According to a press release from heavy metal band Slipknot, their upcoming music festival will have an official smell: camel dung. The group has already ordered three days’ worth of camel waste for their second Knotfest, which will be held in San Bernardino, California.
Percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan explained that the shipment will be poured into oil drums and heated over burning charcoal, “like we’re doing ribs.” Their press release stated that the smell “will infest your brain, body and clothes for days after the festival is over.” The musician has admitted he has an obsession with the olfactory. “Freshly mowed grass. How smells when a nice spring rain hits,” he said. “It brings me home, makes me feel safe.”
Other groups that will be performing in the odorous haze include Danzig, Testament, Anthrax, Carcass, Napalm Death, and Five Finger Death Punch, along with more than 50 other bands on 5 stages. The 2014 Knotfest will also feature carnival rides, nightly fights, a communal drum circle, a motocross race, a zip-line, a tattoo parlor, and a goat-petting zoo. Not to mention some serious pyrotechnics. “Just lighting shit on fire all day long, blowing 23-foot f***in’ flames in the air, the whole deal,” explained Crahan.
This is not the first time Slipknot has infused the camel dung fragrance into their music. The same aroma permeated their museum tent at Knotfest 2012. “It was awesome, it was beautiful,” recalled Crahan. “Fans came into the museum and they were hit with it. A very distinct smell. You can’t huff it, but it’s got this smell. And it’s not necessarily the most comfortable thing, but its not necessarily the worst thing, it’s just remembering thoughts — it’s gonna be a recurring thing.”
The band hopes the smell of camel poop will become the signature smell associated with their sound. “You [will] be somewhere in the world, maybe be in a little pain, and then all of a sudden smell that and feel good again,” said Crahan. The pungent festival will run from October 24th to the 26th at San Bernardino’s San Manuel Amphitheater. Tickets are now on sale.