Slipknot's Upcoming Music Festival Smells Like Shit

Slipknot have always been about the visual as much as the aural, but their upcoming three-day festival event, Knotfest, will see the masked metallers incorporate fans’ sense of smell into the Slipknot experience. The band have confirmed Knotfest will have an official scent and that scent is camel shit.

“Knotfest has its own aroma that will infest your brain, body and clothes for days after the festival is over,” reads a press release (via Loudwire). “Personally picked by Slipknot themselves, the smell of Knotfest will permeate the festival grounds. Oil drums will be filled with camel shit, set aflame to last the entire festival.”

And according to Slipknot percussionist and creative mastermind Shawn “Clown” Crahan, this isn’t just a trolling. “We did the camel dung on the first Knotfest. It was awesome; it was beautiful,” he tells Rolling Stone. “[Fans] came into the museum and they had to be hit with camel shit. A very distinct smell.”

Crahan says that camel dung is “not necessarily the most comfortable thing, but it’s not necessarily the worst thing”. According to the artist, the band are hoping that the festival’s olfactory assault will help instil fans with long-lasting memories that can be triggered in times of stress or personal turmoil.

“I write down things in life that are special, that only living in this thought process can you ever obtain,” he says. “Freshly mowed grass. How it smells when a nice spring rain… I like being in a different state that doesn’t even have grass and think that I smell fresh-cut grass. It brings me home. Makes me feel safe.”

“So, I figure, since we’re not a band anymore — we’re a culture, everybody needs to get used to that real quick — that the culture has to have a smell,” explains Crahan. “You have to be able to be somewhere in the world, maybe be in a little pain, and then all of a sudden smell that and feel good again.”

According to Crahan, the camel waste will not be mixed with oil, but instead slow-heated over charcoal, “like we’re doing ribs”. And though the percussionist seems to have it all figured out, don’t ask him where they’re actually going to get enough camel shit to last three days. “How you get it from the zoo is not my origin of expertise. I just put out the order and the captains go out and get it done,” he says.

Knotfest kicks off later this month in San Bernardino, California, with Slipknot headlining a bill that features Danzig, Anthrax, Testament, and more. Speaking recently to Music Feeds, Slipknot guitarist Jim Root said that rehearsals for the event have already begun and that sets will feature new material.