Slipknot Part 3 - The Future

Ok, so enough horn-blowing... The actual reason for this feature is that I heard some good news...

But before I get into the good news, here is the bad...

 

Paul Grey (April 8, 1972 – May 24, 2010) R.I.P



For those who didn’t know, Paul Grey died on May 24, 2010 in a hotel room in Urbandale, Iowa. On June 21, the cause of death was confirmed as an accidental overdose on morphine.

With the loss of Grey, things look pretty ‘Grey’ for Slipknot, as no one (not even the band themselves) were sure what the future held. And rightfully so – Paul Grey was a founding member of Slipknot, and both Jordison and Taylor have credited him as a major player in the band’s creative song writing process.

Cleary a crippling blow... 

Corey Taylor & Shawn "Clown" Crahan mourning
the death of Paul Grey

Following the release of the last album (All Hope is Gone) and Paul’s death, the band has gone on yet another hiatus, with no word of what is to come - leaving their fans with a feeling that ‘all hope, well and truly, IS gone... [please excuse the pun]

Where are The Maggots to turn for unique, heavy music that makes you want to spit in any authority figure’s face? To Nickelback? NEVER!!!

This rang true until I found this article where Joey Jordison went on record saying that Slipknot will return to do their fifth studio album in 2011.
(Read more here: http://www.smnnews.com/2010/12/01/new-slipknot-album-coming-in-2011/)
This is great news fans! This means that Slipknot is probably in studio right now, as I’m writing this!

That being said, I do have a few speculations though...

Jason Newsted at his final Metallica gig

First: Take your minds back to when Jason Newsted announced that he would be leaving Metallica in 2001. Rumours surfaced that he was never “...a real part of the band...”, and that he “...was always treated as the new guy...” – Some kind of Monster DVD (2004). Metallica eventually replaced Newsted with Robert Trujillo in 2003.

The real question I’m asking is: Will Slipknot ever replace Paul Grey? For the moment, it seems not: “We’ll have a bass player that’s right next to me, to the right behind the stage, to lock in with me. But there’s no one right now who will go on stage.” – Joey Jordison.

Second: Should Slipknot find a bassist, will he fit in?
I’ve been in bands consisting of 2 people, where we couldn’t even keep it together – imagine the logistics involved in getting 9 muso’s (one being an “outsider”) together in a studio to record an album and then go on a world tour. Never mind the families, schedule clashes, and side-projects these boys are involved in. How do you get 9 super-famous heavy metal musician-egos in the same room, at the same time, without ructions of biblical proportions?

Third: Would they replace Paul with someone from within the band? Joey, Chris Fehn, Jim Root, Mick Thomson and Corey Taylor can all play bass. It’s a little unrealistic to give the drummer, guitarist or vocalist a bass guitar and say to him “Here, play this...”, but perhaps a re-shuffle amongst themselves..?

I’m doing my best not to be my usual self and become pessimistic about Slipknot’s future. Maybe they’ll recruit a bassist that will, not fill Paul’s shoes but, take them to a new, perhaps even greater place?! [Please, please, please...]
But there is no use in speculation, is there?

Never-the-less, my fingers are tingling, and it feels as though I haven’t had a cigarette for a week! I have a spine-bending craving that can only be satisfied by album number 5 from these giants. What will it sound like? Will Corey continue on his evolutionary path, steering the band towards a more melodic album? Will it be a return to the bedlam of the first two albums? Will it be a new direction all together? Who knows?
The only thing we, the fans, can do is hope and pray that it won’t be reminiscent of the latest, totally underwhelming, piss-poor, Linkin Park album.

All I can say is, Bring it on!!! I’m salivating over the thought of the upcoming album...

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An eclectic bunch...

So I've been alluding to this discussion I had with friends around Slipknot... But like I said, it would be of no use to share this with you if you did not have any insight as to whom I had the conversation with... So in the interest of good story-telling here is a 'Readers Digest' version of my personal review committee

Now these guys and girls are strongly opinionated, sometimes controversial, but I always take their views to heart - even if I don't always agree with them.

