PHOTO CREDIT NEIL ZLOZOWER. CLOWN AND WEEWUU IN HOLLYWOOD

This is a story of adapting and overcoming anything and everything because you want it that bad…

I have been fortunate to know some incredible leaders throughout my life, but I can guarantee that I will never meet anyone quite like my brother Shawn. His artistry and his ability to lead by example, as well as his ability to overcome tragedy, are all unique to him. “Pain comes with the art,” he’d say, emphasizing that anything of real value will come with its fair share of difficulty. How badly do you want it? What are you willing to sacrifice? How far will you push yourself?

Shawn and I have had some incredible experiences together, both with the plant we both adore and with our shared passion for music. It’s become clear to me that cannabis and art go hand in hand, just like music and art. I’ve also been able to bear witness to what makes a true leader tick. With true leaders, you never really know what’s going on behind the scenes. Sure, your company might be putting out some amazing cannabis or winning Grammys with your band. But to sit down with great CEOs in the cannabis industry or to sit behind the boards at a world-famous recording studio with Shawn, you realize that it’s not just the growers or drummers, but that CEOs are instrumental in building all parts, just like producers hear the music in the air. 

I’ll never forget driving around Des Moines, Iowa, with Shawn, in his beloved old faded-red 80s Toyota truck at the beginning of the 2000s. We stopped by a home that took care of loved ones with late-stage Alzheimer’s or dementia, where his mother was being cared for, the same circumstance my grandmother was in. Shawn is an only child like me, and we are ten days apart in age. As two Midwest boys who grew up loving music and the plant, we found we had a lot in common. Both our mothers were Master Gardeners and had a shared love of their perennial plants. We next stopped off at where his mother used to live, and he showed me the garden she loved and how he had replaced numerous plants that he had run over – accidentally, I asked? All I got in return was his sly grin/laugh.

“Paul Gray – he believed in my art, and I believed in his music. Together, we decided to change the world, and that’s what we did. 

M. Shawn Crahan”

We proceeded to drive by the house Slipknot was practicing at (in 1995) prior to Corey Taylor, prior to being signed and dropped and signed. A certain label wanted Shawn to fire half the band, but that’s not what this article is about right now. This is about Joey Jordison coming over to take your ass out and replace you in the band… (Yes the Joey Jordison who sat in for Metallica with zero notice in front of 100,000 people) I’ve never met anyone with the will and tenacity Shawn has, a fine balance of the artist and CEO, and instead of sulking when one of the strongest drummers in the history of the genre wants your spot, he re imagined the whole band (business). I laughed so hard when he explained he had found out what time Joey was trying out, and he went and perched on the front steps and waited for him… I hope I get this part exactly correct, but Joey saw Shawn sitting on the steps when he pulled up, he looked at him, put his vehicle back in drive, and then went ahead and drove around the block three more times before stopping and finally getting out to face him, and that was the start of the biggest band in metal since 1999 being allowed to breathe not destruct.

Harpo’s Detroit, Michigan Stage Right 9/10/1999″

Tonight, it was opening act Coal Chamber, then Machine Head followed by the mighty Slipknot who were absolutely destroying towns everywhere they went. It had to be about 110 degrees inside Harpos that night. What a historic music theater, what an asshole running it, turning up the heat so people would buy more to drink… I have seen Slipknot at least 150 times, a lot of them from the stage, even bringing my daughters on stage over the years. This night I watched as Corey Taylor puked his guts out stage-side three times between songs from the intense heat in the building in his very warm-looking overalls. Nothing was going to stop this band, Corey never missed a note, no one in the band did. You can watch it below.

The stage was too small, the members were cramped for space not smashing instruments into each other, yet no complaints. After the show, nobody was in a bad mood. Definitely, there was some checking on each other following the conditions of the night, and maybe a shower if lucky, then back on the bus and on to the next show. 

On to the next veg room, on to the next flower room, on and on and on. Ups and downs, wins and losses, but moving forward right now to another horizon. Never say quit, my friends, but breathe.