Clown Exposure: Taking Time to Be Sad

In many bands, percussionists tend to spend their down time with other percussionists, drummers and bassists, since they're the ones that comprise the heart of the rhythm section. Slipknot roll their eyes at such stereotypes, especially percussionist Shawn 'Clown' Crahan.

While he's developed a reputation for being a bit of an oxymoron, a brooding artist and unlikely family man who disappears after shows and doesn't exactly favor the rock hang, Crahan isn't a complete hermit. He has always been close to DJ Sid Wilson and has expressed his affinity for Wilson and others through the eye of a camera lens.

Over the years, Crahan has shot photos of all of his bandmates, and many of the shots are documented in his upcoming photo book 'The Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey,' a collection of manipulated, nightmarish Polaroid images. But the man who's received the most face time for Crahan is Wilson.

"Sid is one of my closest friends," Crahan told Noisecreep. "He's Young Buck, I'm Old Buck. We [are] really close, and he loves art and creates art, and he always gives to me and is never selfish. I have shots of him in areas and concepts that most people probably wouldn't even understand."

For this week's 'Clown Exposure,' Crahan submitted 'Taking Time to Be Sad,' a picture he took of Wilson while Slipknot were living at Rick Rubin's Houdini Mansion working on the album 'Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses').

"Sid actually lived underneath the mansion and I was above him," Crahan said. "He had been going through a lot of severe life changes. I'm not going to go into what they were because that's not anybody's business. But on this particular day I was upstairs and it [8 AM], and sad music was busting through my floorboards and I knew immediately [something was wrong]. So I got up and took a shower and listened and listened."

Instead of confronting his friend about his feelings, Crahan spoke to him with a camera and a knowing glance. "At about 10:30, I walked down the side stairs, came in the back, sat down on a couch and I just sat there listening to him," Crahan said. "I had my camera, and he turned around and this is how he was."

What Crahan captured was pure, unfiltered emotion and unapologetic anguish. The shot is slightly soft, and there's a tinge of double exposure on Wilson's watery eyes due to Crahan's Polaroid manipulation process. But that only adds to the overall effect, as does the slight overexposure of Wilson's face. Combined, a pervasive wash of sadness encompasses who whole image.

"I took the picture. I didn't ask," Crahan said. "He gave it to me, and it didn't bother him. For that reason, it was a very special day, because, for me, to have someone trust me enough to allow me in on such pain -- what a gift! I'm honored, and here he is. It's beautiful."