Why Does Slipknot Wear Masks? Corey Taylor and Clown Explain [Video]

Slipknot's Corey Taylor and Shawn "Clown" Crahan are going to be on the British Art Magazine show "Artsnight", tonight, Friday, Feb. 5. The episode explores why bands wear masks, Blabbermouth reports.

In a preview clip, Taylor and Clown share the origins of their Slipknot masks and the reasons behind wearing them. 

Taylor talks about seeing Slipknot before he was in the band [transcribed by Blabbermouth]:

"I was there for the very first Slipknot show. I was in the audience. This was before I'd joined the band. It was so many different things all at once. It was visual, it was visceral, it was antagonistic, it was dangerous, it was powerful. I'd never seen a band like that before. It was taking everything that had been done creatively, artistically, visually and, to me, taking it to such a different realm. And I loved the fact that every mask was different, because it represented a different person. It wasn't all linear and just kind of thrown together. It really felt like everyone had put a lot of time and thought into what they were doing. So when I did join, after some trial and error, I came to emboss that theory on to the mask that I was wearing."

"The mask, for me, has always been that physical representation of the person inside me who just never had a voice. It allows me to be me. I mean, that's what it's all about. You talk about that representation of the person on the inside. I'm showing you more than I've ever revealed.

"Everyone who wears a mask, embrace it, because you're not being somebody else; you're being yourself. And the closer you can get to that middle, to getting to know that honesty, is better for everybody, because then you can actually be yourself."

Crahan shares how long he has had his mask:

"I had gotten a version of this mask when I was 14. And I was just drawn to it, and it was awesome. And I just never knew why it was in my world, but it was always around me. And then one day, it just so happened, it was that moment of clarity to decide what I wanted to project. I'm being taught something, more and more and more, and I haven't even figured it out yet. This thing has no f------- limits."

"Artsnight" airs tonight at 11p.m. on BBC2.