Slipknot The Band

Slipknot (band)

Slipknot is an American Nu Metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. The group has experienced several line-up changes, but its membership has not changed since 1999: Sid Wilson, Joey Jordison, Paul Gray, Chris Fehn, Jim Root, Craig Jones, Shawn Crahan, Mick Thomson and Corey Taylor.

Slipknot uses a 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.The band incorporates diverse vocal styles, typically involving growled vocals, melodic singing and even rapping while the lyrics generally follow a very aggressive tone. The band's musical influences include death metal as well as thrash metal, blues and hip hop.

Slipknot's origins date back to 1992, and the band officially formed in November 1995. Slipknot underwent line-up changes before releasing their debut album Slipknot in 1999. They have released two other albums, Iowa and Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), and is 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

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 most 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 could not 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 self released their first album Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. on Halloween, October 31, 1996.

With the production of this album, 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, which was, demanded 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 on percussion.Towards the end of 1997, the band was assigned individual numbers respectively and began wearing uniform coveralls at their shows.

Influences and style

Slipknot are known for their often chaotic and energetic live shows.

The band's primary influences include Black Sabbath, Slayer, Judas Priest, Korn, AC/DC, Kiss and Beastie Boys.Death metal has been mentioned as a key influence on the band's musical direction alongside nu metal which the band are generally listed as.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 that their lyrics may incite violent or criminal behaviour.