Members:
Corey #8 - Vocals
Mick #7 - Guitar
Sid #0 - Turntables
Shawn #6 - Custom Percussion
Paul #2 - Bass
Joey #1 - Drums
Chris #3 - Custom Percussion
James #4 - Guitar
Craig #5 - Samples/Media


Biography.
Slipknot (sometimes typeset as SlipKnoT in imitation of the logo) are an American nu metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. While the group has gone through several line-up changes, the band has remained unchanged since 1999 consisting of Sid Wilson, Joey Jordison, Paul Gray, Chris Fehn, Jim Root, Craig Jones, Shawn Crahan, Mick Thomson and Corey Taylor.
Slipknot's line-up allows the band to create a densely layered sound featuring a typical heavily down-tuned guitar set-up (lead, rhythm, and bass guitars), two percussionists in addition to the primary drummer, and electronics (samplers and turntables). The band's sound has been described as "a threshing machine devouring a military drum corps."[1] The band also incorporates diverse vocal styles, typically involving growled vocals, melodic singing and even rapping while the lyrics generally follow a very aggressive tone.
Slipknot's root lie back as far as 1992 and eventually the band formed in November 1995. The band underwent many line-up changes before releasing their highly successful debut album Slipknot in 1999. Their popularity rose with this release, and they started become a popular nu metal band. Since which time they have released two other albums, Iowa and Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). Slipknot are expected to release a fourth album in 2008.
History
Early years (pre-1998)
Early formations of a band were beginning to form as early as 1992 with the core band members; drummer Shawn Crahan, vocalist Anders Colsefini and bassist Paul Gray enlisting the help of guitarists; Donnie Steele and Quan "Meld" Nong.
In September 1995, the band The Pale Ones was created comprising Crahan on drums, Gray as bassist, Colsefini on vocals and guitarist Steele. Joey Jordison joined the band shortly after, taking up the role of drummer and, subsequently, Crahan moved to percussion. The band continued to develop their vision of what the band would be, deciding to add a second guitarist, recruiting Josh "Gnar" Brainard and moving Colsefini to percussion along with lead vocals. The band played their first live performance under the name of Meld on December 4, 1995 at a club called Crowbar in Des Moines. Soon after, Jordison suggested renaming the band "Slipknot" after their song which eventually appeared on the demo Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat.. The band also began experimenting with their image, wearing grotesque make up and eventually the anti-image concept developed towards the members wearing masks. Up until this point, the band had remained mainly obscured due to their desire to wait until their music was fully developed.
Slipknot "Slipknot" (1996)
Slipknot's earlier music was slower than their later material and vocalist Colsefini had a much deeper vocal style than that of Taylor.
With plenty of material ready, the band began recording in a local studio, SR Audio with Sean McMahon. In February 1996, guitarist Steele left the band due to his Christian beliefs; though the other band members were prepared to allow him to stay, Steele decided to leave. His replacement, Craig Jones, arrived during the mixing stages of this new project. On April 4, Slipknot played their first public performance at Des Moines reggae club the Safari, where they played a lot of their early gigs. Their second gig at the Safari was alongside Stone Sour. The band began to realize again that there was need for a change, as they were adding samples to their recordings but couldn't produce these sounds live. Subsequently, Jones moved to full-time sampler and Mick Thomson was brought in to fill the space on guitar. After conflict over the mixing and mastering, the band released their first demo Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. on Halloween, October 31, 1996.
With the production of this demo, Sean McMahon began distributing it between record and management companies which resulted in airplay on local radio and, in turn, won a spot at Dotfest. Slipknot had returned to the studio having developed new material requiring more vocal melody. As a result, Corey Taylor was recruited from fellow Des Moines band Stone Sour; this moved Colsefini to backing vocals and percussion. While experimenting with their new vocalist, the band continued to do shows at the Safari club, during one of which Colsefini surprised his band and fans alike announcing on stage that he was leaving the band. The gap on percussion was the filled by Greg "Cuddles" Welts, who was to become the first and only member to be fired from the band due to his lazy attitude. Chris Fehn replaced Welts and remains on percussion in the current line-up. Towards the end of 1997, the band were assigned individual numbers respectively and began wearing uniform coveralls at their shows.
