Masked metaller Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan has spent 30 years helping to make Slipknot one of the biggest bands around. But away from bashing drums on stadium stages, delighting hordes of teenagers and generally horrifying parents around the world, he’s been busy working on a very different project.
Last year, Clown released his first fully playable game. Vernearth, a twisted, surreal extension of blocky cyber-sandpit Minecraft, went live in December and will expand over the coming months. In it, you can do everything you can do in the original – team up with friends to build impressive creations, engage strangers in pixelated combat and take on a variety of quests.
“It might seem weird that this big metal dude is messing around with Minecraft but I just love games,” Clown says over Zoom. Growing up, heand his friends played Dungeons & Dragons before moving into the local arcade for early classics such as Astrosmash, Robotron: 2084, Defender, Stargate, Bonk’s Adventure, Moon Patrol and Gorf. A pivot to consoles soon followed.
“It was Doom that really changed my life,” he says of the iconic 1993 first-person shooter. “There was this darkness to it that spoke to my soul.” Its spiritual successor Quake, released in 1996 with a soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and permission for players to modify maps and create their own levels, was even more influential. “That’s when I really started thinking about what kind of game I would make.”
Over the years, Clown pitched a number of different ideas to developers but was knocked back. “Most won’t even talk to you unless you’ve got $25million to put into it,” he explains. One was inspired by fantastical role-playing card games Vampire: The Masquerade and Rage: The Apocalypse, while another took inspiration from D&D.
There was also a straight up rock and roll game. Clown spent three years working on it but couldn’t get it greenlit. “That still pisses me off because it’s such a no-brainer [coming from a member of a huge rock band]. I reckon it would be as [influential] as Grand Theft Auto.” He might revisit the idea in the future but for now, he’s all in on Vernearth. “Building this world has opened my mind so much. It’s some of the best art I’ve made in my life.”
Clown discovered Minecraft through his four kids, who all sunk a lot of time into the 3D metaverse. “I didn’t really understand it at first,” he admits, but that soon changed when – in late 2021 – he got involved with NFT Minecraft project Critterz. Players could earn cryptocurrency and cash for playing in their privately-hosted environment. “I started building and I’ve not stopped. Something just hit,” he says, often playing for up to 18 hours a day. Critterz shut down in 2022 when Minecraft bosses banned NFT and crypto tech due to concerns about fraud and profiteering that might “detract” from the family-friendly nature of the game.
Undeterred, Clown bought his own Minecraft server and has spent four years creating Vernearth alongside daughter Alexandria and drum tech Sean Kane. “We’d work on stuff together during the day, then go and do the show at night.”
Clown’s version of Minecraft is, as you’d expect, a much altered prospect. “I wanted to create something people hadn’t seen before, with all the weird twists that you’d expect from me.”
Among other changes, Clown has dialled up the creeping dread of Minecraft‘s hellish Nether level to create Vernearth’s more-dangerous Mare area – and the desolate expanse of The End biome has been turned into the even creepier Over Over. The game’s surreal universe will still feel familiar to veterans – but this time they’ll be coming together to build structures in The Oblivion or fighting to the death in The Arena. There are also custom-made blocks, original AI-driven NPCs known as Mobs and hulking bosses to battle. It’s not gory, but there is an increased sense of unease throughout the pixelated world. “Minecraft was already brilliant but we have our own way of doing things,” says Clown.
“People might question how helpful escaping into a digital realm can be, but it’s really helped me work through some of my grief”
After years of work behind-the-scenes, Vernearth went public on December 1 – the birthday of Clown’s dad, who died in 2005 – and the lore for the game is inspired by a science fiction book his mother wrote for him before she passed away in 2009.
“Vernearth is a place where I can handle some of my grieving,” says Clown. “My kids will log on and we’ll build stuff for my daughter [Gabrielle, who passed away in 2019 following struggles with addiction]. I’m able to go there and be around a community. It’s just such a wonderful space for my brain. People might question how helpful escaping into a digital realm can be, but it’s really helped me work through some of my grief.”
He’s not the only one either. Several days ago, a Vernearth user named Amy invited Clown to explore her build, which includes blockified gravestones for former Slipknot members Paul Gray and Joey Jordison – as well as a sign asking fans to “leave flowers in memory” of his masked brethren. Hundreds of beautifully rendered digital flowers surround the memorial. “I really wasn’t expecting that,” says Clown. “I caught a tear, man.” It’s early days, but he’s pleased that “it already feels like we’re all here for each other. ”
Just like with Slipknot, the goal of Vernearth is to offer people a place for self-expression. “I’m always trying to create something that feels good, using the things that make me feel good.” One of the things the band currently working on is a system that will give users access to online therapy. “I really believe in the mental health benefits of gaming, so I want to push that aspect as much as possible.”
It’s not the only extra content Clown has planned. Earlier this week, The Auction House went live, allowing users to buy, trade and sell their loot and homemade creations. He’s also been working on an original soundtrack. “I’m in the studio almost every week making music without any of the usual pressures or expectations, which is very fulfilling,” he says, before teasing both dark and light ambient music that wouldn’t sound out of place in a horror film. “I’ve also gotten back into drums in a big way to make sure I’m ready for what’s up next [with Slipknot]. I’m really trying to take things to that next level,” says Clown. “Music is dead important to gaming.”
He’s quick to point out that he’s not currently working on material for the follow-up to 2022 Slipknot album ‘The End, So Far’ and, despite reports, nor are any of the other members of Slipknot.
“We’re doing the biggest thing we can do right now, which is taking a much-needed break,” he says. The gruelling back-to-back cycles for ‘The End, So Far’ and 2019’s ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ left Clown feeling burnt out and he reckons he’s not the only one either. “We’re taking some real human time. Everybody is writing all the time, but we have not got into a place to work on what’s been written.” There are tentative plans to get together later this month but only if everyone is up for it: “It feels very positive and everyone is looking forward to getting back at it.”