Slipknot have written ‘amazing’ material for sixth album, says Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan

Slipknot percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan says the band have already written some “amazing” new material for their sixth studio album.

The masked metallers only finished touring 2014’s ‘5: The Gray Chapter’ last autumn and they’ve been keen to tell fans it may be several years before a new record sees the light of day, especially as Corey Taylor is returning with Stone Sour this year.

However, in a fresh interview with Detroit’s WRIF (via Blabbermouth), Crahan says they’re enjoying leisurely writing new songs without any time constraints.

Shawn said: "Well, we're writing as a band, and with Corey as well. Yes, we're off, and we're off for a while — for a long while. Okay, (it's) much needed. We'd been touring for three years. Corey's doing what he does, which is Stone Sour, which is awesome.

“We're beginning to write some music for Slipknot for the new record. He's aware of it… So while we're writing, he's getting songs."

He continued: “We're not just gonna sit around… some of us aren't just gonna sit around, because we've done that for twenty years. We just feel like writing.

“We've had so much fun writing 'The Gray Chapter', and people that started writing together during this album cycle never wrote together in fifteen years, so things are a little bit different and it's amazing and it's fun, and we have a good time."

Explaining their relaxed approach, Shawn added: "We don't need big, fancy studios or stuff to write. We can just go to each other's houses and write, you know what I mean? Does that mean we're in the studio? Why would we go in the studio and just spend a bunch of money right now?

“No. We're writing, though. We're writing for the new record, and Corey gets songs. We have a lot of stuff already that we wrote out on the road for the last three years. We have songs that we've written that are amazing."

Stone Sour’s sixth album ‘Hyrdograd’ will be released later this year.

• Shawn Crahan