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It began as a whisper, an oddly soothing voice oozing out of the massive Ozzfest PA like a serpent slithering through the Garden of Eden. Yet, with each repetition, it grew in volume to become an actual, physical threat. Slipknot's coming! it purred. SLIP-knot's COMING! it growled. SLIPKNOT'S COMING! it screamed, but by this time, tens of thousands of concert-goers were chanting along in unison, roaring with approval and an excitement that bordered on hysteria. The voice was that of the Reverend B. Dangerous, acting as a sort of carnival sideshow barker and emcee for the huge, traveling festival. Slipknot were on the mainstage, one of the biggest draws on the OZZfest marquee along with Marilyn Manson and, of course, Black Sabbath. Their fans were eagerly awaiting the release of their second album, and Slipknot didn't disappoint, each night playing four tracks from the upcoming Iowa. Now that it's finally here, after a wait that seemed endless, Slipknot phoned in from their ongoing U.S. tour to give Metal Edge the lowdown on what may turn out to be one of the biggest releases of the metal year. We spoke to bassist Paul Gray (#2), guitarist Mick Thomson (#7), and drummer Joey Jordison (#1) to find out what's rotten in the state of Iowa... METAL EDGE: How's OZZfest been? Do Slipknot fit in well with bands like Papa Roach and Linkin Park? Paul Gray: It's kicking ass. Obviously, it's a pretty fun tour... You know what? I think that everybody here has come to see some heavier music, like us, but I think it works well. We're getting really great responses from people, and the kids are really liking the new songs. ME: Did you go into the studio for your new record with the mindset of making the ultimate metal album? PG: We went into the studio to make what we "felt," and it came out a lot more brutal and crushing that the first album. I might even go so far as to say it's the "baddest metal album of all time!" [Laughing] It's the shit, it came out really well and we worked our asses off on it. ME: Do you consider Iowa your second or third record? PG: This is the second record. Mate, Feed, Kill, Repeat was just a demo that we had done ourselves. I don't even consider that a "record." ME: There are two songs from that album that have been updated for Iowa. Why? PG: We did "Gently" and the song "Iowa" for the new album, which was once called "Killers Are Quiet." They've been reworked and kind of spiced up a little bit, and they actually turned out really well. ME: Your pig mask is starting to look very charred and burnt over time. Is it the same mask as always? PG: You know what I ended up having to change mine up because the other one pretty much melted, disintegrated and rusted out. It became really nasty. I'm now using this very black one that's a variation on the old one. It's killing me. ME: Do you have a role onstage? Like Clown? PG: No, I just play bass and just am really hot in that damn thing! ME: How do you view your first album now, with hindsight? Was there anything you wanted to improve? PG: There was definitely stuff that we wanted to improve on. When a band finishes a record, you all tink to yourselves, "Wow, that's the shit!" Later on, you start tninking about all the thinkgs that you could have done differently. One of the main thinks that we improved was the sound. We got a lot better overall aound on the new one-It's a lot crispier and sharper than the first one, but it's still got that raw Slipknot sound, but we enhanced it. On to the Joey Jordison interview |