Slipknot’s Shawn “Clown” Crahan has long demonstrated a desire to work across multiple creative disciplines, including music, film and visual art. His creative reach has consistently extended beyond the stage. So when his name became attached to a sprawling, custom-built Minecraft realm, it was clear the project was more than a novelty crossover.
What began as watching his children experiment within Minecraft’s sandbox has since grown into VERNEARTH, a permanent and evolving digital world shaped by grief, community and a deep respect for the platform itself. CGMagazine spoke with Crahan about why Minecraft became his creative canvas, how digital spaces can carry the same responsibility as a live performance, and why this project may be the most personal work he has ever undertaken.
Why Minecraft, and why now? What was your journey to VERNEARTH?
Clown: As you can imagine, it’s a very long story. Many years, many things. I’ll try to give you the quick version. I love to create, and I use all kinds of brushes. I sculpt, I write poetry. I’ve always been a Renaissance man. What I tend to do is take everything I do and put it into one thing. This is the first time I’ve worked in a 3D space like this.
It’s an intimate canvas that isn’t shared with anything else I’m doing. For example, I’m in a band. I also jam with other people. But this world is just this world. I’m not working on anything else like it in design, creation, lore, or thought. That makes it a very unique situation for me.
I’m 56. I have four children. My oldest is 34. All of my kids have played Minecraft, from the very beginning. I bought it the first day it came out and watched it grow. Each child played it differently, created differently. Same platform, different humans, different ways of thinking. That fascinated me. Community culture fascinates me.
I’m part of a very large culture myself, so I’m always interested in how cultures align. Watching my kids play showed me that. My youngest came into it much later, and I remember him building something that completely blew my mind. It was like parkour on a level I couldn’t even understand at his age. I don’t think I could have done it in my lifetime.
Later, I was introduced to opportunities involving crypto, NFTs, and video games, and I became part of a project that used Minecraft. That’s when I really landed in it. Once I did, I found myself in it, and I haven’t stopped since. Before that, I had bought a world generator and started creating a universe dedicated to my mother, who wrote a science-fiction book. Life got difficult, and I had to step away from it. When I came back, that’s when I was fully in.
Long story short, I didn’t want to lose the world I had made. When the project I was part of was ending, I asked if I could take it over. They said no. So I called my associate and said, “Let’s get a server.” We did. We played with it for about a year and realized it wasn’t what we needed. I’ve been working on this straight for four years.
One of my children passed away. A couple of my bandmates passed away. Gaming has always been a place where I live in my imagination. I can create art while also working through pain. Games aren’t brainless to me. They keep imagination alive.
Minecraft has helped my behavioural health. When you lose a child, sometimes you become motionless. You can’t move, you can’t think. Having a creative outlet keeps me moving. It’s like a spark that keeps the flame going. I can think while creating. That’s heaven for me.
I tell people who are depressed: acknowledge it. If you can’t do much, go sweep the garage. At the end of the day, you didn’t lose the day. You did something. I’ll be on the bus in full gear playing. Someone says, “It’s time.” I go do the show, come back, shower, relax, and get right back on until I fall asleep. I have a lot on my mind, a lot of serious things in my life. This lets me process all of it.
Art, behavioural health, isolation, music. I get to score things, add music, create moving images, NPCs, and blocks. We’ve made around 1,200 blocks. I’ve made my own grass, my own oak. Why? Because it’s a phenomenal art canvas.
When people come in, I want them to feel it. It might take a second, but then you realize this is a massive painting. It’s all of who I am in one place. I wanted to show respect and love for a platform that helped my children and helps millions of people. I didn’t want to change it. I wanted to be inspired by it and accentuate it.
It sounds like it scratches the same creative itch as music or film.
Clown: One hundred percent. Absolutely.
What’s the biggest difference between a digital community and a live show?
Clown: There’s no difference if you’re responsible. I won’t tolerate prejudice live, and I won’t tolerate it digitally. The digital world can actually be more intense because you don’t know who you’re dealing with. You have to be safer.
But the organic world and the digital world are the same thing. Some people online were at the show last night. I treat them the same way. Truth, integrity, no lying, cheating, or stealing. Just help each other. I also started this knowing that there’s a massive number of Minecraft players who don’t know who Slipknot is. This was a way to meet people through art. Knowledge is something you give. If they’re interested, great. If not, that’s fine too.
It really sounds like VERNEARTH is meant to be a safe, welcoming space.
Clown: It is. Without giving too much away, there are memorial spaces in the world for people who’ve passed. I knew people would need that. Certain days come around, and people want to share grief with a community.
I was visiting a player’s house once and saw monuments for Joey Jordison and Paul Gray. That didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was a sign that said, “Leave a flower in memory,” and there were flowers everywhere. Before I’d even released my version of that space, the community showed me how much they needed it.
That same player lost her horse once. I spent 30 minutes helping her find it. I ended up calling my developer in real time to teleport us back. The next day, she was building a Christmas tree and wanted help. That’s what I wanted this to be. I made a Slipknot block, and now people trade them, steal them, fight over them. So we had to create rules and systems around that passion. It’s becoming a home. And it’s my job to regulate it and keep it safe.
Do the blocks and NPCs you created reflect your darker aesthetic?
Clown: Absolutely. Making blocks fascinates me. There’s ratio, 3D form, and coding involved. Some blocks have utility, like redstone. It’s like a digital motherboard. The culture’s understanding of automation is incredible. We’ve made our own biomes. Right now, I think we have seven. Each biome uses around 12 to 15 custom blocks. I’ve made hundreds of blocks myself. Mine are bright, fundamental, clean. My builders took them and created a biome called the Neon Waste. You’ll be walking through plains, go over a mountain, and suddenly you’re in this Blade Runner-style neon biome in the middle of Minecraft.
I believe this might be one of the greatest art pieces I’ve ever made. I’m trying to alter feelings, not replace them. I turned pigs into glass with red eyes. Why? Because I can. This is VERNEARTH. Be ready for anything. My aesthetic is colour, sound, and psychology. I use audio techniques that mix audible and inaudible frequencies, and I believe visuals can do the same thing. Colours, sky, ground, music. I want you to feel something.
This is how I work. I take words, images, sound, movement and put them together until you can almost smell and taste them. That’s why I can keep doing this every day.
In the long term, is VERNEARTH a permanent realm, or does it reset?
Clown: It’s permanent and always growing. Nothing will be pulled down. What exists now will become rare. We’re constantly adding new land, systems, PvP maps, auction houses, factions, and plot worlds. People will break it. That’s the point. I love that. I come from the Quake community, where developers gave us the tools and said, “Go.” That mindset changed my life. This world will continue to evolve for the rest of my life.
For anyone looking to hop into VERNEARTH firsthand, the servers went live on December 8th 2025, on PC through Minecraft: Java Edition. To join, go to Multiplayer and connect to the server address vernearth.com.
