Slipknot’s Clown Is Busy, Godsmack Cover Album Due Out In Spring

There's lots going on right now in the life of Slipknot percussionist M. Shawn Crahan -- AKA Clown. On Thursday he attended the L.A. premiere of The Devil's Carnival, director Darren Bousman's operatic horror film in which Clown makes his film debut as a henchman of satan known as "The Tamer." He tells us he held out watching it in advance and waited on line with everyone else to see the finished film for the first time, and was so nervous he was "sick all day." He also attended screenings in Anaheim on Friday and San Diego on Saturday.

Today, Clown and Slipknot singer Corey Taylor are guest speakers at the Musicians Institute in L.A., where Clown will talk about putting heart -- which he describes as "my pain" -- in music.

Clown will also release his first book, Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey, which features his artistically manipulated Polaroid photographs, on June 19th.

Godsmack have titled their upcoming collection Live and Inspired. It includes 13 songs they played at a show last year in Detroit, as well as a second disc of four covers they recorded earlier this year. The first single, out today, is a take on Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way." Live and Inspired is due out in late spring.

Godsmack kick off the Mass Chaos Tour with Staind and Halestorm on Friday in Augusta, Georgia.

IN STORES TOMORROW:

Halestorm: The Strange Case of... (Atlantic)
Drummer Arejay and singer Elizabeth "Lzzy" Hale return with their second major-label album.

Cavo: Thick as Thieves (Eleven Seven Music)
The St. Louis quartet is back with a third album, which features the title-track single.

Taproot: The Episodes (Victory)
The Ann Arbor, Michigan rockers are back with their eighth studio album.