So without further ado, here follows a short introduction on each of these:

The Monger: Purist
The Monger is my house-mate. We live together in two very separate, very heterosexual bedrooms in the same house. Monger listens to the heavier side of metal. In my own words, I'll sum up his musical preferences as: "If it's not BRUTAL, it's not Metal!". Come to think of it, that's not entirely true... He'll listen to bands like Staind because of the depro themes and feel of the music & lyrics.

The Monger has one fatal draw-back... Because of his purist, "brutal is best" approach, he lacks the passion for the history of rock and metal. Bands like ACDC, Deep Purple, Metallica, and even modern bands like Greenday, The Offspring and Nirvana do not register on his radar. What this all comes down to is that The Monger is the guy to speak to if you want a brutality rating on a band.
          - Favourite Band: Disturbed


The Drummer: Our very own Thrasher!
A very interesting and colourful character. The Drummer is exactly that, a drummer. Now far be it from me to make dumb-drummer jokes, and I will refrain from doing so here. (Besides, The Drummer would certainly kick my ass if I did). Now, what makes his opinion invaluable in conversation is his feel for the beat. If the beat sucks, so does the song. I could phrase this view as simplistic, but I won’t. I’d much rather label it as a stripped down approach. Never mind the hype, the image or the theme of a band – The Drummer listens to the music. Isn’t that what it is all about when you really get down to it? His opinions on music, the actual notes on the paper, are spot-on (for the most part anyway). The Drummer has experience in the music world as he used to be a pro muso, signed to a major label. So all this combined makes him a perfect catalyst to formulate an informed opinion about a band’s music.
          - Favourite Band: Pantera


Vis: Schooled in subversive chaos.
An irreplaceable asset. Vis is the one who cannot be placed into a category box. Eccentric and wise, Vis will give you another perspective. A classically schooled muso, Vis plays piano. As far as his taste in music goes, he likes the virtuosic stuff most. Don’t get me wrong, Vis loves Metal as much as the next person, only difference is that you would NEVER say that judging by his physical appearance. By his own personal accounts, he has surprised many an unsuspecting victim with his musical tastes. Never the less, Vis will give you that one crucial thought that eluded you in your initial analysis, and more often than not, will change your perspective entirely. Thus, subtly, Vis will turn your opinions on their head and create chaos.
          - Favourite Band: System of a Down, Muse


The Mamma: Caring Goth-girl
A deep love for the music. The Mamma sings Korn and Marilyn Manson to her baby daughter as lullabies. I’m not sure if I’ll get wrapped on the fingers for calling her a “Goth Girl”, but I can’t find the words to better describe her. Musical discussions with The Mamma are always highly valued. She has the uncanny ability to answer questions like: “What is that song called?” or “Off which album is this?”. The Mamma has a keen knowledge about the music, the history of the band and the ‘feel’ of a specific album – details I often miss. And you have to give her praise for raising a youngster the right way, the Metal way. What an advantage it would have been for me if my parents were rockers...
          - Favourite Band – Marilyn Manson

Ok, so introductions over with, I can now tell you the story of the discussion... Actually... On second thought... Ill hold on to that story for just a little longer...

Check back soon for more on Slipknot, and the summary that will include the illusive conversation.

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Slipknot Part 2 - Acclaim

Now I could go on forever about their achievements, but I won’t. What I will do instead is give them some “street-cred” (not that they need any more of that...)

- Since their debut album “Slipknot” was released on June 29, 1999, EVERY-SINGLE-ONE of their studio albums have received platinum status (over 1 million albums sold).
- “Slipknot” was the first platinum album for stable, Roadrunner Records – [Slipknot – X-Posed, The Interview]
- Their live album “9.0 Live” turned gold (over 500,000 copies sold) in December 2005 [only a month after it hit the shelves].
- Every one of their DVD releases has also received platinum acclaim.
- The band has been nominated for 7 Grammy Awards, resulting in a win in 2006 for the single “Before I forget” in the Best Metal performance category.
- As of May 2010, Slipknot has sold more than 14 million records worldwide.

Impressed yet? No? Then consider this: Roadrunner Cash-Cow, and the subjects of my absolute disregard, Nickelback (formed in the same year as Slipknot), did not manage to go platinum before The Nine did. EVEN more impressive if you consider who else belongs to the Roadrunner Stable, bands like: Korn, Devil Driver, Collective Soul, Dream Theatre, KISS, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Machine Head, Meat Loaf and Rob Zombie.