In early 1998, the band created another small demo which included "Spit It Out". The demo was sent to many record labels and, along with a growing popularity on the Internet and help from their then manager Sophia John, interest grew from record labels and eventually producer Ross Robinson was contacted. The band, which had a strong interest in working with Robinson, met with him and it was then decided they would work together. Soon after, DJ Sid Wilson was brought in to the band after showing great interest and impressing band members. With the acquisition of Ross Robinson, interest grew and the band began getting offers from record labels. On July 8, 1998 they signed to Roadrunner Records.
Debut album and success (1998-2001)
Their debut album was much faster than their previous demo Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. and, with nine members, their sound had much more depth.
In late 1998, the nine members of Slipknot took to the studio to work on their debut album. In the early new year, guitarist Brainard decided to leave the band due to personal reasons. His replacement was Jim Root leaving them with the line-up they have continued to retain.[24] Recording on the album finished in early 1999. The band then got a spot on Ozzfest which began in March, the tour greatly increased the bands fan base. On June 29, 1999, the band released their eponymous album Slipknot. Regarding the album, Rick Anderson of All Music Guide wrote "You thought Limp Bizkit was heavy? They're The Osmonds. Slipknot is something else entirely."
Slipknot included variations of previously released songs, including "(sic)", a new version of the earlier song "Slipknot". These new versions were much faster than their previous recordings and this shift in intensity was welcomed by old fans. In the same year, Slipknot released their first home video Welcome to Our Neighborhood (which was later released on DVD in 2003). In early 2000, Slipknot the album was certified platinum, a first for any album released by Roadrunner Records. In July 2001, Q named Slipknot as one of the "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time".
Anticipated follow up and side projects (2001-2003)
The band had created a huge fan base and the expectations for their follow up album were great and they went back in to the studio in early 2001 to work on a new album. Iowa, the band's second album with Roadrunner Records, was released on August 28, 2001. Jason Birchmeier of All Music Guide said "It's really all you could ask for in a Slipknot album, and then some," and David Fricke of Rolling Stone called the album "the first great record of the nu-metal era." It was also a commercial success, peaking at number three on the Billboard album charts, and at number one on the UK album chart. In mid-2001, the band once again toured with Ozzfest. The band also appeared in the concert scene of the 2002 movie Rollerball. In the same year, the BBC said that Slipknot stole the show and proved entertaining after the band performed at Reading Festival in England. In the same year Slipknot released their second visual output with the release of their DVD Disasterpieces.
2002 also saw the first serious musical projects for Slipknot members outside of the band. Lead vocalist Taylor and guitarist Root revived their band Stone Sour with the release of their eponymous debut album Stone Sour. Drummer Jordison also had his own project in which he took up the role of guitarist in the Murderdolls. Slipknot planned to work on a third album towards the end of 2002 but the band was experiencing problems. At this time there was rumours concerning whether the band had split and the possibility of a third album. By mid 2003 Crahan also had a new side project, To My Surprise, in which he worked with producer Rick Rubin.
Rebirth and hiatus (2003–2007)
It was the rebirth of Slipknot, you know what I mean it was like... us coming back together, pushing out the vibe that had gotten in there and kinda started pulling people away. But we figured out that you know, we do have to get space you know, we do need to let people be sometimes.
- Paul Gray on Slipknot's third album
In late 2003, Slipknot began writing and recording with producer Rick Rubin, who had previously worked with artists such as Johnny Cash, System of a Down, and Slayer. The band released their third album, Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) on May 24, 2004. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 and Johnny Loftus of All Music Guide called the album "a satisfying, carefully crafted representation of [the band's] career to date." Robert Cherry of Rolling Stone said that the album "experiments with even newer extremes, which in Slipknot's case means tunefulness and traditional song structures." In 2004, the band toured with Ozzfest for a third time, the same year they made their first appearance at Download Festival during which Jordison drummed for Metallica as Lars Ulrich was rushed to hospital. In 2005, Slipknot made live appearances without percussionist Crahan-who was supporting his wife during an illness-including their return to Download Festival.
They released their first live album, 9.0: Live which included recordings from shows in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Osaka, Singapore, and Tokyo. The album was released on November 1, 2005 and peaked at #17 on the Billboard 200. In 2006, the band won their first and only Grammy for Best Metal Performance with "Before I Forget". Later that year, Slipknot released their third DVD Voliminal: Inside the Nine.
