Made kill feed repeat
Made kill feed repeat
Slipknot
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Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.
The first stages of the band Slipknot began way back in 1992 in Paul Gray’s basement, under the name Painface (a name Anders Colsefni would later use again). Anders Colsefni, Shawn Crahan, Paul Gray and Patrick Neuwirth brought the aggressive feel to the band, which would also be the defining feature of the future band Slipknot. During this early period, the songs “Slipknot”, “Gently”, “Idiot”, “Whats wrong” and “Wise up” were recorded, later to be known as “The basement sessions”. Shawn unfortunately was too busy with work and the project ended up not lasting.
In September 1995 Shawn and Anders decided to put together a new band again. They were always hanging out together and would play Werewolf: The Apocalypse (role-playing game). Most of the lyrics for MFKR would be based on the game. Anders was helping Shawn with some welding in his garage one winter, and they started talking about putting together a new band. At the time they were both drummers (Anders had been singing for a while though) and wanted to put together a band with extra stand-up percussion. Anders called Paul Gray, who was in Los Angeles at the time, and convinced him to return to Des Moines and give the band a try.
They needed guitarists so they reached out to Donnie Steele and Kun Nong who agreed to join the band. They retreated to Anders’ basement to figure out their sound and how to improve musically. They began practicing under a new name: Meld.
Joey Jordison
After six practices Kun Nong left due to him liking more Alternative/Punk style. Paul was feeling like something was missing, so he was determined to get Joey involved with the new project, despite not receiving his interest in earlier projects such as Body Pit. Paul met with Joey at Sinclair’s gas station where Joey was working at the time. There he tempted Joey to come watch band rehearsals in Anders’ basement. Joey reluctantly agreed and despite missing two rehearsals due to work obligations, he eventually made it down to the basement to check out a practice session.
The first song Joey heard them play was a song known as “Slipknot”, followed by “Gently” and “Fur”. Joey realized very soon he had to be in this band and began to play the drums, while Shawn moved onto percussion. A band was formed.
Within the cramped basement, they were soon pushing out new songs constantly, such as “Killers Are Quiet”, “Do Nothing Bitchslap”, “Confessions”, “Some Feel”, “Part of Me” and “Tattered and Torn”.
Paul, Shawn and Joey also began meeting up at Sinclair’s gas station to discuss ideas and plans for the future. Shawn and Joey decided the band needed to have three drummers to provide a “hardcore audio assault”. Shawn wanted a drummer to the left and right of the stage, with one at the back controlling it all, creating a wall of power.
Joey is the main drummer who holds the band together. Shawn is the “Total Power Drummer” and is all aggression. Finally the 3rd element of percussion was done by Anders, adding a tribal feel to it. They also realized the band would need another guitarist due to Kun leaving. Josh Brainard was contacted and soon added to the band. Josh was seen as the “icing on the cake”, adding a touch of melody to the batch of songs already written.
The people in Des Moines knew that a new band was being formed and they knew who was in it. But no one had heard or seen them. Soon a small show was performed. This first show was not under the name Slipknot, they were still called Meld. The show was at a club that was called the Crowbar at that time. The band didn’t wear masks at this point. This show happened about 1-2 months after Josh had joined the band (mid to late November 1995). It was the only show they’d done with Donnie.
Masks
The band went through the names Pyg System and Meld, before agreeing on the simpler name: Slipknot, the title of their first song. Slipknot began to concentrate on their stage show and eventually the idea of what Slipknot was about, evolved. Following some discussions, Shawn turned up to a practice wearing his Clown mask. The band decided almost unanimously, with the exception of Donnie, that masks should be worn. Joey came with his Kabuki mask, known also as ’83 Cesar, and despite difficulties within practices the idea took off. The whole anti-image appearance which fit so well with their rule of ignoring trends had a big appeal.
