The
History of Slipknot
Early days
(1995–1998)
Slipknot
was formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in September 1995 when drummer Shawn Crahan and
bassist Paul Gray started a band named The Pale One. The lineup was made up of
friends who met through the local music scene, including vocalist Anders Colsefni
and guitarist Donnie Steele.Not long after their inception, Gray invited Joey
Jordison to a rehearsal because the band were interested in experimenting with
additional drum elements. Jordison subsequently joined the band as their main
drummer, moving Crahan to custom percussion. Furthermore, Colsefni also took up
custom percussion while remaining the band's vocalist. The band then decided to
invite Josh Brainard as their second guitarist, bringing their lineup to six
members. On December 4, the band made their live debut; playing a benefit show
using the name Meld.
Much
of the band's early development was retrospectively attributed to late-night
planning sessions between Gray, Crahan and Jordison at a Sinclair gas station
where Jordison worked nights. It was there, in late 1995, that Jordison
suggested changing the band name to Slipknot after their song of the same name.
In December, Slipknot began recording material at SR Audio, a studio in
the band's hometown. Without a recording budget, the band were forced to
self-finance the project, the costs of which came to an estimated $40,000. In
February 1996, guitarist Donnie Steele decided to leave Slipknot due to his
Christian beliefs. When questioned in 1999 about Steele's departure, Jordison
explained: "we were prepared to keep him on, but he didn't want to
stay." During the mixing stages of their project at SR Audio, Craig
Jones was recruited as Steele's replacement on guitar. However, throughout
their time in the studio, the band were adding samples to their recordings but
could not produce these sounds live. Subsequently, Jones became the band's
sampler and Mick Thomson was brought in as the replacement guitarist. After a
complicated time with mixing and mastering, the band self-released the demo album
Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. on Halloween, October 31, 1996.
Distribution
for the demo was initially left to the band and their producer Sean McMahon,
before it was handed over to the distribution company Ismist in early 1997.
Slipknot received a small amount of airplay on local radio stations off the
back of the demo. However, it didn't lead to any kind of interest from record
labels, so the band returned to the studio to develop new material. It was at
this time that the band began experimenting with more vocal melody, something
which Colsefni struggled to achieve. As a result, Corey Taylor was recruited
from fellow Des Moines band Stone Sour; this moved Colsefni to backing vocals
and percussion. While working in the studio, Slipknot continued to do local
shows, during one of which in September 1997, Colsefni announced on stage that
he was leaving the band. The gap on percussion was filled by Greg Welts, who
was affectionately known as "Cuddles." In early 1998, Slipknot
produced a second demo featuring five tracks exclusively for record labels. The
band began to receive a lot of attention from record labels, and in February
1998, producer Ross Robinson offered to produce their debut album after
attending rehearsals in Des Moines. Soon after, DJ Sid Wilson was recruited as
the band's ninth member after showing great interest and impressing band
members. In late June, Slipknot received a $500,000 seven-album deal from
Roadrunner Records; the band signed the deal publicly on July 8, 1998. Two days
prior to this, Welts was fired from the band, something which Slipknot refuse
to comment on.
Slipknot and
emergence (1998–2000)
Chris
Fehn was brought in to replace Welts on percussion before Slipknot traveled to
Malibu, California to work on their debut album in September 1998. Partway
through the recording process of the album, Slipknot returned to Des Moines,
Iowa for the Christmas period, during which guitarist Brainard decided to leave
the band. Speaking about his decision, Brainard explained: "some decisions
were made that I wasn't particularly happy with." Slipknot recruited Jim
Root to complete their lineup and returned to Malibu to continue work on their
debut album. Work on the album concluded in early 1999, allowing the band to go
on their first tour as part of the Ozzfest in 1999. The tour proved to expand
their audience greatly and their self-titled album was released on June 29,
1999. Slipknot went on to release their first home video Welcome to Our
Neighborhood and the two singles; "Wait and Bleed" and "Spit
It Out". The singles received some airplay, but Slipknot developed a large
following very quickly mainly from touring and word of mouth. The band toured
several countries throughout 1999 and 2000 in support of the album. In early
2000, Slipknot was certified platinum, a first for an album released by
Roadrunner Records.
Iowa and hiatus (2001–2003)
Anticipation
for Slipknot's sophomore effort was intense and in early 2001, the band began
recording their second album at Sound City and Sound Image studios in Los
Angeles. It was about this time that conflicts began to arise between band members
due to their extensive touring and recording schedules. Despite this, recording
on their second album came to a close in February 2001 and Slipknot embarked on
their Iowa World Tour. Iowa, the band's second album was released on
August 28, 2001, peaking at number three on the Billboard album charts
and at number one on the UK album chart. The album produced three singles;
"The Heretic Anthem", "Left Behind" and then "My
Plague" which appeared on the soundtrack for the film Resident Evil.
In 2002, Slipknot made their first (and to-date only) appearance in a movie,
performing the song "I Am Hated" in a scene in the remake of Rollerball.
The release of the album and the promotion in support of it proved great for
the band's popularity, to the extent of them selling out shows in large arenas
in several countries. However, in mid-2002, Slipknot went on hiatus for the
first time due to internal conflicts, seeing several band members focus on side
projects. Vocalist Taylor and guitarist Root revived their band Stone Sour,
drummer Jordison created the Murderdolls, percussionist Crahan founded To My
Surprise and DJ Wilson went solo as DJ Starscream. At this time, the future of
Slipknot was unclear and there was speculation over whether the band had split
and the possibility of a third album. Despite this, on November 22, 2002
Slipknot released their second DVD Disasterpieces.
