Slipknot percussionist Shawn 'Clown' Crahan has offered more insight into the unreleased Look Outside Your Window album, which was written and recorded by four of the band's members during the sessions for the 2008 record All Hope Is Gone.

In January of 2020, Clown revealed that the group had intended to release the record on Christmas day (2019), but that the plans deteriorated without much of an understanding as to why the release remained shelved. These comments came months after he had said that parts of Look Outside Your Window would come out amid Slipknot's touring cycle behind the We Are Not Your Kind album.

In a new interview with Terry 'Beez' Beezer, host of the Knotfest podcast 'Mosh Talks,' Clown essentially threw his hands up in regards to the eventual release of the long-anticipated album that is said to feature overtly psychedelic songs.

"The reason why we never can commit to a date or anything is because — don't make it confusing. Don't make it something it's not. Don't call it something it's not. Accept it. It's music. It's art. It doesn't carry the Slipknot name," the percussionist said (transcription via Blabbermouth), later noting that drummer Joey Jordison, who was later dismissed from the band, did not take part in the recording and "he doesn't know anything about the songs."

Clown urged that the album was not held to intentionally make fans made, nor was it held to "prove a point."

He confirmed that Look Outside Your Window has been mixed and mastered and is "ready to go" but it needs to be released when it can be properly prioritized, citing the mandate to not have the album interfere with Slipknot's own priorities. "It's up to everyone to sort of shut their mouths and not make it confusing," stressed Clown.

Beezer raised the point that an ideal time to release the record would have been during the pandemic, as Slipknot were on a forced hiatus while the touring industry shut down worldwide.

Clown acknowledged this notion now put him in a "hard position," but elected to "speak facts."

"We have never really had a tentative [release date]. We speculate. So we get a speculation. We get a date under speculation. But we don't even really make it tentative. We just kind of throw it out there — speculate. But then someone like Corey [Taylor] might wanna do his solo album earlier," he explained.

"I love that. Let's not get this confused. We really don't have to go much more into it than that. I love that he wants to do his thing. I've got the rest of my life to do 'Look Outside Your Window' with him," continued Clown, "But he may only have right now, maybe in his mind, to do what he wants to do. It's not up to me to dictate what he may or may not want to do with his life, his career, even though we're so together with one thing, bonded by one. We never make everything confusing; everybody else does."

It was confirmed that there were numerous potential release dates that were proposed during the pandemic, though the albums remains shelved for the time being.

"It was created because we wanted to create art, and we did, and it ended up being something that everybody's going to want, and they're going to get it when it's right," Crahan went on, likening the release to planned, responsible parenting.

"We should think about having babies — only do it when we know we can be good mothers and fathers, when we know we're not going to walk away from each other, when we know we're going be there for a reward for the child and give all of ourselves. That's the way we tried to do it, and we did — we tried to get it out," he explained.

Clown expressed absolute support for the material, calling it "absolutely beautiful" before again stressing it can only be released if it does not have a negative impact on anyone involved. And if it does, he is content with Look Outside Your Window never seeing an official release.

Watch the interview below.

Clown on the 'Mosh Talks With Beez' Podcast

The Evolution of Slipknot's Masks

 

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