Several members of the band collaborated with other artists on the Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions CD released in October 2005. On the record, Jordison was named a "team captain". Root, Taylor, and Gray also contributed to the album. In 2006, Root and Taylor once again returned with Stone Sour releasing their second album Come What(ever) May. Jordison drummed for several bands while on tour including; Ministry (2006) and Korn (2007). He also produced 3 Inches of Blood's third album Fire Up the Blades which was released in early 2007. Later in the year Crahan revealed a new side project, Dirty Little Rabbits.
Recent events (2007-present)
Slipknot will be returning in 2008 with their fourth studio album.[61] Preparation for the album has been noted to have started in October 2007, recording is due to begin in January 2008 and they are aiming for a spring release, possibly preceded by a live tour. For this release, the band has displayed interest in making it their heaviest album to date, such as the expansion of thrash metal riffing that was introduced on Vol. 3. However, they also want to make it their most experimental record, and will be including more acoustic guitars and melodic vocals.
Influences and style
The band's primary influences include Black Sabbath, Slayer, Judas Priest, Korn, AC/DC, Kiss and Beastie Boys. Slipknot has an extreme performance style provided by their large line-up featuring a typical heavily down-tuned guitar set-up (lead, rhythm, and bass guitars), two percussionists in addition to the primary drummer, and electronics (samplers and turntables). Robert Cherry of Rolling Stone compared the band's sound to "a threshing machine devouring a military drum corps."
Their early work hosted a large range of vocal styles, ranging from rapping to occasional singing to growled vocals. In more recent work, this vocal style remains present, but now includes more melodic singing. The lyrics generally follow a very aggressive tone and feature themes such as darkness, nihilism, anger, disaffection, love, misanthropy and psychosis. Rick Anderson of All Music Guide regards the group's lyrics as "not generally quotable on a family website". There has been controversy surrounding Slipknot's lyrics, including a case in which a pair of young killers blamed the lyrics from the song "Disasterpiece" for their vicious crime and a case in 2006 in which lyrics from the song "Surfacing" were found at the site of a grave robbing. However, the band has never faced any serious allegations of violent or criminally insightful lyrical content.
Image and identities
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.
- Corey Taylor on the masks
The band is known for its attention-grabbing image, the members wear matching uniform jumpsuits and homemade masks. In the past, their jumpsuits have featured large UPC barcodes printed on the back and sleeves, which are identical to the barcode on their demo, Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. Aside from their real names, members of the band are referred to by numbers 0 through 8.
With each new album, Slipknot have attained new masks and coveralls. The masks haven't changed dramatically with the release of their second and third albums, as the masks are more of an extension of what they previously were. Jordison addressed the issue in an interview in 2004, stating that the change in masks are to show growth and difference within age. During the music video and live performances of their single "Vermilion" the band change their respective masks to death masks made from casts of their own faces. Also in 2004, Gray claimed that the special effects company Screaming Mad George made their masks from their third album cycle, and pictures of the band's masks from their second album cycle can be found on the SMG website.
The masks have been subject of much criticism, generally thought of as a gimmick to try sell their product. The band however strongly object these claims, proclaiming that the masks are used to draw the attention away from themselves and to the music. Several members have said how the masks are a visual representation of how the music makes them feel and how they put the members in an animal-like mentality. The coveralls and numbers are an extension of their anti-image concept they created with the masks. The integrity of the masks is also a topic of criticism as band members have appeared outside of Slipknot without the masks. The issue has been addressed by most band members, percussionist Crahan specifically addressed the issue during an interview on The Sauce when discussing the release of their 2006 DVD Voliminal: Inside the Nine, proclaiming that the masks are always going to be part of the Slipknot show.
The band's image has sparked controversy over the years. Some of the controversy comes from the band Mushroomhead, who, along with their fans, claim that Slipknot stole their image. In 2005, another source of controversy was the band's lawsuit against Burger King, claiming that company created the advertising based band Coq Roq to capitalize on Slipknot's image. The band's lawyer claimed that Burger King had contacted the band's label to get Slipknot to take part in "advertising campaign designed to motivate young people to vote". Burger King responded to the suit with a countersuit, and in that suit pointed out that many other bands, such as Mudvayne, Kiss, and GWAR have used masks as part of their image, although after private discussions the advertising campaign was dropped.