Slipknot’s very first demo was made in 1995. It was only given to band members and close friends of the band. The demo included the following tracks: “Some feel”, “Fur Covered in Blood”, “Tattered & Torn”, “Part of Me”. The word is that every member drew their own artwork on the demos.
Soon Shawn contacted Mike Lawyer due to their interest in recording some studio work. Mike got an engineer/producer Sean McMahon to meet up with them during a practice session.
Sean McMahon: “I was contacted by former members of a band called Body Pit to check out their new band at their rehearsal space.
The band floored me the first time I heard them play in Anders’ basement. This was way before the masks and coveralls evolved. The band was solid and incredibly tight. The music had some melodic parts at that time. They played Slipknot, Gently, Do Nothing/Bitchslap, Killers Are Quiet, Vizqueen and Fur for me. Anders himself was wearing a wolf fur loincloth – and nothing else. I did not pretend to fully understand what the band was about, as we were just getting to know each other. But it was very plain to me that Slipknot was extremely good at what they did, and had the requisite drive to take it all the way.”
Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.
The band soon started working on their first big project, “Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.“. They used every available moment to practice, perform and record at the SR Audio Studios. The recording phase for MFKR was one odd occurrence after another, Sean explains “We cut basic tracks live – all of them, including 3 drummers, all playing together in the same room. The band advocates the use of extreme violence as a conflict resolution tool, and recording was no exception. The wall next to Clown’s percussion rig acquired a few holes from his fist and drum sticks. Then there were the anatomically correct chalk line body outlines in the parking lot. Also Joey played drums naked on one track, which he nailed”.
During February of 1996 (the post production stages of MFKR) a big change happened within Donnie Steele, he found God. He realized that he couldn’t be in a band like Slipknot with the beliefs he had. As a result he decided to leave the band. At this crucial point in the new bands short history, a new member was called up. An ex-member of Joey’s band Modifidious, Craig Jones. He was highly recommended by Joey. During his arrival, the MFKR album was already in its mixing stages.
The mixing of MFKR was anything but smooth, each song being remixed multiple times. Some strain was also added by different view that each member had and things often got intense. Not only were there problems with the mixing but the band was also unhappy with the mastering that was done on the CD, which is why they insisted that Sean McMahon should do it.
Slipknot’s first major show in which they would reveal themselves to the public, was booked for the 4th of April 1996 at the music venue “The Safari Club”. On that day the room was packed with 200 people. The band arrived in Joey’s car and each member wore their individual costumes.
Paul with wire weaved in and out of his piercing, Anders covered with electrical tape and tribal paint, Josh wearing an executioners hood while Craig wore pantyhose on his head. Joey and Shawn each used the masks they had always worn, the Clown and ’83 Cesar masks. Before the band began to play, Joey started to incessantly shout “I need a little Christmas in my drink” repeatedly with each new phrase increasing in volume, energy and power. The band then slammed into their debut song “Slipknot”. By Slipknot’s second performance at The Safari Club, Paul had found a new mask, the pig. Within one month, they played a total of seven shows at the club.
Slipknot continued playing their shows. Rather than using the same uniform jumpsuits and regular masks we’re used to, the band played in different outfits, for example Shawn rented out a large purple “Barney” suit and the others wore nun dresses and even ballroom dresses or a Little Bo Peep outfit. The shows were really dark, underground, but they still had an element of humor. They would start with flashing strobe lights and a sample from Craig, usually a crazy laugh and “ice cream man” chimes. Shawn would use a power saw to create sparks to fly over the crowd.
Despite their local success, Joey still felt that the band was incomplete. He wanted more. A different sound and a greater variety. Craig was promptly moved onto samples, leaving an empty spot to fill. The band recruited Mick Thomson (ex- Body Pit) to fill that spot. Mick would start wearing a Battered Hockey mask.
MFKR was released on Halloween, 1996. The release party had 400 people turn up in masks to celebrate the occasion. They sent out the album to many people and a person named Sophia John at a local station KKDM heard it and liked it. This lead to the arrangement of Slipknot’s appearance in the local KKDM battle of the bands contest.
