Slipknot's Joey Jordison: From Dixeland to Hardcore?


Modern Drummer
August 2000

 Depending on who you talk to around Des Moines, Iowa, people might associate Joey Jordison more with his stepfather's Dixieland outfit than with the ballistic band that has turned hardcore on its ear. But long before he laid down complex rhythms and fills for Slipknot, Jordison earned a reputation as one of Iowa's budding jazz drummers.
 "I would get a lot of criticism for playing too hard and out of the context of the song," says Jordison, who developed his chops through middle and high school jazz bands. "But I won a lot of awards."
Today the 5'4 Jordison wears white face paint on stage and backs a nine-piece band draped in masks and matching boiler suits. A pair of percussionists with beer kegs as the centerpieces of their setups bookend him. No band tore up more stages in 1999, and Slipknot's self-titled debut (Roadrunner Records) was an underground and retail surprise. Still, Jordison is as comfortable playing Dixie standards such as "Fidgety Feet," "Lazy River," and "South Rampart Street Parade" as he is kicking out Slipknot favorites "Tattered & Torn" and "Wait And Bleed."
"I try to keep my horizons expanding, and I want to learn about all kinds of music," he says. "If it wasn't for the '60s and '70s music my parents were into, I don't know that I'd even have gotten into music as deeply as I have. When I was young, I wasn't watching Sesame Street or children's movies. My parents occupied my time by sitting me in front of the stereo and playing music."
 Jordison wrote many of the guitar riffs for the record, and later helped mix it. But it was his drumming that pushed Slipknot beyond the realms of typical hardcore. Quick on his feet and light with his hands, Jordison fills open spaces with soft-touched kick-and-snare exchanges, finessing rhythms with odd-stroke rolls and lending dynamic dimension without sacrificing speed. He points to the intro of "Purity"— featuring a double bass pattern mixed with 16th-note single strokes on the snare and off-beat hi-hat accents—as a direct descendent of his jazz foundation.
Slipknot formed in 1995, but didn't blaze its own path—or attract fans in Des Moines—until adding the visual elements that Jordison says set the band apart. "We didn't want anyone to dilute our music," he says. "But at the same time, we wanted to create something so unique and weird that people couldn't put us into any preconceived category. Now we just want to deliver the most intense and brutal music and give people the best show possible, even if that includes spilling our own blood."

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