Paul Gray Interview (Unmasked)
Voliminal: Inside the Nine DVD
2006 (Interview itself may be from c. 2004/2005)
(Paul pulls up outside the interviewers house. He is late. He puts this down to his car "being kind of fucked up", a long drive, and the fact that he had a "late start" as he "woke up kind of late").
Q: So, what does Slipknot mean to you, Paul?
PAUL: It's my life. You know. That's it. It's everything to me. You know, I mean, without Slipknot I'd be probably sleeping on someone's couch, working at the old bar I used to work at...
Q: You've been playing music since you were a kid, right? Is this what you kind of envisioned being a rockstar would be like?
PAUL: I..you know...I never knew what being a rockstar would be like. I still don't know...I mean...I don't know I don't really consider myself a rockstar, but obviously I guess I am...I don't know. You know, um, I still do the same shit, man. I go to the same fuckin' bar, you know. Hang out with the same fuckin' people, you know what I mean? So, it really hasn't changed that much, you know what I mean? Except for now I can afford drinks. I can buy a few people drinks, instead of having to bum money every night.
Q: Do you feel that you are a different guy when you are out there on the road with Slipknot, than when you are kicking back at home in Iowa?
Q: What does "Volume. 3" mean in the grand scheme of the band, looking back on it?
PAUL: It was the rebirth of Slipknot. You know what I mean, it was like uh, us coming back together, pushing out that vibe that had gotten in there and kind of started pulling people away, you know. And realizing that, fucking it's...you know, 'fuck all these outside people, let's get back together'. But we figured out that, you know, that we do have to give space you know, that we do have to let people be sometimes.
Q: Was there ever a time when you felt like the band is about to break up?
PAUL: Every...yeah, I mean yeah, every...to be honest, there have been times when I thought...yeah...I don't know if's going to happen, and it was never anything...I mean, I've never wanted to quit the band, or leave the band..so I've always...it's always been about other people, whether they are going to leave and do other things, so instead of, you know...and we are still actually really solid, you know what I mean? I think it was just a lot of people just kind of, you know...trippin' out about different...small shit...and when we'd actually talk and got together, we realized that everything else wasn't that big of a deal.
(FADE OUT)
PAUL: When it started out, it was just kind of weird thing. It started out with Shawn, he had like a clown mask, and he would wear it to practice one day and was just like..it was just like...fucking creepy, you know like, the whole time he wouldn't take it off, and it was like, 'Dude...', you know...you can't fucking tell what he's looking...you know, what he's thinking, or like if he's smilin', you know, like, what the fuck...it's always like this fuckin' thing. And it just freaked us out at practice. You know like, 'this is awesome', and we went on from there, and uh, it was kind of cool too, cos like you know, back in the...back in the day you could do a show, and we would do shows and come back in without the masks, and people wouldn't even know we were in the band, tell us if we sucked or not, and you know...we'd get honest answers, you know...'that band fuckin' ruled'...'that band was the worst band I'd ever seen'...
INTERVIEWER: Right...
PAUL: And they would have no idea they were telling us that. You know, it was kind of cool.
(FADE OUT)
Q: Do you think that Slipknot could have come out of anywhere else? Do you think that there is a specific kind of Iowa, Des Moine vibe?
(FADE OUT)
PAUL: I can only speak for myself, but for me, it's the greatest thing that ever happened. To me, it's the greatest thing that ever happened in my life. And you know so, once...when we started the band, I felt it you know...right when we started it, and it still feels the same, so you know...I'm havin' the time of my life.
(FADE OUT)
Q: And you feel like the band has pretty much stayed true to the original idea, original concept, and what you guys are trying to get across?
PAUL: Yeah...yeah, you know...and I mean, naturally we evolve too you know, I mean as a band you are always going to evolve, erm, but yeah, I mean we've always...we've always stayed true and I mean by staying true, we've always done what we've wanted to do, you know, and that's stayin' true...yo, I don't know, you know, people might think, 'Oh, this or that, or whatever', you know...but if we like do something different, if we, you know, write a song with some melody, or if we you know, fuckin' I don't know, do something different with the masks, or not masks, or whatever you know...people are saying that we are not staying true, but actually we are 'cos it's fuckin' what we want to do.
Q: Right.
PAUL: And that's how we started this band, doing what we wanted to do, and fuck everybody else's opinion, so..yeah...so it's stayin' true.
Q: You are not catering to somebody else's ideas...
PAUL: Fuck no
Q:...of what Slipknot should do?
PAUL: Certainly are. You know...everybody else, they like it or hate it, we don't give a flyin' fuck.
(FADE OUT)
PAUL: Message to the fans? Yeah, I mean, fuck...thank you, our fans are the greatest fans in the fuckin' world, you know, and like you know, I'd do anythin' for 'em, and actually I think our fans know that I would. I literally have given the shirt off my back for 'em, because without them, you know, there would be none of this, you know what I mean? And, uh, so yeah I mean, thank you, that's the...from the bottom of my heart, that's the most I can give, you know, and uh, thank you for all the support and everything, and you know, I mean, we promise, we will try not to ever let 'em down, you know. You can't please everybody, but you know, we will do what we can.
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