The contest was held every Wednesday at The Safari Club in Des Moines, and spanned across several weeks. Slipknot faced the band Stone Sour – and won. Slipknot also defeated “Maelstrom” and “Black Caesar” who came second. Slipknot conquered all. This was one of the band’s highlights that would fuel them to their current stardom. The prize money helped to fund the heavily in debt band’s new projects and demos. Sophia John became their first manager due to her contacts and love for this new band, Slipknot.
The band continued supporting their debut Mate Feed Kill Repeat. According to ISMIST records, the album’s distributor, there were only 1000 copies of this made and distributed by the band as a promotional tool. It was only released on CD, never on vinyl. Many record companies had received copies of the album from the band, one of these being Roadrunner Records. But Roadrunner felt that they shouldn’t pick up Slipknot because they thought that the vocalist required more melody. This rejection continued from other labels too.
Slipknot’s Winter of 96 Demo Sessions (Part 1) (November 1996 – December 1996) contained the following tracks: 1. “Carve” 2. “Coleslaw” 3. “Windows” 4. “May 17th“
Winter of 97 Demo Sessions (Part 2) (January 1997 – March 1997) with the tracks: 5. “Me Inside” 6. “Lust Disease” 7. “Nature“
Troubles
Things behind the scenes continued on a downward spiral. Shawn bought The Safari Club in February 1st, 1997, which was a good investment but it took time away from working on the band. This fueled the already weak relationship Joey and Shawn had. The band could no longer play in Anders’ basement and things were falling apart.
Another demo was made, which we now know as the Anders Gold Disc (April 1997 – May 1997), with the following track list: 1. “Slipknot/Gently” 2. “Me Inside” 3. “Do Nothing/Bitchslap” 4. “Coleslaw” 5. “Only One” 6. “Prosthetics” 7. “Carve” 8. “Tattered & Torn” 9. “Windows” 10. “Interloper” 11. “Scissors“
Even with all of their problems, Slipknot managed to make it onto the bill for the local “Dotfest” in June of 1997. There they played to the largest crowd so far, a crowd of 12,000, containing many people from the music industry. Not only was there problems with the sound but the crowd began to throw chicken bones on stage. At the show Slipknot came out throwing tampons into the crowd and had several gimps with them. This was the first and the last time they had the gimps on stage. The gimps were Frank with a gas mask, Lanny with tribal markings in liquid latex, Greg covered with liquid latex and a ball gag in his mouth and Greg’s friend Slick Rick in a latex hood.
Slipknot had originally had the idea of having a professional stunt man, Rick, come out dressed as Shawn and then Shawn himself would come out and set the stunt man on fire. They had all the things required to do it, which for a long time had been stored in a cooler at The Safari Club. But the city would not give the permits needed to perform it so the event had to be abandoned. Their set ended with them being cut off and an riot almost breaking out as Anders cut his arms open and tossed CDs over the fence to the fans. Joey quit, but he reconsidered and came back.
Their performance left a mark, they made new fans and most importantly, they discovered Sid Wilson (even though they didn’t speak to him at this point). Slipknot searched for the success they weren’t getting and decided to enlist Corey Taylor of rival band Stone Sour, to join Slipknot. Joey, Shawn and Mick are said to have confronted him with an ultimatum at his work place “The Adult Emporium”. According to Joey they said, “Join the band or we will kick your ass!”. Corey claims that to be bullshit and that they wandered around the store until timidly asking him to join. Slipknot provided Corey an opportunity not present in Stone Sour and the “music over image” concept was appealing to him.
Corey started practicing with Slipknot and the first lyrics he wrote were to be used in the song “Me Inside”. This was a very experimental move and everyone was wondering how it would turn out. This change of a new singer resulted in Anders being pushed back to percussion and backup vocals.
