Slipknot’s founding father shares that he needs heart surgery after a 2025 health scare.
Slipknot’s Shawn “Clown” Crahan has revealed that he is in need of heart surgery after being diagnosed with a cardiac condition.
This unfortunate news came to light after the band’s 2025 tour last year, which left him feeling like “dying.”
The band’s 56-year-old percussionist revealed this news on Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton podcast, which was uploaded on the 7th of May.
After Slipknot’s tour, Shawn recounted “I wasn’t feeling good, and I went in and the nurse was trying to get an EKG thing going on 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.”
It was revealed that the issue is related to the electrical system of the heart, causing it to skip beats.
Clown stated that his resting heart rate at night is 43, and during the day it can get down to 33.
The drops in heart rate can be so sudden that he’ll “go from ‘on,’ to just straight up I feel like I’m dying.”
Naturally, the health scare caused Shawn Crahan to worry about his ability to perform in the future and whether he would need a pacemaker.
However, doctors reassured him that he’ll be in better shape, noting he remains highly active for his age of 56.
Doctors expect him to make a swift recovery after his treatment, which is considered a relatively routine procedure, “You’re usually out on the same day. It’s not like they rip you open.”
Crahan managed to joke that not even his skipping heart could stop him from his duties to Slipknot.
“I just can’t believe it, man, that this was me. It’s wonderful. I’m lucky.”
For more on Crahan and his talk with Rick Rubin, check out the podcast’s episode below.
