SLIPKNOT's THE CLOWN: ' We're The Biggest Punk Band In The World'

SLIPKNOT percussionist/mastermind Shawn Crahan, also known as Clown, claims that he's supportive of vocalist Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root's massively-successful STONE SOUR project.

"If I didn't support him or fuckin' love what he's doing, I wouldn't be a friend," Crahan told Launch. "I wouldn't have meant any of the words I've said in SLIPKNOT. It's important that he says and does what he needs to, as it is for [guitarist] Jim [Root], as it is for [drummer] Joey [Jordison], as it is for the other members of SLIPKNOT. Each one of us needs to be the artists and the musicians we are. That's what we do, man. We're artists. We're musicians. Corey is an excellent, excellent, songwriter and singer and he has a lot of love that he can give to people that need it. That he might not be able to bring into SLIPKNOT."

"I feel the 'KNOT has always preached personal freedom. 'Don't ever judge me,' that's Corey's own words, whatever, Joey's words. That's what we do, man. We're the biggest punk band in the fuckin' world, man. I don't want to hear it. We're nine guys. We do what we want, we do as much as we want. It takes a lot of balls to do what they're doing. I fuckin' respect it. I'm going to do it. I hope everybody in the band does it. We'll go shed our kingdoms and shed light as to what we are individually and then we'll come together like we always do. And we'll be what we are and that's called SLIPKNOT."

His support for STONE SOUR notwithstanding, the Clown doesn't want people to be confused by the two bands. "STONE SOUR has nothing to do with SLIPKNOT," he said. "Nothing. I hope no one compares it to us. I hope no one says it sounds like us, because it doesn't sound anything like us. And that's important to me."