Time for a new Demo: Corey Gold Disc (June 1997 – July 1997) with the following tracks: 1. “Slipknot/Gently” 2. “Me Inside” 3. “Do Nothing/Bitchslap” 4. “Coleslaw” 5. “Only One” 6. “Prosthetics” 7. “Carve” 8. “Tattered & Torn” 9. “Windows” 10. “Interloper” 11. “Scissors”
Soon this new type of Slipknot performed a live show. It turned out to be a charity event for a local hospital. The Safari Club was full of people. Corey came out with his red dreadlocks and wearing facepaint. The show was full of technical problems and this was the show that resulted in Joey’s nickname: “Superball”.
Slipknot’s next show was on the 12th of September, again at The Safari Club. At this show Corey Taylor started using his Crash Test Dummy mask.
Just before they were about to start playing their final song, “Heartache and a pair of Scissors”, Anders made an announcement. “This will be my last show” he stated. This announcement stunned both the band members and the audience.
Following this sudden change, the band returned to the studio to re-record the songs on their second CD, titled “Crowz” – minus Anders’ vocals. Of these songs included, “Gently”, “Do Nothing”, “Slipknot”, “Tattered and Torn”, “Me Inside”, “Carve”, “Coleslaw”, “Scissors”, “Windows” and “May 17th” a song written by Shawn. Crowz was to be released October 31st 1997.
Cuddles
Greg Welts joined Slipknot in September of 1997. He chose to wear a babyface mask on stage which resulted in the nickname Cuddles. His presence was immediately felt, a driven, almost insane character, he made a point of destroying as much of the set as possible during shows and would even dismantle his drum kit and throw it into the crowd. Cuddles’ first live show was at the Ismist Festival in October 1997, located in Lincoln, Nebraska. This was also the first show where the band wore unified jumpsuits.
Two demos were made in November, 1997. First one was known as the Silver Disc with Corey, was made. Live show November 8th, 1997. Features possibly the earliest recording of Spit it Out that exists. Track list: 1. “Slipknot/Gently” 2. “Me Inside” 3. “Coleslaw” 4. “Windows” 5. “Spit It Out” 6. “Carve” 7. “Only One” 8. “Scissors“
Second demo in November, 1997 was the SR Audio Demo with the following track list (2 unknown songs): 1. “Spit It Out” 2. “Liberate” 3. “Wait & Bleed” 4. – 5. –
In early 1998, the band began to receive a lot of attention from record labels. And in February 1998, producer Ross Robinson offered to produce their debut album after attending rehearsals in Des Moines. Soon after the band recruited Sid Wilson in the band.
Otho Sessions demo in March, 1998 with the following track list: 1. “Wait & Bleed” 2. “Snap” 3. “Interloper” 4. “Despise“
Roadrunner Records
In late June, Slipknot received a seven-album deal from Roadrunner Records.
On July 6th 1998, just days before the signing to Roadrunner Records was due to take place, Cuddles was asked to leave the band. It’s rumored to be because of his lack of dedication to the position and the lack of contributing beyond the parts Anders had written. But the reason has never been confirmed officially. Cuddles played his last show during the summer of 1998 shortly before the signing to Roadrunner Records.
During 1998 the roadies wore identical jumpsuits as the band with letters on their sleeves instead of numbers. Brandon Darner, a roadie for Slipknot, had a letter B on his sleeve. He’s also known to wear a hobo mask during a show as a roadie.
Brandon was also a temporary percussionist in Slipknot between July and August of 1998. The band had fired Greg “Cuddles” Welts a few days prior to the Roadrunner Records signing, which took place on July 8th of 1998. While they were looking for a full replacement, Brandon stepped in temporarily. He never intended to stay long and he only did one show with the band as a band member which was the Ranch Bowl show in Omaha, Nebraska on August 15th 1998. This was also Josh’s last live show with the band.
