Q&A: Slipknot

by Jen Guyre

When Rhapsody caught up with Slipknot percussionist Chris Fehn (#3) at the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival, things were looking up for the infamous metal collective. After nearly three years away, the nine masked members -- Sid Wilson (turnables), Joey Jordison (drums), Paul Gray (bass), Fehn (percussion), Jim Root (guitars), Craig "133" Jones (samples/media),  Shawn "Clown" Crahan (percussion), Mick Thomson (guitars) and Corey Taylor (vocals) -- were back out on the touring circuit with two singles dominating the airwaves and a new album in the pipeline. "You always wonder if you’re going to be able to keep up, but we’re a touring band," explains Fehn. "When we’re on the road is when we’re the best."

But since then, the title of their highly anticipated fourth full-length, All Hope Is Gone, has proven to be a bit of a bad omen. After Jordinson recently broke his ankle -- and with Wilson already nursing two broken heels in a wheelchair -- Slipknot had to cancel all of their European tour dates. However, according to Fehn, nothing can break this Iowa-born heavy metal machine. "Things are going to happen ... but the best part of being human is you can pick yourself up, dust off, and make it better." See what else Fehn had to say about the making of Slipknot's new album, new masks and new attitude.

What does the title All Hope is Gone mean?
It’s just a really cool title you could apply to music or anything in general. For me, I don’t take that title in a negative way. I think that once all hope is gone, it’s time for rebuilding, a rebirth, and that’s the way I take life.

Is there anything you guys were going for thematically or sonically?
It’s just another step in the evolution of Slipknot. We really don’t do any pre-planning. Some guys will get together and jam some riffs, but other than that, it pretty much just evolves on its own. We don’t set up for a plan, like, “This record’s going to be like this.” We just pour out as much music as we can. This record [ended up] a little more of the Iowa style; it’s heavy and that’s what we love to do.

How did the songwriting process work this time?
We’re kind of old school. This is our fourth record now, so we know what’s happening as far as the writing process works and everything. Usually Paul and Joey will get together and write some riffs. They’ll demo in the studio, then we’ll all get a copy of it, but the band is more open to ideas now than it every has been. It used to be pretty militant, like, “Here’s what it’s going to be.” Now, if you got an idea, like, I played Jim and Joey riffs that I came up with, and we recorded them. They didn’t make the record, but obviously they’re there for future stuff. That was just a big turning point for me, in terms of bringing my own ideas into the band. We’re pretty self-contained, as far as our band goes.

What made you decide to record in Iowa for the first time?
We wanted to be at home, because everyone is gone so much that any last little bit of home life that we can get before we go on these massive tours is welcome. So, it was just time to do it there. We didn’t want to all live in L.A. again and do that whole thing because we’ve done that the last three records; it was just time to change it up a little bit so we flew the producer and everything in and it worked out. Recording was cool; it was somewhat difficult, but once we got into it, it started going. Basically for 24 hours a day, if you had an idea, you could lay it down. But you could just come and go as you wanted -- like, if the guitar players were doing their tracks, I didn’t have to go. I got to have days off and it was nice to be able to go home.

Tell me about your new masks.
They always evolve a little bit, just to keep it interesting. It creates a lot of hype, which is cool, but we do it for ourselves just to change it up so it’s not so mundane. They’re a lot more individualized now, letting each guy’s personality be on its own, seeing what each guy can come up with on his own rather than, “Hey, what are you doing? What’s that look like?” So, it’s getting a little looser in that way.Some things the guys have come up with all kind of evolve on [their] own.

Why burn the “purgatory masks” in the “Psycosocial” video?
It was just the end of that idea. Our “use it, destroy it, move on” kind of mentality.

Does that mentality describe where you’re at now?
I think so. We’ve cut the fat on a lot of things in our camp. We’ve just worked so hard for the last 10years, that we don’t take any sh*t from crew or people around us. You can either be a part of or you can be against it and we’re finally at the point in our careers where we’re like, “Hey, man, we don’t like that. Guess what? It’s gone.” In a metaphorical way, to me, that’s kind of the symbolization of what that burning of [the masks] is. When you have nothing left, then you can build upon it.

In terms of building, where do you see Slipknot going now with the new record?
Just up. We’re finally just doing things right. We’re just so much smarter now than we were back in the day when, if you just gave us a hand, you were in. We let a lot of people in our world that didn’t really need to be there, like old management, crew people, stuff like that. If they’re not willing to do what it takes to make this the best band in the world, then sorry. Go get another train, 'cause this one’s going.

How would you describe the band’s overall evolution up to this point?
Tough. At the beginning, it was really crude and really almost medieval how it went. Then, through the years, you just start meeting people. You meet a better sound guy. You meet a better monitor guy. You start getting endorsements. You get brand new drums and this and that. So, it’s like the evolution of the sound has taken a long time, but now I think we’re pretty close to where we need to be as far as what we want to try and project -- how Slipknot sounds to us. Humanly, we’ve just evolved as friends and it’s really cool. People think it must be so hard to be in this band and be on tour, but it’s actually quite easy. We respect each other. We know it’s not a normal band. I can’t just go outside and do a photo shoot; I would have to go get ready and there’s so many things that go into it that it’s a little more painful than being in a regular band. Instead of worrying about what T-shirt you’re going to wear onstage, it’s full-on makeup and all that stuff. We’ve evolved as far as tolerance for each other, first of all, and for this world we’ve created. Once we all started realizing that this is something that could be a lifelong journey, we chilled out on the small things.

Comments

[Harancq]

i love very well slipknot andi love this new album