Slipknot's Shawn Crahan says heart issue is forcing surgery

Shawn Crahan is confronting the kind of vulnerability that rarely fits Slipknot’s masked, full-throttle image. The 56-year-old percussionist said he discovered an irregular heartbeat after the band’s last tour, and the problem became clear during medical checks when a nurse struggled to get an EKG reading.

Speaking on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin, posted to YouTube on May 7, 2026, Crahan described the condition in blunt terms. “I have a skipping heart and I got to get a surgery,” he said, adding that there are moments when he goes from feeling normal to feeling as if he is “dying.” For a player built on stamina, aggression, and endurance, the admission lands hard: this is not just a health update, it is a reminder of what decades on the road can do to a body that has spent years driving one of metal’s most punishing live acts.

Crahan said doctors discussed a pacemaker, but he wants the simpler surgery they recommended instead. That choice matters in drumming terms as much as in medical ones. A pacemaker would change the conversation around how he performs, how he tours, and how Slipknot plans future live runs. Arrhythmias can be treated with medicines, pacemakers, or procedures and surgery, and Crahan’s comments make clear that he is already weighing the practical realities of each path.

The timing also gives the story extra weight. Slipknot’s official site lists the Here Comes the Pain 25th-anniversary North American tour, which ran from August 6 to September 21, 2024, followed by 2025 Europe dates across June and Knotfest Australia 2025 stops in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, and Auckland. That recent schedule underlines the physical load behind even a short stretch of touring, especially for a percussionist whose role is built on force and repetition night after night.

Crahan’s reflections also reached back into Slipknot’s history. He spoke about the losses of Joey Jordison and Paul Gray, two foundational figures whose deaths reshaped the band’s story long before this latest health scare. Jordison, Slipknot’s founding drummer, died on July 26, 2021 at 46, and Gray died on May 24, 2010. Crahan’s own heart issue now sits inside that same larger story of survival, grief, and the strain of keeping a relentless band moving forward.