While filling in as a percussionist Brandon Darner wore a converted white Liar mask with Greg Welts’ old #3 red jumpsuit. The mask would later be adopted by Chris Fehn.
Aaron, just like Brandon, was a roadie and wore a matching jumpsuit but with an upside down letter A on the sleeve. Aaron’s red jumpsuit can later be seen worn by both Jim and Chris for a little while.
New beginning
The band traveled to Malibu, California to record “modern Slipknot’s” debut self-titled album in September 1998. Chris Fehn joined the band late 1998 (or very early 1999) as Brandon was just temporarily filling in. However Chris did not record anything on the album. In December they took a Christmas break from recording and during that break Josh Brainard decided to leave Slipknot. There was once again an open spot in the band that needed to be filled. Slipknot would recruit Jim Root as their new guitarist. The band returned to Malibu to finish recording the album.
This concludes the history of MFKR era. More about Slipknot at our S/T History section.
More information about Slipknot’s MFKR masks here.
Much of this info was originally on MFKR1.com, the site does not exist anymore.
Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat.
31 октября 1996
| Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. (1996) | Демо 1997 года (1997) |
Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. — первый диск Slipknot, выпущен в 1996 году. Данный альбом не принято считать как один из номерных, это скорее демо диск.
История записи
Собравшись в 1995 году, группа Slipknot начала работать над своей музыкой, и к 1996 году у группы набралось достаточно материала.
Музыканты одолжили у родственников и знакомых 30 000 долларов и самостоятельно записали и издали диск. Альбом вышел небольшим тиражом — всего 1000 экземпляров. И распространялся подпольными путями. Но благодаря нему Slipknot стали более известными и даже начали выезжать на концерты в другие города.
Во время того когда в январе группа заканчивала микширование, гитарист Донни Стили покинул группу после нескольких конфликтов. Его заменил гитарист Крэйг Джонс, но вскоре он перешёл на семплирование и клавишные, так как был единственным, кто умеет это делать, и его место занял гитарист Мик Томпсон. Оба практически не участвовали в записи диска, но на обложке диска они записаны как участники.
Альбом был издан на Хэллоуин 31 октября 1996 года. В альбом вошли восемь песен, а также скрытый бонус-трек «Dogfish Rising». Диск вышел очень экспериментальным. Как говорили позже сами музыканты: «Мы играли не музыку, а салат из музыки».
Так как диск был издан маленьким тиражом, а группа вскоре стала известной, спрос на альбом увеличивался. Вскоре он уже продавался на разных аукционах за 350 долларов.
В 2002 году в интервью у Шона Крэхана спросили, не собирается ли группа переиздать альбом, на что он ответил:
Не думаю, что в ближайшее время… тот материал мы записали в иное время, не с этим составом; надо спрашивать разрешение у массы народа, игравших тогда в Slipknot, причём с некоторыми говорить в принципе неохота. Кроме того, издание сейчас Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. реально может пару копеек принести. Но лучше забыть о той программе и думать о будущем.
Slipknot’s Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat: the secret debut album that launched the legend
By Dave Everley ( Metal Hammer ) published 20 July 17
Slipknot’s Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan and original singer Anders Colsefni look back on Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat – the album that launched the legend
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan can remember the point when he knew that all the blood, sweat and pain that he’d invested into Slipknot had paid off.
It was the end of May 1999 and the band were playing that year’s Ozzfest, sandwiched between industrial-metal heroes Static-X and rap-rock B-listers (hed)p.e. on the second stage. Their self-titled album was a month away from release, but the buzz surrounding this masked-and-boiler-suited nine-piece from the Midwestern backwater of Des Moines, Iowa was growing louder by the day.
The album that emerged swinging and screaming into the world a month later would launch Slipknot into orbit, but it was far from the beginning of the story. It wasn’t even their first record. That had come three years earlier, in 1996, back when they had a completely different singer and a discernibly different sound. Their debut album, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., might not have changed the world like its celebrated follow-up, but without it, what came afterwards – for Slipknot and for metal – would have shaped up very differently.
