In the second of a six-part discussion, clown revisits grieving the loss of his daughter and how his connection with his community has prompted him to understand the value of sharing his art and vibration with the world.
The second segment of the six-part interview with clown traverses a very personal subject as the musician shares some of the grieving he did following the loss of his daughter.
clown would further explain how his encounters with online hate in the wake of such a tragedy, initially promoted him to get angry enough to disable his comments. What he would come to realize is that in effectively cutting off communication with his greater community, clown was doing more harm than good and ultimately punishing everyone for the actions of a small, misguided few.
Clarifying the notion of feeling misrepresented, clown would explain that he has arrived at a place where he understands the importance of sharing more of himself now more than ever. Though it is a tall task for someone who values his privacy, clown also is aware of the vibration he emits in the world and to not nurture that would be a sin – even if it means dealing with the occasional hater.
Stream the second segment of Mosh Talks with clown of Slipknot below.
:29 – Host Beez references “Spiders” from the We Are Not Your Kind album to explain how clown’s ability to do something so different two decades into his professional career is a show of his artistic prowess that is in line with the likes of Nick Cave, David Fincher and other luminaries of their respective categories.
1:26 – clown goes on to clarify what he meant when say he feels misrepresented. He goes onto praise his family and his surrounding community that truly embraces his unique vision and personality.
2:34 – clown has a room in his house that is surrounded with some 40 different clown masks that serve as his counsel.
3:03 – Having been focused for so long on one thing, clown would tragically experience a very significant loss in his life that prompted him to reevaluate everything and take inventory of his life in a completely different way. He explains the severity of the loss by saying that as a human, that can learn things, there is nothing he can be told and no tool he can use to remedy that loss.
4:34 – Referencing a very popular photo posting app that just about everyone uses, clown explains how people tend to share very personal portions of their lives online. What clown has come to realize is that while he doesn’t need any validation in sharing his life on social media, he isn’t willing to punish other people that do get something out of sharing so much online.
6:19 – Delving further into his curiosity with people’s negativity online, clown shared a personal story in which he started seeing negative comments and weirdness in his comments just after the passing of his daughter. Though he explains that he understands why people gravitate towards the negative, he can’t understand why people invest so much time in it. So much in fact that he feels like he needs to meet these particular types of people and pick their brain to see where they are coming from.
8:34 – After experiencing the negativity online after such a loss, clown decided to disable his comments online so he wouldn’t have to deal with seeing that kind of negativity anymore. After about a year, he began to see things differently and came to the conclusion that he was ultimately punishing the greater community for the misguided actions of a small few.
9:38 – clown arrived at the realization that he posts online to share his art, not to find gratification in the comments or the likes. Eliminating communication with his community was counterproductive to the intended effect of sharing his art – especially for the actions of just a few people that clown actually still considers part of his extended community.
10:25 – Learning to take online negativity with a grain of salt, clown is now choosing to give people the benefit of the doubt and presume that maybe their hostility is because they themselves are hurting or going through a difficult stretch of life.
11:02 – Though it is not in his comfort zone, clown is now in a space where he is good with revealing more of himself in an effort to be a better human. Though he is adamant about being only himself and never wanting to let people down, he understands the value in sharing his vibrations with the world.
13:39 – Again clarifying being misrepresented, clown explains that he hasn’t shared all that he should. Choosing to focus on the positivity within the community, clown realizes the importance of sharing his art and nurturing that bond with the people that won’t indulge the negativity but rather embrace all that’s positive.
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