Vol. 3:
(The Subliminal Verses)
and second hiatus (2003–2007)
After
several delays, Slipknot moved in to The Mansion in Los Angeles, California in
mid-2003 to work on their third album alongside producer Rick Rubin. By early
2004, work had finished on the album and they began The Subliminal Verses World
Tour with their appearance on the Jägermeister Music Tour in March 2004. Vol.
3: (The Subliminal Verses) was released on May 24, 2004, peaking at number
2 on the Billboard album charts. The album produced six singles;
"Duality", "Vermilion", "Vermilion, Pt. 2",
"Before I Forget", "The Nameless", and The Blister Exists.
Slipknot recorded their first live album, 9.0: Live while touring in
support of their third album. Released on November 1, 2005 9.0: Live
peaked at number 17 on the Billboard album charts. Touring in support of
Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) continued through 2004 and up to the end
of 2005 before Slipknot went on hiatus for the second time.
In 2005, several
members of Slipknot where involved in Roadrunner United: The All-Star
Sessions, a collaboration album of artists signed to Roadrunner Records.
2006 saw Slipknot win their first (and to date only) Grammy Award, picking up the
Best Metal Performance award with the single "Before I Forget". On
December 5, 2006, Slipknot released their third DVD Voliminal: Inside the
Nine. While Slipknot were on hiatus, several band members once again
focused their attentions on side projects; vocalist Taylor and guitarist Root
returned to Stone Sour, drummer Jordison toured with several bands and produced
3 Inches of Blood's third album Fire Up the Blades, Crahan founded Dirty
Little Rabbits and Wilson returned as DJ Starscream once again.
All Hope Is Gone, Gray's death and third
hiatus (2008–2010)
Preparation for
Slipknot's fourth album began towards the end of 2007; however, work began when
the band entered the Sound Farm Studio in Jamaica, Iowa with producer Dave
Fortman in February 2008. Work came to a close on the album in June, prior to
the beginning of the All Hope Is Gone World Tour on July 9, 2008. Slipknot's
fourth album; All Hope Is Gone was released on August 20, 2008, debuting
at number 1 on the Billboard albums chart. The album produced five
singles; "All Hope Is Gone", "Psychosocial", "Dead
Memories", "Sulfur" and "Snuff". 2009 marked the
10-year anniversary of Slipknot's debut album; to commemorate the event, the
band released a special edition version of Slipknot on September 9,
2009. Touring in support of the album continued throughout 2008 and 2009,
before coming to a close on October 31, 2009, resulting in Slipknot's third
hiatus.
During the hiatus, several band
members focused on respective side projects; vocalist Taylor founded Junk Beer
Kidnap Band and returned to Stone Sour with guitarist Root, Crahan continued
working with his band Dirty Little Rabbits, drummer Jordison returned with his
band Murderdolls and became the new permanent drummer of Rob Zombie,
percussionist Fehn is now a full-time bassist with metalcore band Will Haven and
Sid Wilson founded the band, Sid named after his first name. In 2010, bassist
Gray was planning to tour with the supergroup, Hail!. However, on May 24, 2010,
he was found dead in a hotel room in Urbandale, Iowa. Circumstances surrounding
his death at the time were not immediately known; an autopsy suspected that his
death was not caused by intention of anyone, but still did not reveal the cause
of it. The day after his death, the remaining eight members of the band held a
live press conference alongside Gray's widow and brother, expressing their
feelings about the incident. On June 21, the cause of death was confirmed as an
accidental overdose on morphine and fentanyl, the latter being a synthetic
morphine substitute. The band was hesitant to comment on the future of
Slipknot. The members made conflicting statements in interviews regarding the
situation; drummer Jordison told The Pulse of Radio "there is
another Slipknot record already kinda in the making". Vocalist Taylor
revealed to FMQB Productions' that he is "very conflicted about
whether or not [he wants] to do anything with Slipknot". The band released
their fourth video album on September 28, where it debuted at No.1 on the
Billboard Top Music Video Charts. The DVD features Slipknot's complete live
performance at the 2009 Download Festival and a 45 minute film documenting
their tour in support of All Hope Is Gone, and served as a tribute to
Paul Gray.
Return
to the stage and recent events (2010-present)
Regarding the continuation of
Slipknot, Taylor later told NME that Paul Gray would want them to continue
and in that spirit he feels that they should, although he feels "on the
fence" about returning to the band. Slipknot returned to touring in 2011
for a small run of shows in Europe. They headlined the Sonisphere Festival and
Rock in Rio along the likes of Iron Maiden and Metallica and performed at
Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting. Taylor stated that the shows served as a
"celebration and tribute" to the late bassist. Slipknot founding
guitarist, Donnie Steele substituted for Gray in the concert shows, however was
obscured from the audience's view. Percussionist, Shawn Crahan has stated that
the band will tour the United States by June, 2012.
Slipknot has also confirmed that
they will complete and release their fifth studio album with no plans of
replacing Gray, however Taylor stated that he was unsure whether he would like
to record again with the album and did not see it happening very soon. He
elaborated by saying that he might be open to recording with the band in
"a couple of years". Drummer Jordison responded to these comments by
stating that the writing process for the band's fifth studio album had already
begun and that he had written 17 songs. In response to Taylor's comments about
his uncertainty of his future with the band, Jordison stated that 'Slipknot
will continue with or without [Corey Taylor]' [sic]. A contrasting
statement was made by Crahan on his Facebook page, where he stated that no
songs were written yet. He supported Taylor's notion of it being too early to
record another Slipknot album.
Slipknot is
scheduled to perform at Mayhem Festival 2012.