Like most mid-sized cities across the US, Des Moines has its own musical ecosystem. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, thrash and death metal ruled the handful of clubs that put on rock gigs, and the bands that formed and fell apart were made up from a hardcore cast of local musicians.
Anders Colsefni was one such musician. He’d started playing drums in fourth grade, and by 1990 he was a member of Vexx, a local band that also featured LA transplant Paul Gray on bass.
“Paul was my biggest influence when he came into the band,” says Anders today. “He brought the knowledge and the enthusiasm, and he was the most social of all the people on the metal scene. He was the sort of person who, when he got his meagre paycheck from working at the gas station, would go down to the bar and spend it all buying people drinks. He was loved around that scene.”
Shawn Crahan was another face on the Des Moines scene. His band, Heads On The Wall, played heavy alternative rock that drew on Jane’s Addiction, Primus and Helmet. “The first night we played with them, Shawn threw a bunch of 80s albums into the audience and told us to break them,” says Anders. “Journey, stuff like that. He also threw out Sailing The Seas Of Cheese by Primus, unopened. He said: ‘Don’t break that.’ I still have it.”
“I’d say to Shawn, ‘Show me your pain face’, he’d go, ‘No’, then I’d punch him.”
The two men were similar in looks, physique and worldview – “We had the same kind of dark, anti-social way of looking at things,” says Anders – and they inevitably gravitated to each other. By the end of 1992, they were discussing making music together.
“We got talking: ‘Hey, do you want to try something with drums – just beat on them?’” says Anders. “We got together and put on some moody lighting and started jamming, getting away from what people normally did.”
The very first song they wrote together was one that eventually gave the band its name: Slipknot. Another early track was Painface, its name stemming from an act of physical violence that presaged one of the things the band would become notorious for.
“Painface was a term Shawn and I came up with before we even got the band together,” says Anders, who doubled up on percussion and vocals. “We were coming up with samples. One of the things he wanted me to do was record me punching him. I’d say, ‘Show me your pain face’, he’d go, ‘No’, then I’d punch him. That was his weird little thing.”
“Let’s just say that I provided how people felt at that time in life,” says Shawn. “We ran with a serious crowd. We’d jump off roofs or off bridges into water, knock the wind out of ourselves and almost die. We lived very aggressively because that’s who we were.”
With Paul Gray and guitarist Patrick Neuwirth onboard, the band recorded a demo tape, later christened The Basement Sessions, in April 1993. A second tape followed a month later, but by the end of the year the project had fizzled out.
It would be almost two years before Anders and Shawn reunited to give it another shot. They persuaded Paul Gray to come back to Des Moines from LA, where he had relocated, and brought in guitarists Donnie Steele and Josh Brainard. Joey Jordison, former drummer with thrash band Modifidious and the night manager of a gas station, signed up to provide extra firepower.
This new entity made its live debut on December 4, 1995, under the name Meld. The gig, put together as a showcase by local recording studio SR Audio, was held in the basement of Des Moines club The CroBar. “There weren’t an awful lot of people there,” says Anders with a laugh. The band entered SR Audio’s studio to begin work on the songs that would make up Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. Soon after, on Joey Jordison’s recommendation, they renamed themselves after the very first song Anders and Shawn had written: Slipknot.
The band’s name wasn’t the only thing that had changed. Shawn had come up with the idea of wearing a mask for performances, while Anders opted for electrical tape wrapped around his head.
“I was cutting myself with a razor, bleeding all over the place. It looked pretty violent.”
“Shawn and I were in the studio creating samples for the end of Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.,” says Anders. “For one of the samples at the end of Killers Are Quiet, I wrapped duct tape around his head and we recorded me ripping it off. He looked distorted and mutated with the tape. I thought, ‘That’s cool – I’ll do that onstage.’”