Now that says a HUGE AMOUNT about the talent of this band. Especially since mainstream pop-music is so heavily punted by the Grammy Award Committee [a side issue to be discussed at a later stage...]

Now before any of you go off the hilt cause I’ve gone too far in saying Slipknot hit platinum before some of the artist’s I’ve mentioned have – just note that is while signed for Roadrunner.

As a band, Slipknot is the awe inspiring King of the hill. But as much as they perform as a whole, they are made-up of individuals... [Before I lose you here, this is not Wikipedia, so I’m not going to do an in-depth breakdown of each member – easy as that would be. Instead, I’ll restrain myself a little and focus on only 2 members...]

Corey Taylor (#8):

Responsible for the lyrics in the band, Corey is more than the Vocalist - he is the undisputed front-man. He replaced the original vocalist Anders Colsefni with what Joey Jordison called: "really good melodic singing" as opposed to the guttural roar usually associated with this genre. As front-man Taylor is the link between audience and band, and during live performances the responsibility of crowd interaction falls on him more than any other. Taylor also fronts Stone Sour, a very successful rock band also out of Iowa. Incidentally, Slipknot guitarist Jim Root also plays for Stone Sour. Corey was ranked number 86 on Hit Parade’s Top 100 metal vocalists of all time.

It seems that Taylor has developed his talents for expression during his time with Slipknot. Rumor has it that his main influence in the writing of the lyrics for "Slipknot" and "Iowa" was ‘what is wrong with him’. On "Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses" and "All Hope is Gone" the theme seems to change to ‘what is wrong with the world’. There is a definite, palpable progression in the vocal content from the first, more aggressive, “thrashier” albums to the later, melodic, more driven albums – to the extent that the 2 latest albums did not necessitate the “explicit lyrics” warning label. There is no disputing the fact that Corey Taylor has proficiency around words and expressing emotion through song.

Joey Jordison (#2):

In August 2010 Jordison was voted the best drummer of the past 25 years by readers of Rhythm magazine. That should give you an inkling as to his prowess on a drum kit. Besides playing the main drum-kit for Slipknot, Joey has played for other huge names in metal. When Lars Ulrich of Metallica was hospitalized due to sickness, Joey stepped in and finished the tour. James Hetfield (Metallica front-man) called Joey their “Hero of the Day”. Joey also sat in on the Rob Zombie reissue of "Hellbilly Delux 2". Further to playing as a stand-in for these bands, Joey also plays guitar for horror punk band Murderdolls, and has released 2 studio albums with them.

I’m not a drummer, and I won’t profess to know anything about the nitty-gritty of drumming. But I have ears, and I can count time [although Joey sometimes makes that difficult as all Hell] – and by those parameters Joey Jordison is undoubtedly THE best drummer who has had the pleasure of beating on my eardrums.

That's it for today...

On a personal note, I've been bursting at the seams to tell you all about the discussion about Slipknot I had the other night. But it would be to no avail if I don't introduce you to some of my friends first. I'll do that in the next post, so stay tuned...
 
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Slipknot Part 1 - The Facts

Hi Kids,


HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope you all had a fantastic festive season filled with all that you wanted. Now it's back to the same old day-jobs, same old crappy routine, same old financial status (or the absence of afore mentioned status), same-old-same-old, BUT in a New Year... So forget your resolutions already, you know you not gonna stick with them anyway...

You'll notice that there has been an absence on my part. I wish I could attribute this to a long vacation on white sands and blue seas, but alas, I've had none of that. No, the real reason I've been so quite is that I decided to do this Band Feature / Artist Profile on Slipknot. It's taken me quite a while to put it together, not cause I found it difficult, but because I found it so easy to write about them. So I'm sitting with pages and pages of info that is just way too much to force down your respective throats in one gulp. So, I'm going to split the feature into a few featurettes, of which this is the first. So gather round kiddies, because it's time for yet another story from your own personal Lounge Critic...

