Slipknot's mix of grinding, post-Korn alternative metal, Marilyn Manson-esque neo-shock rock, and rap-metal helped make them one of the most popular bands in the so-called nu-metal explosion of the late '90s. But even more helpful was their theatrical, attention-grabbing (some critics said ridiculous) image: the band always performed in identical industrial jump suits and homemade Halloween masks, and added to its mysterious anonymity by adopting the numbers zero through eight as stage aliases. Add to that a lyrical preoccupation with darkness and nihilism, and an affectionately insulting name for their fans ("Maggots"), and Slipknot's blueprint for nu-metal success was set.

Slipknot were formed in late 1995 in the unlikely locale of Des Moines, IA; after some early personnel shifts, the nine-piece lineup settled around (in order from number zero to number eight): DJ Sid Wilson, drummer Joey Jordison, bassist Paul Grey, percussionist Chris Fehn, guitarist James Root, sampler/programmer Craig Jones, percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan, guitarist Mick Thompson, and lead vocalist Corey Taylor. The music scene in Des Moines wasn't much to speak of, and the band's big-time ambition was usually met with disbelief and ridicule, which provided the initial spark for its mostly anonymous stage visuals. On Halloween 1996, Slipknot self-released an album called Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., which began to build a buzz around the group once it found its way to several labels. It was picked up for distribution by the Nebraska-based -ismist label, and also caught the attention of Roadrunner Records, which signed Slipknot in 1997. Working with producer Ross Robinson, Slipknot recorded their official, self-titled debut album, which was released in 1999. They gradually built an audience through near-constant touring, working their way up to the summer Ozzfest package tour, which really expanded their audience. Their live shows were a much-discussed hit with metal fans, and the band performed with such energy that Crahan gashed his head open on his own drum kit twice that summer, requiring stitches both times. The tracks "Wait and Bleed" and "Spit It Out" got the band some airplay, but most of the buzz came from touring and word of mouth. Finally, in the spring of 2000, Slipknot was certified platinum; the first such album in Roadrunner's history.

The anticipation for Slipknot's follow-up was intense, and many industry observers predicted that it would debut at number one; however, faced with some stiff competition that week, the band's sophomore effort, Iowa, bowed at number three upon its release in 2001. More heavy touring followed, including another, more prominent slot on that summer's Ozzfest. After a long spell on the road, Slipknot took a break while the members worked on side projects. The band set up its own label, Maggot Recordings, and signed a band called Downthesun, whose lead singer had served as Crahan's drum technician. Wilson, meanwhile, began DJing solo under the name DJ Starscream, and Root and Thompson both worked on solo material. Drummer Jordison worked with a side group called the Rejects, where he'd actually served for quite some time as guitarist. Taylor, meanwhile, started a side band called Superego, and also contributed a solo song, "Bother," to the soundtrack of the 2002 blockbuster Spider-Man. That May, the band got some amusing press when some of its fans discovered the website of a British crocheting group also called "Slipknot," and flooded the members' in-boxes with excessively rude e-mails. Guitarist Joey Jordison and Static-X guitarist Tripp Eisen teamed that summer for the Murderdolls project, while Taylor reformed his old band Stone Sour and released an album. By the winter, Slipknot had still not reunited and Taylor wrote a commentary on the band's website stating that they had not spoken in months, and that they'd rather break up than become "the next Gwar". The statement sparked a quickly resolved minifeud between Taylor and Gwar frontman Oderus Urungus. but it also sent many of the Maggots into a tailspin. By early 2003, Taylor had retracted his comments, and announced plans for a new Slipknot album. By August, the entire squad had decamped Iowa for LA, where they began work on the new record with famously bearded producer Rick Rubin. "Pulse of the Maggots" appeared in early 2004 as an exclusive download; it was followed by a full track listing for Vol. 3: [The Subliminal Verses], which was slated for a May release. Slipknot then embarked on a brief tour as a warm-up for their dates headlining Ozzfest that summer. The group also debuted a fully-redesigned third generation of their famous masks. On May 25th, the Subliminal Verses finally dropped, to the usual clamor of great fanfare and furious anger. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

interviews

"We never, ever started this band to be a rock and roll cliché," says Slipknot percussionist Shawn Crahan, better known to the band's growing army of fans as the clown-faced "6." "We started this band to make music that we wanted to hear, that we wanted to play, that if we were fans, we would buy. We were sick of everything, man. We were sick of all the bands that we were in. We came together and threw out all the formulas, all the equations, all the questions, and all the answers. We just said, 'Let's do what we feel--who cares what happens with it?'"

Obviously, somebody cares. Since emerging last year from nowhere--otherwise known as Des Moines, Iowa, not exactly a hotbed of heavy metal--Slipknot's self-titled second album (their first, self-released, is now a collector's item) has sold nearly half a million copies in the United States alone, along with bucketfuls more in Europe, Japan, and Australia. Show-stealing appearances on last summer's Ozzfest, then a fall support slot for Coal Chamber and a recent headlining jaunt, have seen audiences reach the hysteria level.

The group's staggering success can be attributed to the one-two punch of their ominous, brutally heavy sound and lurid live show, in which the nine members (who bear the numbers 0 to 8 instead of names) don matching orange coveralls and eerie masks--ranging from standard Halloween fare to Crahan's creepy clown--and turn the stage into a human demolition derby. Crahan himself bears injuries to his head, eye, back, and arms as a result of the band's WCW approach to live performing.

"It was the music that spoke out and is still the most important [thing]," says Crahan when asked if the ghoulish theatrics overshadow the band's sound. "And that's true, because I was just told that we sold out a 5,000-seater in Italy and we've never even been there. They don't know what the show is like, all they know is the music."

