Best of 2008: Slipknot

Favorite song:
The song I think I listened to the most this year is “I Want You” by Kiss which [laughs] didn’t come out this year, it came out like 30 years ago, but the most time I listen to music is when I’m in my car, and that CD’s always in there so I would just start it on that [track].

Best new artist:
I don’t know, I can’t think of anybody new that I listen to at all.  I normally listen to older stuff like David Bowie or moodier stuff like Portishead and then metal, but it’s usually older stuff. 

Best tour memory:
Going down to Australia because I got to go down there with my wife, and it was kind of cool.  That would probably be the best part just because we had a lot of fun down there.

Proudest achievement:
Getting this album done and how it did, that’s probably my proudest achievement.

Current events you addressed on your album:
There’s some stuff about the on-going war in Iraq which never seems to end. There’s some other things there I don’t want to go into too much because Corey writes the lyrics, so they have a more personal meaning for him.

One thing you learned:
How to tour a little bit healthier in terms of a million different things, but eating healthier and not drinking as much. I definitely feel better when I wake up in the morning.

Biggest disappointment:
There really haven’t been many disappointments.  We went to the VMAs and we lost but it didn’t really disappoint me though because I wasn’t expecting to win anyway. It’s been a really good year so far. I’m just happy to be out and touring and healthy and alive and married and having fun in 2008.

Most expensive purchase:
I bought a new SUV earlier this year. I live in Iowa and you need to have something that gets around in the snow.  I had sports cars and they really didn’t get around so I sold one of them and bought an SUV.

One thing you cut back on because of the recession:
Christmas shopping [laughs] which people are going to be bummed out about, but yeah I got less Christmas presents this year. Instead of going all out, I just got people more personal, cooler gifts instead of like, “oh you get a flat screen.”

Resolution for next year:
I’m supposed to quit smoking but I don’t know how that’s going to work because that’s been [my resolution] every year. We’ll see how it goes this year; last year I lasted a couple of weeks so hopefully I can get to a month this time.  The whole cold turkey thing just does not work for me, so I'm going to try the medication and hopefully it will work.