Slipknot: Spit It Out

Slipknot have redefined the confines of new metal with their mind-blowing and defining Roadrunner debut. In opening for Coal Chamber and touring non-stop across the United States, the 9-piece band from Iowa has brought upon a reputation not easy to beat. We sat down with Joey Joridson (#1) to discuss everything that is Slipknot and some strange music facts.

Joey: Fuck the salt & pepper shaker, the sweet & low, the candle and the ash tray. That’s the first thing you list when you print this.

ARW: How do you change when you’re behind a mask?

Joey: We don’t necessarily change. People are always asking us about the mask thing. They’re like “you wear masks” and we’re like “no we don’t”. That’s the way feel, that’s the actual personality that we live everyday. The fact is that we just get to go on stage every night and be that, it is our medication and we’re really lucky that we get to do that. We don’t change at all. Whatever you see is exactly how we are, all day long.

ARW: Is it easier to express violence with anonymity?

Joey: No, I don’t think in that way. Being of the anonymous factor is to keep all the rock star cliche and the ego bullshit gone, so the bigger the band gets we can remain grounded. We can keep the music focused and not rob the kids of any music. You see a lot of bands, as soon as they start getting big, closing endorsements, getting involved with money, producing videos, going out with fucking porn stars and that’s not where it started. What got them big is when they were grounded. It got to a certain point and then they moved away from it and we don’t ever want to move away from it. That’s why the anonymity comes in.

ARW: Why do you think you guys express this pure hate, pure violence, pure emotion better than most people?

Joey: The way we portray comes from where we come from, our home town and the evolution of trying to come from somewhere, and make it out of somewhere, when there was absolutely no outlet for what we were trying to do. We were walking around with our wrists split open, going please look at what we’re trying to do and there was no one there. Where we come from it’s baron, there’s nothing there as far as music’s concerned, there’s not one thing there. You really have to develop a sense of self, super early-on, to make sure you can take the music and have enough substance and content for people to see it for what it’s worth. If you can make it in Des Moines, or come out of Des Moines, I think you can pretty much do it anywhere. There no one gives a fuck, I mean there’s no outlet, there’s nothing for heavy music. That’s where most of that comes out because we were degraded for so long and had fingers pointing at us, no one really gave a fuck.

ARW: I’ve heard that it is rumored that Korn wants you guys to open for their upcoming tour?

Joey: I’ve heard that, but we haven’t committed to anything. I don’t think necessarily that it’s that much of a true rumor. There’s been certain talk, because our management works at their record label and helps a lot with a lot of their records, but as of now there’s no plans to doing it.

ARW: Is that something you’re opposed to?

Joey: No, we’re not opposed to it at all. I’ll go on the record saying I’m not a fan of Korn’s latest record, I mean there’s a couple good songs on it, or even their last one. I am a huge fan of the first two and I think what they did is they opened a lot of doors as far as this music is concerned. I would love to go out on the road with them because their crowd is so big. A lot of our crowd is the concert-going public, the really hardcore underground metal kids. We’re like a huge underground metal band, we’re getting so big so fast. Everyone that comes to these shows generally has our record, to where like a lot of people that might sell more records than this don’t necessarily go to concerts because maybe they’re 10-years-old and bought it because they’re on MTV. Or they’re on the radio all-the-time and there’s a guy that has a 9-5 job with a wife and 3 kids who never even goes to shows. Those are the people we need to get out to next and that would be the perfect tour for them.

ARW: “Wait & Bleed” is hitting radio now. Is that a song you’re glad is representing you?

Joey: We wouldn’t have wrote a song if we didn’t plan on it representing the band right, even though it’s not one of the more hate-filled song, the emotion in it is so thick you can cut it with a knife. It showcases the songwriting structure that is really concise with the band where by everyone is still doing something in it, but it’s not so complex where you lose your mind. Corey has a lot of good vocal melodies in that song so it really helps us out in that area too. So we’re really glad that one is getting a little airplay here and there. Hopefully it will help sell a couple more records and turn more people onto your side, as far as liking the band, and make a couple more fans out of it.

ARW: What are the video plans for “Wait & Bleed”?

Joey: There’s video plans and the video is going to be something that has never been done before. I think you guys will really like it. The video is complete complex with it. I can’t put the cat out of the bag, but soon you’ll be hearing about it on the internet and you’ll be hearing about what we did with it. It’s bad ass.