Their first gig as Slipknot was on April 4, 1996 – Anders remembers the date, as he’d been a pallbearer at his grandmother’s funeral that day. Many of the familiar elements of later Slipknot shows were already in place, not least the air of violent intimidation that surrounded the band.
“We came in through the front and walked through the crowd, just dead-cold staring at people like we didn’t know they were there,” he says. “We got onstage and shocked the hell out of everybody. Sprayed sparks all over the place. I was cutting myself with a razor, bleeding all over the place. It looked pretty violent. For me, it was an extremely emotional experience.”
“I believed in Slipknot right from the beginning. Every day I woke up, I felt like I had a purpose.
If Slipknot’s early live shows were a form of catharsis, then recording the album was a different matter. Anders describes the experience as “a grind”.
“We were trying to make a sound that hadn’t really been made yet,” he says. “We would come up with these incredible, bone-crushing sounds, but then you’d play it on a regular stereo and it would just fart everything out.”
“It was Shawn with his credit cards that got that album made,” says Anders. “And him buying the Safari Club and turning it into our home club, that brought money in there.”
The Safari Club played an important part in Slipknot’s development. Originally a blues bar named Baggs, Crahan had earmarked it at as the focal point for the band.
“I wanted somewhere in Des Moines for us to play regularly, and it was perfect. I knew the owner, and every time Slipknot played, I’d go in and clean it. One day, he looked at it and said, ‘I’m tired of coming down here and watching you clean my place. I’m thinking of opening another bar. Why don’t you just buy the motherfucker?’”
Shawn pulled together the money with help from his parents. The rest of the band gave Clown money towards their share of the debt whenever they could. Anders paid off his part by pouring sand and concrete into the basement of the club and helping keep the club’s books.
Slipknot finished the record in late summer, seven months after they started it. Today, Anders Colsefni still sounds emotional when he recalls the first time he heard it in full.
“I thought that we were going to be touring with Slayer someday,” he says. “I really felt we had something that was gonna hit it. I’m actually getting goosebumps thinking of it now.”
The opus instantly pushed Slipknot to the forefront of Des Moines’ metal scene. The only other serious competition were alt-rockers Stone Sour, the band featuring future Slipknot guitarist Jim Root and singer Corey Taylor. “They were a different style,” says Anders. “Corey was a singer, I was way more growly. We beat them in a Battle Of The Bands once. But competition and all that stuff? I think it’s a bunch of bullshit.”
From their base at the Safari Club, Slipknot built a dedicated local following. Shows featured the Clown-masked Crahan and a wolfskin-loincloth-and-duct-taped Colsefni shooting sparks from their instruments, before the latter unleashed his death growls on a stunned audience. As word of their shows spread, they came to the attention of Roadrunner Records, and subsequently Korn producer Ross Robinson.
“Him and his manager came to my house on a Friday to watch pre-pro [pre-production], then on Saturday they came to an all-ages show at the Safari Club on Saturday, about 575 kids there,” says Shawn. “And Ross Robinson said ‘yes’ to working with us right there.”
Slipknot’s future looked bright, but there would be one major casualty of their ambition. In the summer of 1997, Anders Colsefni took his family to Minnesota for a week to visit relatives. When he came back to Des Moines, the band called him to a meeting at the bar.
“Roadrunner were worried about the growly vocals,” he says. “They had been discussing bringing in Corey, and that’s what happened. They had him record all over my vocal tracks at SR Audio. When I got to the bar, they just jumped and said, ‘Hey, this is what we did – we want you to be back-up singer.’ I was, like, [skeptical], ‘OK…’”
Anders stuck it out for a few more gigs, but he felt betrayed by his friends, especially after everything he’d put his family through – the rehearsals in his basement, the debt, everything. Opting to go out with a bang, he announced his departure onstage at a Slipknot show in December 1997.
