M. Shawn Crahan is the creative force behind SLIPKNOT, one of rock music’s most unflinchingly creative, uncompromising and successful bands.  To the band’s millions of fans around the globe, SLIPKNOT aren’t just a group, they’re a culture - a way of life. For SLIPKNOT, Crahan oversees and directs everything from the album and video artwork, to stage sets and uniforms. Crahan directed the band’s recent film “Day of the Gusano,” as well as the band’s music videos which have amassed 1.7b YouTube views to date. Outside of SLIPKNOT, Crahan is no less creative. For him, the drive to create art is what led to SLIPKNOT, not the other way around. 

Throughout his youth and college years, Crahan was enamored with art history and finding different avenues of artistic expression. From welding school to pottery, painting and photography, Shawn’s drive to create art is unparalleled. Crahan has released a book of work titled ‘Apocalyptic Nightmare,’ directed the film “Officer Downe,” directed videos for other artists, has done remix work with bands such as Bring Me The Horizon & MIW, and in 2017 held an art show at Lethal Amounts in Downtown Los Angeles titled HIS WHORES. He has also created a variety of musical side projects including the bands Dirty Little Rabbits, To My Surprise and Black Dots of Death. 

On Halloween SLIPKNOT surprised fans around the world with the release of their brand new track, “All Out Life.” Joined by an official music video directed by M. Shawn Crahan, “All Out Life” made a stunning global impact. The official video - which has amassed over 11.5 million views - trended at #9 worldwide on YouTube upon release, racking up 4 million views in 24hrs while the song reached #3 on the iTunes songs chart and trended worldwide on Twitter.

“See, what clown does is he makes art for art’s sake. Not for you, not for me, not for anybody – maybe not even for himself. Repeat, just for art’s sake. It doesn’t get any cleaner, purer or less contrived. Art. Pure fucking art!” – Lars Ulrich, APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARE