I didn’t need the internet, or socials, or anything to validate me.
We have a real problem now, and bands that are good these days—which is few and far—are being prepped for this future. We saw that with Bring Me The Horizon. They’re a great band, and I’m a fan. I’ve listened to the band since the very, very beginning, and they’re doing big things like headlining Download because they can make that jump.”
Finally, he wraps up with:
“Great bands are being pushed into these new circumstances. What else do we have (without artists like that)—a bunch of crap bands that won’t draw tickets. So yes, the business people need to take chances and push these few good bands in the right direction.”
Listen to Sleep Token’s song “The Summoning” On YouTube:
Follow Sleep Token on Facebook.
Photo courtesy of Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan
