Slipknot Biography

“When we were starting out, we had all these strikes against us,” he says. “We were from Iowa, there were nine of us, we wore masks, we wore coveralls, we played metal. Hard metal.”

“It was tough getting people to come out to Des Moines,” adds bassist Paul Gray. “I don’t know why, it’s a pretty cool place. But A&R  dudes - jaded folks from Los Angeles or New York — it’s hard to get them to come to Iowa.”

“And then there were all the haters,” says Taylor.

Ah, the haters. The people who liked nothing more than to give the band flack for its look, for substituting numbers for names, for putting on a show full of over-the-top chaos and unmitigated mayhem. Some of the comments came from the usual assortment of web sites and so-called music critics. But, surprisingly, “we also took a lot of shit from other bands,” says guitarist James Root. “When we hit the road with Ozzfest in 1999, I heard a lot of condescending remarks from other musicians. They were saying, ‘Slipknot won’t sell enough records, they won’t survive, they’ve got too many people, nobody’s gonna get it, they’re all about image.’ ”

“The joke’s on them,” says Taylor with wicked glee. “Our music stood up. We’re much more popular now and it wasn’t because of our image. It was the music.”

Photo Ronn Dunnett

Now, most of the bands who turned slagging Slipknot into an extreme sport have fallen off the face of the earth. The ‘Knot, on the other hand, have spent nearly a decade cementing their place as one of hard rock’s most extreme acts. They’ve dropped three albums and two DVDs, all of which went Platinum or better. They’ve sold out festivals and tours around the globe. And they are preparing to release their fourth record, All Hope Is Gone.

Slipknot — which features DJ Sid Wilson (0), drummer Joey Jordison (1), Gray (2), percussionist Chris Fehn (3) Root (4), sampler Craig Jones - 133 (5), percussionist M. Shawn Crahan - Clown (6), guitarist Mick Thomson (7) and Taylor (8), — is still heavy, still enamored of great, big walls of deeply textured layers of sound. But this time, they’ve approached their music with an eye towards stylistic expression that completely invalidates any and all comments about heavy metal clichés. Moreover, they’ve continued the exploration of melody that began
on their first record.

Songs like “Sulfur” and “Psychosocial” deliver crushing verses and bridges, but then explode into soaring choruses that provide a powerful showcase for Taylor’s voice. The song “Vendetta” features a sleazy, rough-and-tumble kind of swagger, but still delivers Slipknot’s trademark balls-out fury. And “All Hope Is Gone” just spews raw anger, aggression, hate and foulness that serves as a reminder to anyone still stupid enough to harbor doubts that Slipknot are experts at delivering pure, heavy-metal punishment.

“It’s our fourth album, and we wanted to do something different,” says Gray. “You can’t put out the same record over and over again. At the same time, you can definitely still tell that this is Slipknot.”

“I’m looking forward to the expressions on people’s faces when they hear the new record,” says Taylor. “There’s very, very heavy stuff on this album, and it’s gonna blow people’s minds. But I’m also excited for them to see the stuff that’s different on this album, the more experimental music. No one’s going to expect it.”

Much of the album’s diversity comes from the band’s new approach to writing and recording. Over the years, most of the members have worked on various side projects, none of which sound remotely like Slipknot. It’s no surprise to find out that these efforts influenced the writing process. Perhaps even more importantly, All Hope Is Gone was the first album on which contributions came from nearly all the band members, with each person bringing his own unique voice to the mix. The band co-produced the album with Dave Fortman.

“I think everyone just went in with an open mind. We would always listen to everyone’s ideas, and if they worked, they worked, if they didn’t, they didn’t,” explains Gray. “This time, we really tried to build off the ideas, really tried to work on them. I think it helped that so many of us were able to spend time doing our own thing, too. Just writing with different people really makes a difference in how you think about music. When we finally came together, we were able to bring that to the mix.”

Slipknot also made the executive decision to abandon Los Angeles, where they had recorded previous records. Instead, they came back home and set up camp in Iowa. The differences were immediately apparent.