 The instant I put the disk in the player and that high-pitched, whiney noise accompanied by a voice that repeats: “The whole thing I think is sick...”, comes on, I feel the energy swell up like a burning fireball inside of me. There are very, very few bands that accomplish the translation of emotion into music, and even fewer that can give me that overwhelming feeling of raw, untamed power. You know, the kind of emotion in song that makes you want to jump rite in the middle of a raging mosh-pit and thrash it out against other living, breathing bodies. This is the feeling I get when I listen to Slipknot, and I’ll do my best to translate that feeling I get into words, here...

Slipknot is to me the most influential and inspiring band of their genre and this era. Not only as a musician, but also as [in the words of Nathan Explosion], a “regular jack-off”. As musician, Slipknot is to me as musically challenging as their lyrics and themes are thought provoking. As music fan, they make me want to hit beer kegs with baseball bats!!!

Formed in Des Moines, Iowa in 1995 by percussionist Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Gray, they had many changes in their early line-up, but for most of their supreme reign they have been the nine-piece brute force I know and love today. Slipknot is:

Current

(#0) Sid Wilson – Turntables (1998–present)
(#1) Joey Jordison – Drums (1995–present)
(#3) Chris Fehn – Custom Percussion, Backing Vocals (1998–present)
(#4) Jim Root – Guitars (1999–present)
(#5) Craig "133" Jones – Samples, Media (1996–present)
(#6) Shawn "Clown" Crahan – Custom Percussion, Backing Vocals (1995–present)
(#7) Mick Thomson – Guitars (1996–present)
(#8) Corey Taylor – Lead Vocals (1997 present)

Former
Donnie Steele – Guitars (1995–1996)
Anders Colsefni – Lead Vocals, Custom Percussion (1995–1997)
Greg "Cuddles" Welts – Custom Percussion (1997–1998)
(#4) Josh Brainard – Guitars, Backing Vocals (1995–1999)
(#2) Paul Gray – Bass, Backing Vocals (1995–2010)

Slipknot's mix of grinding, post-Korn alternative metal, Marilyn Manson-esque shock rock, and rap-metal helped make them one of the most popular bands in the so-called nu-metal explosion of the late '90s. But even more helpful was their theatrical, attention-grabbing image: the band always performed in identical industrial jump suits and homemade Halloween masks, and added to its mysterious anonymity by adopting the numbers zero through eight as stage aliases. There is some speculation on the reasons for the mask and jumpsuits. Corey Taylor explains: “it's our way of becoming more intimate with the music. It's a way for us to become unconscious of who we are and what we do outside of music. It's a way for us to kind of crawl inside it and be able to use it.: Add to that a lyrical preoccupation with darkness and nihilism, and an affectionately insulting name for their fans ("Maggots"), and Slipknot's blueprint for nu-metal success was set.

Their live shows are a much-discussed hit with metal fans, and the band performs with such energy that Crahan gashed his head open on his own drum kit twice one summer, requiring stitches both times. The tracks "Wait and Bleed" and "Spit It Out" got the band some airplay, but most of the buzz came from touring and word of mouth. Finally, in the spring of 2000, Slipknot was certified platinum; the first such album in Roadrunner Records' history.

So much for part 1... Check back soon for part 2
\m/

Standing in defence of that which I love

"In 1986 something strange happened. Metal became the biggest, most popular music in the world. And everywhere you looked, kids were growing their hair long and flashing the devil horn sign and playing air guitar.

But not everyone loved it. Critics thought it was unsophisticated music for unsophisticated people. One writer went as far as calling it “sick, repulsive, horrible and dangerous”. Heavy Metal was the moral panic of the day. And Metal fans were considered low lives, dead-end kids - the bane of society. This music has millions of passionate fans worldwide. Yet for 35 years it’s been constantly critisised…” Sam Dunn, Director of, Metal – A Headbangers journey (2005)

The first time I watched this DVD (yes, I’ve watched it a few times since) it blew me out of the water.

I was, and still am, so used to defending the music I love to people who do not understand it and only see defunct, non-productive, scum-sucking youth in their leather clad outfits banging their heads to a cacophony of machinegun drums and distorted guitars. This post is aimed at those people.