“I didn’t tell anybody, except my wife at the time,” he says. “I shaved my eyebrows off and everything. When I got off the stage after I said it, Jim Root – who was the guitar player of Stone Sour – came over and gave me a huge, huge hug. ’Cos he understood.”
“I understood how hard it was for him to go from being the lead singer in band that was very popular in Des Moines to just being the other percussionist,” says Shawn Crahan. “Andy’s got one of the best death growls you’ll ever hear in your life, and I always wondered what that would have been like with Corey. And Corey wanted to do that. But it was a pride thing, no one was communicating, the dream was right on hand…”
He sighs at the memory. “It was very hard.”
The departure of Anders Colsefni marked the end of the first chapter in the Slipknot story. It took him several months to get over the feelings of anger and betrayal, though today he’s on good terms with his former bandmates.
“If I’d have stuck with it, I would have a lot more money – I wouldn’t have to worry about it like I do now,” he says. “But at the same time, I’d probably be addicted to whatever drugs were available, because I have the ability to become addicted to anything. So staying away from that stuff has probably kept me alive.”
Post-Slipknot, Colsefni formed a new band, which he named Painface after the song he had written with Shawn Crahan. After they fell apart in the early 00s, he passed through a handful of other bands, before reactiving Painface a few years ago. Today, he has plans to write and record new songs under that name. He has another band, All That Crawls, with his son Josh. “That’s acoustic stuff, mellow and sad,” he says. “I don’t like writing happy songs.”
For Shawn Crahan and Slipknot, the journey has been more visible but no less turbulent. The run of successful albums has been punctuated by periods of internal turmoil, reaching a nadir with the death of bassist Paul Gray in 2010 and the departure of Joey Jordison in 2013.
“I believed in Slipknot right from the beginning,” says Shawn now. “Every day I woke up, I felt like I had a purpose. I was 26 when I started the band, I had two kids at the time. But something called a dream was raising its head, and it felt amazing. And when that happens, you just don’t let go of it.”
Published in Metal Hammer #306
Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! and Classic Rock, Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw, not necessarily in that order. He has written for Metal Hammer, Louder, Prog, the Observer, Select, Mojo, the Evening Standard and the totally legendary Ultrakill. He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago.
Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat.
История записи
Собравшись в 1995 году, группа Slipknot начала работать над своей музыкой, и к 1996 году у группы набралось достаточно материала.
Музыканты заняли у родственников и знакомых 30 000 долларов и самостоятельно записали и издали диск. Альбом вышел небольшим тиражом — всего 1000 экземпляров. И распространялся подпольными путями. Но благодаря ему Slipknot стали более известными и даже начали выезжать на концерты в другие города.
Во время того когда в январе группа заканчивала микширование, гитарист Донни Стили покинул группу после нескольких конфликтов. Его заменил гитарист Крэйг Джонс, но вскоре он перешёл на семплирование и клавишные, так как был единственным, кто умеет это делать, и его место занял гитарист Мик Томсон. Оба практически не участвовали в записи диска, но на обложке диска они записаны как участники.
Альбом был издан на Хэллоуин 31 октября 1996 года. В альбом вошли восемь песен, а также скрытый бонус-трек «Dogfish Rising». Диск вышел очень экспериментальным. Как говорили позже сами музыканты: «Мы играли не музыку, а салат из музыки».
Так как диск был издан маленьким тиражом, а группа вскоре стала известной, спрос на альбом увеличивался. Вскоре он уже продавался на разных аукционах за 350 долларов.
В 2002 году в интервью у Шона Крэхана спросили, не собирается ли группа переиздать альбом, на что он ответил:
Не думаю, что в ближайшее время… тот материал мы записали в иное время, не с этим составом; надо спрашивать разрешение у массы народа, игравших тогда в Slipknot, причём с некоторыми говорить в принципе неохота. Кроме того, издание сейчас Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. реально может пару копеек принести. Но лучше забыть о той программе и думать о будущем.