ARW: We just interviewed Dez from Coal Chamber and he was talking about their second album “Chamber Music” and how they moved a little more from the hate and rage because not every emotion in life is hate and rage. Do you ever envision you guys doing that?

Joey: I don’t know necessarily about moving away from that type of sound, because that’s what we’re drawn to mostly. I do agree. You can’t go through every element of life like that. The things that have been done to us and the evolution that we’ve tried to come through as a band, we have enough hate and rage to fill probably 3 or 4 records, we have a lot of shit to work out still. You keep someone in a cage and you cage them up for 24 years, then you let them out upon the word with what he wants to get out, he wants to live his life the way he wants to live it. You cage him up for 24 years and let him go, he’s got some shit to work out and there’s a lot of more years left of that. We still have a lot of fucking demons to exercise, it’s not nearly done yet.

ARW: I took a bus to Woodstock this Summer and went through Iowa, all through Iowa. I was listening to Slipknot the whole time.

Joey: That kicks ass dude.

ARW: I was just like, how the fuck did these guys come out of here?

Joey: That’s what everyone’s asking.

ARW: What are your guys goals?

Joey: We want our record to go gold, we want to nail a couple more tours. We want to tour for at least another 10 months on this record, taking as furthest as possible without becoming a parody of ourselves. Like only going out for touring for money and or scared to write the second record. We want to write a second record that buries this one. A lot of critics right now are like there’s no way they can top the first record, in a way I can see where they’re coming from. First of all, you have a 9-piece band with 3 drummers, 2 guitar players, a bass player, DJ, a sampler and a lead singer and come out with 15-tracks of mind-numbing noise. Selling fucking 10,000 records, plus without hardly any radio or video play. They’re like there’s something about this that when the next record comes it might not be as important. So that’s why we’re really concentrating, really trying to get in touch with ourselves to write the next record. That’s the next goal. We don’t have a plan, we go day-by-day and see what happens with it. That’s what we’ve always done, it was never a plan that this would even happen. I can’t believe it’s happening, it’s freaking us out. It’s a real important part of the band’s evolution to write the next record and have it be just as pointed as this one.

ARW: Would you be happy if “Wait & Bleed” was on MTV getting lots of play?

Joey: We don’t plan for it. I’m not scared of it, but it’s not something that I necessarily crave at all. I kind of like where we’re at right now, playing for our hardcore fans, it’s more personal that way. Sometimes if a band gets a lot of MTV play, the next thing you know people are like automatically not liking that band because some schmuck down the street, who has no clue what heavy music is, is listening to it now. The part that will pave the way for us will be the next album when it comes out, twice as heavy as this one, our true fans will understand and they’ll stick with us. It’s not something I necessarily want.

ARW: What might you draw on for the next record? How will life on the road change your perspective?

Joey: I’ll tell you what, we come from a place, that when you actually get something through there, through yourself, you really appreciate it. You’ve got to respect your gift a lot. This is our gift and you can’t take it for granted. Don’t abuse your gift. It’s not something that can be fucked with. I don’t want to destroy it, I want it to last as long as possible, because I know it’s not going to last as long as possible. We’ll go on to do other things after a while, they might suck, they might be good, who knows. None of it will be Slipknot, none of it will have the substance of what we’ve already created.

ARW: Do you feel proud that you’ve sold this many records without radio play. Just because someone like me has told 20 people that you have to go out and buy this record.

Joey: Thanks man, we’re totally proud of the factor of that. It’s amazing. It’s amazing for us and we’re so thankful we have the fans, if we didn’t have the fans we wouldn’t be shit. We’ll stand out in the rain, out in the show, every fucking night to make sure to sign as much of their shit.

ARW: Are you guys going to go back to Des Moines for the next record?

Joey: Yeah, we’ll write it in Des Moines and we’ll probably go out with our producer Ross Robinson in the confined hills of Malibu at Indigo to record it there. We’ll probably mix it at a different place, to get a little more of a crisp sound out of it.

ARW: Any final words?

Joey: Thanks to our fans, keep coming out to the shows. Thank you so much for supporting. We have slipknot1.com, slipknot2.com. You can go and check that shit out. Updates will be coming, we’ve had a hard time updating them lately. We run both those sites, we don’t have some jackass at some fucking computer lab running those things that knows nothing about music. We handle everything by ourselves, we make all the decisions by ourselves and that way we’ll make sure the fans never get fucking robbed out of any fucking thing. Thanks to everyone else and thanks to you guys for the interview, I appreciate it a lot.