Slipknot's future has been secured following bass player Paul Gray's death last year (10) - the band has announced a new U.S. tour.
Drummer Shawn Crahan made the announcement on his Facebook.com page on Monday (29Aug11), ending a year of speculation surrounding fears the group would disband following the tragedy - after playing a series of pre-arranged concerts in Europe this summer (11).
Crahan wrote, "I wanted to tell everyone straight from my mouth because you may have heard it already anyway, but Slipknot will be touring by next June (12) in America only, but that does not mean things will not change, and as they do, I will, along with others, tell you, our family, first."
But he insists there are no plans for the masked rockers to record a new album, adding, "It is too soon and there are no songs yet because the band needs to come together to write this next one... Everything happens for a reason, so be ready."
Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor recently revealed he had enjoyed the European shows with his band after initially fearing they would be the group's last - as he and his bandmates struggled to cope with the loss of Gray, who died from an accidental drug overdose.
Following the dates, he told Artisan News, "I'm trying to figure out what the next steps are. And without Paul, and the way that the turmoil in the band is right now, it's gonna take some time. The tour went really well... so that's a step in the right direction. But there's still a lot of things that we've gotta work on before we can run back in and be like, 'OK, let's do another album.'"