Biography

If your 555 i'm 666 | home

Biography

Biography

Iowa is probably best known as "the middle of nowhere." Most non-residents consider the corn-and-pig-state a geographical black hole. Since rock'n'roll's dawning in the early '50's, Iowa has had no singular voice to put on the musical map. Naming a significant musical identity from the state is inarguably a fruitless task; it simply can't be done. However, nine freaks from Des Moines--draped in industrial coveralls, surrealistic self-made masks, and an attack that combines violently regurgitated "L.A. neo-metal," death metal, hip-hop, and downtuned screeching horror--are about to leap upon the unsuspecting world like a musical of Clockwork Orange. Have you ever thought about what a messed-up hardcore metal band from "the middle of nowhere" would sound like? "Ultra-violence" only begins to descibe it...

Meet 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. (In human terms that's DJ Sid Wilson, drummer Joey Jordison, bassist Paul Gray, percussionist Chris Fehn, guitarist James Root, sampler Craig Jones, percussionist Shawn Crahan, guitarist Mic Thompson, and vocalist Corey Taylor, respectively.) Each comes equipped with not only a frightening visual persona and number assignment, but a talent on his particular instrument that combines and collides to form the nine-headed savior/destructor of modern heavy music dubbed Slipknot. Now, with the tools and talents (not to mention complex-yet-infectiously-catchy songs) that this band holds in its grasp, the world has no choice: Slipknot has arrived, and you must now decide how to deal with it. Formed during the latter half of 1995, the band went through necessary lineup changes to arrive at what they now descibe as "a family unit." All native Iowans, their rather unassuming, un-happening locale gave the members plenty of space and time to perfect their unusual take on heaviosity. The band recorded and distributed the self-released debut Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. in 1996, and the ball hasn't stopped rolling since. Attracting the attention of a number of labels, Slipknot finally signed to Roadrunner through noted producer Ross Robinson's I AM RECORDS imprint in 1997 and entered Indigo Ranch Studios in L.A. with Robinson to record Slipknot. From the pummeling Sic and the unforgiving bludgeon of Surfacing to the sublime melodies within Wait And Bleed and the hypnotizing rhythmic drive of Prosthetics, Slipknot's vast array of influences comes seamlessly wrapped up in a 13-song love/hate letter to the outside world. The touring that will follow is promised to be "unlike anything else that's going on out there. Seeing is believing." So says Shawn Crahan. And it's a gross understatement of what actually transpires when it all comes together on stage.

Until you hear the sound they create, having nine members in the band might seem ludicrous. Shawn claims it couldn't work any other way: "We've maintained an excellent practice schedule for the last three years. Everybody's on time, everybody's always there, and we always practice as a unit. Our music is so reliant on each other that if one guy, even the DJ, is gone, it just wouldn't be our songs without him. Without one person, something is really, really missing. Everybody has to be present. Even the littlest things make the songs magical."

Just as striking visually as they are musically, Slipknot stresses that the visuals do not take precedence over the music. "We never put on the shit we wear to try and get people into us," says Joey Jordison. "We did it because, after being degraded constantly for trying to play music or do something in Des Moines, it just came to be like we were an anonymous entity. No one gave a fuck, no one cared, so we were never about our names or our faces; we're just about music. So we just put it on and it started gettin' people, and it just started to turn into this big thing. The music's the most important, though. The coveralls and masks happened, and for some reason it worked, therefore we had to kind of continue with it. We got stuck with it."

Now that they're stuck with it, they hardly feel like themselves without it. Shawn feels that "...the masks are extensions of our personalities. Everybody's got sort of a tweaked, demented way about themselves, and we just alter the masks over time. It feels really, really good when we wear our masks for an hour, and then afterwards we take it off, and the first thing we do is go, 'God, what a relief!', but we always seem to put 'em back on after a show and walk around the place." And the visual presentation will change over time, just as the music certainly will. "I think things will always be changing with Slipknot. Everybody grows older every year, and with that you change, and that's somethin' Slipknot is always going to do."

As for the number assignments they wear on their coverall sleeves, they're lucky numbers, significant and vitally important to each member. When choosing them, "Everybody fell into a number," says Shawn. "There was not one person in the band arguing over a number. It was really weird."

