Slipknot’s ‘Clown’ is just a regular guy

For 10 years, Slipknot has been one of the most ferocious metal bands on the planet.

The nine-piece(!) Des Moines, Iowa, band is best known for its horror-show costumes — promo shots of the band are enough to give most mere mortals nightmares for weeks — but it has earned a rep among metalheads for intense, dangerous live shows.

Slipknot’s onstage shenanigans have led to countless injuries, concussions and broken bones — and that’s among the band members.

Last year, Slipknot, which performs Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills, released its fourth album “All Hope is Gone,” the title of which rather succinctly sums up the band’s worldview. But according to the band’s percussionist and outspoken mouthpiece, Shawn “Clown” Crahan, fourth from the left, below, things in the band have never been better.

As proof, “All Hope is Gone” was the band’s first album to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s albums chart. We spoke with Crahan earlier this month and found the baseball bat-carrying madman to be surprisingly normal and in an unexpectedly chipper mood. Read on.

“I am sitting in my living room, in my house in Des Moines, Iowa. We just got off a 10-week run in Europe, Japan and Australia and all that good stuff. Ten weeks is a long time to be out on tour, especially in Europe, being that everything is just completely opposite than it is here. So I’d say that last 14 days was a lot of anxiety, a lot of little nitpicking; we were ready to come home and rest.”

“Christmas was fantastic. We stayed home and did the family thing — we didn’t go out like we usually do. I have four kids and my wife. We did our thing, just the six of us, so it was really nice. We bought a Nintendo Wii. Our goal was to wake up, open presents and then play Wii and `Rock Band’ and all that. I’m not really good with games. I like `Rock Band’ because you’ve got the mic, you’ve got the drums and you’ve got the guitar. I tried the drums, but it’s not like playing drum-drums, they have to make it within the game form, so it was pretty difficult, actually. I was getting it handed to me pretty well. I’m a fond believer of those games. Obviously, it’s not going to teach you how to play any of those instruments, but it does help you with your rhythm and your timing and all that. I play the guitar just to get the fingers going more than I ever have, so it’s pretty fun. We started from the beginning. I think I was stuck on some L7 song for a day. My kids are like, `C’mon, dad!’ I’m like, `I’m out, you guys go and get it done.’ It’s pretty frustrating — I’ve turned into my parents. We’re a long ways from `Pong’ and stuff like that.”

“I always think my life is a movie because I’ve been happily married for 16 years to my best friend. We just have a flawless marriage with ups and downs, which I wouldn’t want it any other way. And I have two boys, two girls that are healthy, and I’m in a huge metal band. My life, for me, is picture perfect.”

“One thing I’ve learned in this business is No. 1, I tour. That’s what I do. Records are great, videos are great, interviews are great, all that stuff is great. But the biggest extension of your art is to be able to share it with the world, and I’ve always believed that world domination means you’re willing to get out of your house in Des Moines, Iowa, and take your disease, your pain, your art as far as... Russia. Slipknot just played Russia. We’ve been doing this 10 years, and we’d never been to Russia. We had just under 12,000 people show. That’s when the reality behind your art really comes true.”

“I’m not really even a metalhead. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it, it just means I come from a whole different scene and a whole different way of thinking. I was going to go to college. I wanted to teach art history. I wanted to paint and do photography and pottery. I’m kind of a Renaissance guy; I’ve got my hand in a little bit of everything. When painting isn’t working, I move to photography. When photography’s not working, I’m writing songs. When songs aren’t working, I’m writing some poetry or some short stories.”

“The last 10 years has been nothing but an honor and a learning experience. I tell people every day who want to point their finger at us that I have a Ph.D. in rock and roll. You know what I mean? I’ve got 10 years under my belt of constant touring. I can tell you about the stage. I can tell you about the semis. I can tell you about per diem. I can tell you about recording. I can tell you about lyrics. I can tell you about art, photography, video, from film to HD to mini DV. The list goes on and on and on and on and on, with what we’ve had to fill our minds with. From winning Grammys, to winning best video, to people going crazy to our music, from lawsuits, to deaths to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. You name it.”