I want to see the guitar in a non-linear sense that encompasses tones, arrangements, songwriting, audio production, and everything else - you have to do it all.
Jim Root
In a nine-piece-band is one guy gonna call up eight guys and have a 45-minute discussion about every decision? No. So things are a lot more democratic in Stone Sour. Plus, we're closer and it's a lot easier to communicate. In Slipknot that's the big problem - communication.
It's probably a lot cooler than wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Once I put on the mask, I don't even realize that it's there. They're molded off of our faces, so they fit really well.
When you've got a mask on, you're kind of invincible. It's almost like nobody can see you, and you can do what you want to do without consequences.
The culture of buying an album on CD or vinyl has gone out of the window. A lot of kids don't really understand that, they just hop onto Limewire, or find a BitTorrent, or even just go onto iTunes if they're going to pay for something. It's just right there, there's no searching about.
It's hard to chase a vibe and catch a vibe.
Dave Fortman really helped me appreciate Rick Rubin as a producer.
Some of the guys in Stone Sour, I think they just want to be a radio band and write strictly for radio and try to be more of a poppy rock band. And that's not really what I'm into.
Rick Rubin was able to do things that Dave Fortman could never do. I'm not trying to take anything away from Dave Fortman as a producer. He's extremely talented. He wasn't able to get nine people together on the same page and, to me, that's the most important thing in making a Slipknot record.
I'm just a dumb guitar player, man.
We're closer friends in Stone Sour than I am with the guys in Slipknot and that makes life a lot easier. I'm not trying to take anything away from Slipknot.
It's important to evolve without ever straying too far from your roots and what established you.
All my racks are the same between Slipknot and Stone Sour. The only thing I'll do is switch out pedals in the GCX system. But it's the same heads, same wireless, same GCX.
You don't even know are we going to have a career? Are we going to be able to sell records? Are we going to have a label?
I'm extremely lucky to be doing what I'm doing right now and I work very hard at maintaining this career and living this dream that I'm living, but there's also a price to pay. I mean, we give a lot of ourselves and every day.
Slipknot's the kind of band you need to step away from and kind of take a break from and let it heal, so to speak.
To have a No. 1 with 130,000 copies sold is, you know, I remember when we first started selling records, in order to have a No. 1, you'd have to sell at least a half a million if not more, for the rock side of things.
One of the downfalls of not being in Stone Sour was I sat at home for two and a half years, and I hadn't ever done that since we started touring in 1999. I was really nervous and freaked out.
With 'Iowa,' if you ask me, we really passed up a lot of things that we could have done with the two auxiliary drummers. I mean they hardly touched their drums on that album.
Yes, it is extremely lucky to be doing what I'm doing, and I wouldn't change any of it for the world.
I'm always living at least a year ahead of where I'm really at, and that can really lead you to some negative thoughts and some bad vibes.
Finding the right amp can be a process, especially when you're young and just starting out. When I was a kid, I had to rely on whatever I got for Christmas. Then my mom got me a Peavey VTM 120. I used that for a few years.
I'll never be able to listen to anything we've done like someone who's just picked it up for the first time.
People that like Slipknot that could care less about Stone Sour, people that like Stone Sour that don't know a lot of Slipknot.
As a person, I think you're always kind of searching for something or going through a hardship, whether it's your parents splitting up or anything like that. I mean, my parents stuck together, for whatever reason, until I was about 23, and then they decided to call it quits.
You always have to be on top of your game, because you never know what is going to happen.
It's easy to get a good amp that might not be the right amp for you. When you go to a music store, really turn the amps on and turn 'em up - hopefully they'll let you - and work through the sounds. This is an important decision, so take your time and be methodical.
I've started to look at guitar playing from more than just a standpoint of using certain modes and techniques.
I was awkward in school. I didn't really fit in with any kind of crowd in school. I didn't have a lot of friends. But the friends I had were very close friends.
Iowa,' for me, I hated doing that album - it wasn't a good experience for me.
I was spreading myself too thin. That was making me unhappy and that, in turn, was making the rest of Stone Sour unhappy.
No, I would never in a million years compare anything we've done to anything we've previously done. I don't believe in it - I think it's bad.
It became apparent to me near the end of the album cycle for 'House Of Gold & Bones' that it had basically run its course. But the band kept pushing for more dates, and I was just, like, 'It's time to stop!'
Sometimes I can be a little bit I don't know, stubborn or something. Maybe to a fault.
The thing that scares me about the way the music industry has changed so much is that I'm afraid that the record, the album, will disappear, and it'll go back to the way it was in the '50s where everything is single-based.
We're still evolving as a band. I think that's really important for a band to do, especially after being around for so many years.
There's such an energy and emotion to rock music, which is a lot of the reason I go back to '60s and '70s bands and look at some of the fire they had.
If you have a sickness, you gotta fix that sickness, but you can't keep putting somebody into treatment over and over and over again.
I don't consciously think of any certain direction when I'm writing. I only try not to be repetitive or redundant.
So many bands play to tracks - what's the point in coming to see them live if they're playing to a CD?
There's a lot for us to achieve and a lot more music to explore. I'm not saying we want to start doing experimental prog or something, where it turns into elevator music after a few records, but I don't think we've even scratched the surface.
That's why I don't necessarily enjoy it when bands cover other songs. You'll never recreate what has been done, especially if it's something that's legendary and classic.
You could say, 'Oh, we're gonna write the heaviest album of all time' or 'We're gonna write an album that sounds like 'Iowa.'' Even if we set out to try to do so, it would never compare. We're not those people anymore, we're not that band anymore.
We're a unique band, so why have a generic producer lumping you in a box with other bands that sound the same?
It's the best thing, me leaving Stone Sour.
I'm definitely a lot more reserved without the mask on. And with the mask on, all those inhibitions kinda go out the window. I can act like Keith Richards, I guess!
I'd rather be creative and be artistic and be able to play intricate music that moves and really takes you on a journey.
For Slipknot, I'd say drumming is only 50 or 60 percent of the job. The rest of it is who you are and what your personality is.
When we recorded 'Iowa,' we jammed, we went through the songs, we played as a band and we recorded as a band.
I love Stone Sour. I love the music that we created. and it was a fun ride. But if I'm going to sacrifice all of my free time and my life for something, it has to be something that I a thousand-percent believe in, and something where I have a thousand-percent communication with everyone involved. And that something is Slipknot.