Thanks to a hefty Ross Robinson production job on Slipknot, Slipknot's vision, part one, has been successfully realized. Shawn feels that Robinson was as highly motivated to work on the record as the band were to work with him. "We're a highly, highly aggressive band, and very seldom do we meet people who are in the realm of our aggressiveness when we play as a unit, and Ross took us into the recording room and was throwing punches at us. He was into it. Ross got up every day and went and worked out so he could be in shape to do our album."

When label reps and Robinson himself came to Des Moines to check out Slipknot at their best (on stage), the members were left with little to do for after-show entertainment than go to local strip clubs. After hosting guest after guest, the band were completely burnt out. Now, nobody in Slipknot ever wants to step inside a strip club again (it's Des Moines's leading form of entertainment, incidentally).

Shawn grunts in disgust: "Fuck the strip bars.

Fuck taking anybody to strip joints.

We got shit to do."

The "shit" is wrapped up in a pretty little package called Slipknot. It's the discordant sound of the middle of nowhere, a terrain where Slipknot is jester and king...

This highly provocative, Des Moines, Iowa, USA-based alternative metal outfit, whose shock rock values are masked by their anonymous stage wear of matching jump suits and horror masks, was founded by Shawn Crahan (percussion) and Paul Grey (bass). The early line-up of Slipknot released the independently recorded and distributed Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat in 1996. Although the band was struggling to make ends meet, their big break arrived when they were signed to leading metal label Roadrunner Records. The band, comprising nine members, subsequently adopted a lucky number to wear on their jump suits. Alongside Crahan (number 6) and Grey (number 2), was number 8 Corey Taylor (vocals), number 7 Mick Thompson (guitar), number 5 Craig Jones (samples), number 4 James Root (guitar), number 3 Chris Fehn (percussion), number 1 Joey Jordison (drums), and number 0 Sid Wilson (DJ). They recorded their self-titled second album at Indigo Ranch Studios in Los Angeles, California. The production work of Ross Robinson was a marked improvement on their messy debut, but failed to disguise the sub- Korn metal of tracks such as "Eyeless" and "Wait And Bleed".

7216589431555666

Corey Taylor #8 (Vocals) Corey is the front man. He worked in a porno shop in hometown of Des Moines before joining the band. He wears a truly disturbing 'leather face' mask with dreads made from his real hair. Corey is formerly the front man of Iowa band "Stone Sour", and prefers the first name "Faith".
	Mick Thompson #7 (Guitar) Mick is the giant, hockey mask clad guitarist. He is fully aware of similarity with Jason Vorhees from "Friday The 13th" films, and describes himself as "a night person". Mick enjoys listening to Immolation, Morbid Angel, Jimi Hendrix, Deicide and The Beatles.
	Sid Wilson #0 (turntables) A dryly sarcastic DJ, Sid wears a gas mask, suffers from 'organic syndrome', and maintains a rivalry with clown-masked percussionist Shawn. Violence often happens
	Shawn Crahan #6 (percussion) A jack-of-all-trades drummer and co-founder of Slipknot. Shawn was a welder before joining the band. He is an admirer of painters Cezanne and Picasso, and has a drum kit made from titanium, the same material as the NASA Space Shuttle. "I've wanted to be a clown because there's something pretty nice about me and something pretty twisted as well. If someone stares at me on my way to the stage, I don't get up until they look away first."

	Paul Grey #2 (Bass Paul is the co-founder of Slipknot with Shawn. He says the pig face mask he wears relates to his indulgent personality.
	Joey Jordison #1 (Drums) A talkative, diminutive lead drummer, Joey has long black hair with vivid red-steaks, and wears a plain white, expressionless Japanese kabuki mask.
	Chris Fehn #3 (Percussion) Softly-spoken, Chris is the self confessed joker of the band, and wears a preposterous white Pinocchio mask. Chris was influenced by classic metal drummers like Igor Cavalera and Dave Lombardo. Chris also claims to have seen UFOs at Indigo Ranch.
	James Root #4 (Guitar) The new lunatic on the block. James joined Slipknot during recording of the record, and was forced by his band mates to wear a stifling bondage hood. James claims that being a member of Slipknot has changed his attitude towards 'right' and 'wrong'.

Craig Jones #5 (sampler)

A sensitive sound-effects man. Craig originally joined the band as a guitarist, and is imprisoned inside a weighty diver's helmet crowned in nails. Craig often leaves concerts early to maintain his anonymity. He feels alienated and alone since no one comes near him when he's head banging

FuCk YoU!!!

sLiPkNoT