(SLIPKNOT) Transcript - Interview from West Palm Beach, Florida (27th June 1999)

AKA the time Sid stole an interview without saying a word.

INTRODUCTIONS

JOEY: I'm Joey from Slipknot. I'm number one and I play the drums. 

COREY: I'm Corey, singer for Slipknot. I'm number eight.

SID: Sid. I'm zero. DJ.

SHAWN (holding up his middle finger): I'm the clown. Number six. I play percussion.

MICK: Mick. Number seven. Guitar. 

PAUL: Paul. number two, and I play bass.

CRAIG: 133. Number five. Samples and keyboards.

JIM: James. Number four. I play guitar.

CHRIS (stroking his nose): Chris. Number three. I play percussion. Don't be afraid to pull on your stick, man.

INTERVIEW

(Joey appears to be sitting on Chris Fehn's knee)

Q: How did growing up in Iowa, influence your music?

JOEY: Ummm, as far as our music goes, I can't speak for anyone else, but as far as all nine of us go, umm I guess what you see right now and like if you have heard any of the music and the music that you will see, also on your website here is ummm, a product of a barren wasteland. You know of entertainment that goes on in Des Moines. It's not necessarily entertainment either. It's a barren wasteland for outlets, and we were all in different bands prior to joining together, we umm, you know, we did a lot of work you know with our other bands and trying to promote and encourage heavy music in that scene. And not only trying to promote necessarily our music at the time, the attitude started getting more angry and aggressive towards feelings of us being rejected and being torn down for what we are trying to do. Therefore when we formed, we all got like got sick of basically the element that was Des Moine, Iowa, and we all got together and formed a super group, which is what we kind of like to call it, and er, we created Slipknot. You know and uh, we were getting treated as like faceless, and we were like totally anonymous there, so we decided to be anonymous. So we put on the masks, because we are not about our names or faces. We are about our music, one hundred percent.     

(In the background, Sid is looking around the room. Jim puts his hand on his head, and turns him back to the camera) 

Q: Cool. How did you guys first become interested in music?

COREY: Well, a lot of us, especially the guys in the band, the people we hang out with, you know, like Joey said we came from a place that had nothing. So, you basically developed your own sense of self. You developed your own individuality, you know and that really brings out the sickness in a lot of people. Especially the people from Des Moines, Iowa. And that got us interested in the type of music that we are doing, you know. It started out small and it just got, you know, sicker and sicker. Umm. You have to have a gift to be in this band. I believe that totally and truthfully, and everybody in this band had a gift that they have nurtured. They have grown from the beginning. And if it wasn't from the place that we came from, we probably wouldn't have it. And the music we grew up listening to just fed it even more. 

Q: What kind of music did you guys grow up listening to?

JOEY: Umm, for all of us we kind of...basically I can speak for everyone in the band when...you know like, early Slayer, and old Black Sabbath which we have the fortunate..,well being on tour with right now. And that is exactly why we are very excited about that because they were big influences. Uh. Beatles. A lot of us were Beatles fans. Of course Led Zeppelin. We got into old school thrash, like you know, along with you know like old Slayer and Anthrax and stuff like that. It just flourished in like (???) and we got into the death metal style a lot. Like old bands like Autopsy, Repulsion. And that was like carried into new bands like Nasum and stuff like that, that we listen to quite often. Basically, we don't derive from any certain type of music, but with nine guys...you know, we got a DJ who influences a lot of our stuff now too. He doesn't do like the old school like hip-hop style scratching and stuff, although he is really good at it. He invents like a lot of these like noises and stuff that will really help enhance a new element into our music, and we have three percussions too. Because we are into big drums...and even though I play the main drum kit...we got three guys up at the front of the stage who play big cannon drums. They all sound like mounted kegs..keg drums...and actual beer kegs that are empty...and it creates quite a unique sound actually. 

Q: How did you guys arrive at a nine piece metal band, using everything from a power saw, to samples? 

(Behind Corey, Sid is pressing the end of the nozzle of his mask to Corey's head)

COREY: It just happened you know. I mean when you are trying to get your point across, you use whatever is there you know. When the band started out, it was originally a six piece and um, it grew to the point where we were at eight and we were going really good with that, but there was still something missing. We knew there was something missing, and that's when we added our DJ, and it just fit you know. When you are making the kind of noise that we are, you've gotta..you can't cheese it, you can't second guess it. You've gotta go all the way. And you have to be as intense as possible. You have to be as expressive as possible. And the fact that we have nine people, there is no gimmick to this, everybody plays their own instruments. It's not like we have a sideshow going on, this is a full functioning band, and to do what we want to do, it's exactly what it took. It all worked out in the end.

Q: What made you guys decide to sort of push the envelope of heavy metal the way you do? With the size of your band, and the type of instruments you play, and the look of the band? 

COREY: The people we are, we can't help but be the best, you know what I'm saying? We will never be second best because in our hearts we can't let ourselves be that. We are nine over-achievers. We are nine guys that will go the extra distance to see what we do. Like Joey was saying, every day, every minute of the day, we are constantly working on the band, you know? We take care of ourselves so we can be the best band. We act..,we're just...we are living our dream, you know? As much power as you put into this band, you can't help but come out with ten thousand volts of electricity, I mean it's...it's...it's...it's hard to explain.     

