“They thought I was having a heart attack right there”: Slipknot’s Clown reveals he needs heart surgery

Slipknot percussionist Shaun 'Clown' Crahan has revealed that he needs heart surgery, which he found out about after the band's last tour.

The topic came up in conversation with producer Rick Rubin – who produced Slipknot’s third album Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses – on his podcast Tetragrammaton With Rick Rubin. Clown admitted that he feels that he couldn't ever escape The Nine even if he wanted to, and not even his forthcoming surgery could get in the way.

“You know Slipknot is good for me, always has been. And I hate that," Clown tells the producer. "I hate that it keeps me alive. You know what I mean, Rick? Like it keeps me alive. It makes me drink water. It makes me… It gets the bad smoke that I had once out of me. It gets the tox… you know, it keeps me alive. It gives me desire. It gives me will. Gives me purpose. And I can’t stand it. It’s such a priority of existence. And I have to do it.

Moving onto the surgery, he says: “I have a skipping heart and I got to get a surgery,” he reveals [as transcribed by The PRP]. “And I found this out after my last tour. I went in, I wasn’t feeling good, and I went in and the nurse was trying to get an EKG thing going on me or whatever and it just wasn’t happening. I kind of fell asleep and I woke up.

“I’m like, ‘Are you going to get this thing?’ And she’s like, ‘Oh, it’s not working.’ They thought I was having a heart attack right there. Anyway, my heart skips and apparently I’ve taught myself to be like a cross country runner.

He continues: “So, I’m overweight and my brain is so strong that it tells this stuff what to do. So, my standing heart rate at night is 43 and during the day I get down to 33. [It] hasn’t happened since I’ve been here with you, which is good, because I’ll go from ‘on,’ to just straight up I feel like I’m dying.

“So, I got to get a surgery. It’s a very easy surgery. You’re usually out on the same day. It’s not like they rip you open. This is something about the electricity.

Clown says that the doctors initially thought he might need a pacemaker fitted, which he thought could spell the end of his time touring with Slipknot. It turned out not to be the case, giving him the impression that nothing could get between him and in the band.

[The doctor] goes, ‘Oh, no. You’re going to feel better.’ And I lost it. I was like, I can’t get out of this to save my life. I’m like, ‘There is nothing, not even my heart. It’s going to be better because of Slipknot.’

“I got a concierge doctor because I’m in Slipknot and I’m able to go to levels and they’re like, ‘No, you’re going to feel better. You better get in shape because you got to do more now at 56.’ And it’s just like I just can’t believe it, man, that this was me. It’s wonderful. I’m lucky.”

Listen to the full episode below.

Read this next:

• Slipknot: “Nothing was a certainty back then… It was us against everyone else. In our hearts, it still is”
• The live shows that defined Slipknot, as told by Corey and Clown
• “That album is the sound of war”: The story of Slipknot’s 1999 debut