Slipknot's {sic}nesses: Live At Download DVD will now be released on Blu-ray on July 31. Filmed in high-definition and newly remixed in DTS-HD Master Audio and LPCM Stereo, the Blu-Ray captures Slipknot's 18-song, 159-minute performance at the U.K.'s Download Festival on June 13, 2009, in front of 80,000 fans. Included is a 45-minute documentary directed by the band's M. Shawn Crahan (aka Clown), Audible Visions Of {sic}nesses, as well as music videos for the songs "Psychosocial," "Dead Memories," "Sulfur," the short film Snuff (directed by Crahan and PaulBrown), plus The Making of Snuff.
The Blu-Ray's release is just a drop in the bucket for Slipknot right now, as the band also has the best-of set Antennas To Hell coming out on July 24, a current headlining slot on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, and its own two-day Knotfest coming up in August. Crahan says that all of this activity is "ending a philosophy of grieving with our fans" over the 2010 death of bassist Paul Gray.
"It's very important for people to know that, yes, it is the end of a thought process of sharing a loss together and getting on with the future," Crahan told Billboard.com. "But that doesn't mean the future doesn't include Paul Gray. We're moving forward, but he's leading the pack. It's not the end of a period and a beginning of a new period; there are only nine members, and there will only be nine members. Paul Gray will always be part of that nine. We'll always be representing. He will be there 'til the end of time."
Crahan says the plan after Knotfest -- which takes place August 17 in Council Bluffs, IA and August 18 in Somerset, WI -- is to "take some time off -- less time than people think -- write a record, record a record, (set up) a record, drop a record, (set up) a tour, support the record." He added that Gray will definitely be part of the next album because "we've got songs he's written."
Fans also should keep an ear out for FMQB's radio special Inside Slipknot: Antennas to Hell, featuring Corey Taylor and Clown in a conversation with their hometown deejay, KAZR (Lazer 103)/Des Moines' Andy Hall. During the program they take a trip through some of the songs that helped Slipknot achieve world domination, including "Wait And Bleed," "Spit It Out," "Duality," "Before I Forget," "Psychosocial," "Dead Memories," "Snuff" and "My Plague." The special will air on radio stations nationwide from July 20 - 29.