Slipknot loses two longtime members ahead of its European tour

The band’s roster appears to be in disarray as Slipknot’s European tour gets underway, with co-founder Shawn

Crahan taking a break and veteran keyboardist Craig Jones quitting.

Slipknot co-founder and percussionist Shawn “The Clown” Crahan made the announcement ahead of the tour’s first

night at the Nova Rock Festival in Austria on Wednesday that he will be skipping the trip to care for his wife while

she struggles with unidentified health difficulties.

Greetings to all of our admirers, this is the clown. He posted on the band’s social media, saying, “I would like to take

a moment to tell everyone that I’m back home supporting my wife through some health issues, and I’ll be back on the

road as soon as I can.”

Subsequently, the band declared that Craig “133” Jones, their long-time keyboardist, had formally left the group.

“To our fans, Slipknot is announcing that we have parted ways with Craig Jones,” a Slipknot representative stated in

a since-deleted social media post. We want the best for Jones’s future.

The band suggests that they have already found a replacement for their missing keyboardist by replacing the

notification of Jones’ departure with a fresh photograph of an unidentified person wearing a mask.

After replacing guitarist Donnie Steele in the Slipknot lineup in 1996, Jones switched to keyboards and samples.

Currently touring Europe, Slipknot will play their next show on Saturday at the Greenfield Festival in Switzerland.