JOEY: Another thing I guess it, musically speaking, I mean I know all of us, or me as well as all of us, we have our favorite bands and stuff, that I guess was a positive influence early on. But the fact is we wouldn't have gotten to this point if we didn't create something fresh, new and innovative, you know? And the only reason to do that is from the confines of where we were, and like the exposure we were feeding with was zero, to make us do this, and it just clicks in you. Just like a serial killer. Or like a person that is just like...you know you hear about those postal workers who have just had enough you know. It's like they just snap. And it's like finally, this is what we gotta do. I mean like..everyone has a pre conceived things in the brain. You know like, "what it would be like to do this someday", but it's usually like a dream. You don't really act on it. But we acted on it. And we worked so hard to do it, and to push the envelope I mean is the only way for this band to work. Because I mean when you see a band like this, the biggest let down would be the music sucking, and we're completely the opposite. I mean we about the music one hundred percent, and this is completely secondary. This comes not from an image standpoint, of trying to get the band noticed, but from a band that is so about its music. But that should be the real package, and not about a rock star image.       

COREY: I think our ??? is everybody, man. I mean we have, like Joey said, we have an eclectic sound, and because of that I think we draw a lot of people from a lot of different scenes. The darkness will draw a lot of the kids who are into the dark stuff. Mick and Jim's playing will obviously draw a guitar oriented crowd, you know the guys who are really into technicality and stuff like that. Just the sheer heaviness will bring the hoards there into the heavy music anyway, you know. And we are so fringe that we are mainstream. You know what I am sayin'? We're going to take everybody, and we are not afraid to say that we are going to be the biggest band in the world, and anybody who is not in line is going to get left in the dust. 

Q: How does an audience affect your live performance?

COREY: It really builds us man, cos I mean we are sick to begin with, but if you put a live audience in front of us we're gonna push every button. We're gonna push every extreme to get a rise out of you. And if you don't, we're just gonna go even harder. We wrote the music for us, but in a lot of ways the audience helps us maintain the feeling when we wrote that music in the first place, you know what I'm sayin'? It's like we weren't catering to one audience, we were catering to us. But the fact that so many people are like kindred lovers of this music that it's incredible, that pushes us to extremes that you wouldn't even believe. A lot of times we will come off stage bloody. A lot of times we will come off stage, and we can't catch our breath, we might pass out. We might pass out on stage. But the audience keeps us going. As long as, you know, there are people to play in front of we will keep doing it.    

JOEY: We just MTV news recently because Shawn there, the Clown, had to be rushed to the hospital because he was on top of one of the percussive drum sets up in front, and was coming down like on a beat and slamming like, and he cracked, I think, his left eyelid open and he had to be rushed to the hospital. But the funny thing is that he did it, ironically, on a song called "Eyeless"...

(Chuckles from Shawn and Corey. Shawn continues to rock ominously. Sid uses his nozzle as a kind of stethoscope, and sticks it in Shawn's eye)

JOEY (cont): And it was the second song in the set, so he had to finish the whole set with blood like covering a whole eye, so he had to play with one eye. And then he even signed autographs for a while like after the show was done. And ironically even before that, right before we left, our DJ, Sid, had to go to the hospital for a putting a gash like three inches at the top of his head, required like fifteen stitches... 

(Sid starts miming sewing)   

JOEY (cont): So it's like, who knows what's going to happen tomorrow?

Q: Do you guys think that bands like Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones are too old to tour?

(Sid can be seen shaking his head)

JOEY: Hell no. No. Because I mean, why should they be? I mean sometimes people will say, you know, "Look at them, their too old". But the fact is, I mean, come on, they have already done everything that can possibly be done. There is honestly...I mean they can...yeah, they can go out and make a lot more money, but the fact is they all ready have a lot more money because a lot of them have been off their drug problems forever, and they still have been doing tours. The fact is, if they don't love music, they wouldn't be doing it. And who is anyone to tell them they can't do it? Because I mean, shit, they started a lot of the stuff. You know, Aerosmith and a lot of those bands like KISS and stuff...not only really big influences on all of us, but the fact is they created awesome music, and why can't they keep like producing that music to mass audiences who will still pay for it?    

COREY: Like I said, as long as there is an audience man, why not go out? Your audience dwindles then obviously you are not making the statement you were making in the past, but as long as people want to see you play man, go for it. You know? I mean I hope...you never know...I mean...I hope that some day I can be in a position to do that myself, but if it ever gets to the point where I am doing it just for monetary reasons, screw it, I will let it go. 

JOEY: Yeah because I mean, your fans will see through that. Because if you are honestly doing it for money reasons, you will not be putting the same heart into your shows, and in to your production, and any of that stuff that you would be doing if you were doing it for the love of music alone, because people can literally see through that. It's just like why certain bands have a lot better live shows, and can capture their audience a lot better than other bands, because it's the feeling of the whole new side of them. They know how to channel towards that audience and pull it back in, and make it one unified scene.  

Q: So like it's a question of sincerity?

(In the background, Jim can be seen grabbing Sid's nozzle)

COREY: People aren't stupid, most of the time. You know, the majority of people aren't stupid, they will see and can feel, especially they can feel, if you are being truthful. You fuck 'em once, and they are not going to come back again. You know what I'm saying? So... 

JOEY: You've really got to watch your ass with that shit, you know? So they wouldn't be able to still do it if it wasn't sincere I don't think, you know? Yeah of course if there is going to be money they are going to want to make it. You can't say that ain't right, but I mean...you can tell, you can tell they wouldn't do it. I mean these guys they are getting up there at their age, and it kicks ass that they are still doing it.