People grossly underestimate the average Metal fan, believing that we cannot construct a sentence or speak English fluently. Little do they know that we run multi-million Dollar, independent record labels, we run print media in the form of magazines and newsletters. We operate web pages and fan sites that receive more hits than some of the popular websites you may know. We are intelligent, well educated, well spoken people that are being judged solely by the music we listen to. Researchers surveyed 1,057 members of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (USA) - a body whose 120,000 student members are within the top five per cent academically in the 11-19 age range found that, far from being a sign of delinquency and poor academic ability, many adolescent "metalheads" are extremely bright and often use the music to help them deal with the stresses and strains of being gifted social outsiders.

When Dee Schneider, frontman for 1980’s Shock-Rock band Twisted Sister, was subpoenaed to appear before the US Policy Review Committee (PRC), he walked in with his big hair, torn jeans, earrings, some residual make-up from the night before and a true stick-it-to-the-man attitude, they did not expect the well formed speech he had prepared slamming the conservatives for their prejudice against people who follow this genre of music. (Watch the interview here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QqplPfYTE8)

The common perception of the Metal musician is that of the unsophisticated, uneducated individual, but if I may draw your attention to virtuosos the likes of Beethoven and Bach. Arguably the greatest composers in history – these composers of classical music, associated with higher learning and academia, never attended college. They were labelled as rebels and improvisers, out of the accepted norm of those days. Does that not make you think of muso’s like Jimi Hendrix, Eddie VanHalen and Yngwie J. Malmsteen? But why then is Metal not considered a virtuosic form of music?

Let’s get deeper into that:
The PRC rated songs according to profanity, sex, drugs or alcohol, the occult, violence – most metal songs deal with much more provocative themes. Themes like hedonism, religion, death and war. Themes that society tends to recoil from, Metal embraces. Not to be morbid, dark and scary but to purge these negative thoughts. And that’s what Metal is to me and many other fans, a release. Is what people feel not more, or at least as important than what they think? Metal gives its fans a sense of belonging, transcendence – much like the modern church does for its flock. Therefore, can Metal not be seen as a pathway to God? Far fetched? I think not. In a recent article an Anglican priest spoke out against religious groups’ negative view of metal music, saying churchgoers could learn lessons from heavy culture.
Rev Rachel Mann believes people who can deal with the concepts explored in dark lyrics, and who can accept negative aspects of the human condition, can have a more balanced world view than worshipers who take themselves too seriously. (Read the full article here: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/priest_says_church_can_learn_from_metal.html).

“It becomes a great big family of people” – Ronnie James Dio (R.I.P)

Now people are going to call me out on the Satanic and Occult culture associated with metal. Church burnings and blasphemy is part and parcel of the allure of some Metal bands. To my mind it’s not real Satanism, it’s Halloween. The majority of Metal fans, or at least those I have come in contact with, can’t understand or defend these actions. And they shouldn’t have to.

For me, my love of Metal started as a teenager when a dear friend of mine played some songs on his acoustic guitar around a camp fire one night. To my dismay, all the girls went ga-ga over him and his musical ‘prowess’. I borrowed a guitar, he taught me 3 chords, and my journey into darkness started... The first Metal album I was exposed to was the Metallica “Black” album. I listened to Nothing else matters 22 times that day. I knew I had to learn that song, it haunted me, and stuck in my head and would not go away. It seems like an eternity ago, and yet the love and flame of passion burns in me stronger than ever. To this day people often ask me “Aren’t you getting to old for that shit?” I guess they’ll never understand that Metal is a passion, it’s a lifestyle, it’s a commitment and a drive that will never dissapate. And my honest hope is that those people find something in their lives that they can stand up for. Something that makes their heart beat faster when they are exposed to it.

I’ve explored what Metal means to its fans, and I’ll end it as it began – with a quote from Sam Dunn:

“35 years after Black Sabbath first played the devils note and Metal culture is still thriving. There’s a new generation of fans, and the old guard still stands strong.

 Why has metal always been consistently stereo typed, dismissed and condemned? Metal confronts what we’d rather ignore. It celebrates what we often deny. It indulges in what we fear most. And that’s why metal will always be a culture of outsiders.

Ever since I was 12 years old, I’ve had to defend my love for Metal against those who say it’s a less valid form of music. My answer now is that you either feel it or you don’t. If metal doesn’t give you that overwhelming surge of power, make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck – you might never get it, and you know what? That’s ok. Because judging by the millions of metal heads around me, were doing just fine without you” – Sam Dunn