Unquestionably the most uncommercial-sounding band to hit the mainstream since the glory days of Slayer and Pantera, Slipknot is breaking new ground on Feb. 25 with a national television appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. "From day one, I've been telling myself and management and everybody that Conan O'Brien is the kind of guy who would have a band like Slipknot," enthuses Crahan. "I think Conan is onto cutting-edge, extreme material. Regardless of how it turns out, even the idea of them entertaining the thought of having Slipknot on there is a great success for all the bands like ourselves."

The usually outspoken Crahan is being a bit modest; right now, there isn't a band out there quite like Slipknot. Major-label talent scouts are reportedly scouring Des Moines in their wake, but Crahan remains focused on his band's mission: to shake music fans out of their complacency. "I want to infect as many people as possible," he says ambitiously. "As many different people, races, languages, ages, as possible. That's the way we measure success, by bringing you and the guy you hate together. Maybe you're a frat guy and you hate metal kids, but now you're standing next to each other in the pit, just getting out all your energy. That's our goal."

Symphonie Metallique

02/07/2000 6:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Darren Davis

Nearly 20 years on from its formation in 1981, Metallica, once a pure underground heavy metal sensation, now finds its latest songs occupying alternative radio playlists around the world. This in itself would be a major development for most groups, but for James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Jason Newsted, it's only one of several. Perhaps the most surprising is that these former long-haired marauders just finished collaborating with a different sort of longhair outfit--the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. As drummer Lars Ulrich recently explained to LAUNCH, being metal masters had become almost routine for the band, and the challenge of working with a larger group of musicians was just too intriguing to pass up. The result is the impressive live classical/ metal hybrid album S&M.

In a way, this kind of cross-genre dabbling can be seen as a logical extension of the big stylistic break Metallica made in the mid-'90s, cutting their hair and switching to a more melodic, less bombastic sound. Though longtime fans may wonder whether those moves would have occurred if late bassist Cliff Burton had remained among the living, they certainly can't argue that the band's welfare has been hurt by them. Metallica has successfully made the transition from cult act to one of the biggest live draws in the world--and they're the subject of a compelling VH1 Behind The Music. Yet according to Ulrich, the biggest change within the group has nothing to do with music; it's the fact that both he and singer/ guitarist Hetfield have become fathers in the past few years. "10 years ago," he says, "Metallica was the only thing in my life, and it isn't anymore."

LAUNCH:
You did shows with the orchestra in Berlin, New York, and the one that was taped for S&M in San Francisco. Can you compare them?

ULRICH:
I like the fact that they were all different. San Francisco was very intense because of the recording trucks, the film crew, and we'd never done it before--the safety net was removed. When we did it in Berlin, we'd been through it once, so we were more confident. The show in Berlin was also in a cement building like [New York's] Madison Square Garden, so it was more rock in a way. The one in San Francisco was more symphonic because it was in a theater, more the type of place where you would experience an orchestra on their own.

LAUNCH:
Why choose to put out an album of the San Francisco shows with S&M?

ULRICH:
To me, it was the ultimate in focus. When you play as many shows as we do, sometimes you have a tendency to sit and look at the lighting rig. When you're four guys, it's one thing, but when you're 90 guys or whatever, it's a different thing. Everybody stepped up to the plate in San Francisco and played really, really well, and it was just an incredibly high level of concentration and being at one with the instrument and yourself.

LAUNCH:
The instrumental "Call Of Ktulu" is one of the songs that seems to work best with the classical-metal interpretation.

ULRICH:
They're all different and they all have their own strong identities, but obviously a song like "Ktulu" is pretty perfect for this type of thing. The lack of vocals gives it so much more room. When we were making the record, we found that the hardest thing was that you've got a sound picture and there's only so much room in that sound picture between vocals and guitar solos and giant Metallica riffs--something's got to give. So that was not so easy, but obviously a song like "Ktulu" with no vocals makes it roomier, to make the most out of the orchestra. We sat down at the beginning of this project with every single Metallica song, narrowed it down to 35, and tried to work with the songs we thought most suited for this. And then [arranger/ conductor] Michael [Kamen] went to write the orchestra's parts and we had to discard 15 to make it an even 20, which was very difficult. But the ones that are on the record are the ones that we thought were the strongest.

LAUNCH:
You recently went on tour with bands such as Sevendust and Kid Rock, among others. Any of the new-fangled bands floating your boat?

ULRICH:
I think Kid Rock is amazing. He's doing something really strong, he's super-talented, and also a good old-fashioned rock star, in the way they don't make 'em much anymore. So that's always refreshing. Kid Rock to me is certainly the most interesting of all the cats that are riding the wave at the moment.

LAUNCH:
Where does family fit in with Metallica? I know you're a daddy...

ULRICH:
Yes. It's great. The difference now, at least for myself, is that 10 years ago Metallica was the only thing in my life, and it isn't anymore. That's not a negative thing, that's a positive thing. We have a much better sense of balance in this band about being comfortable with what we're doing, being interested in what we're doing, not feeling that it's a f--king chore. It got a little out of hand for a while, a few years ago. I think we're much more in control of what we're doing with the band than ever. We're much more on the same page about what we want to do, when we want to do it, how we want to do it, and what we don't want to do.

LAUNCH:
And James Hetfield had a kid about the same time too, right?

ULRICH:
Hetfield and me having kids at the same time has brought us even closer together. We just see much more eye-to-eye about touring schedules and all that type of stuff. But I think the other thing that's happened is that projects--recording projects, creative projects--are more vital and interesting than they were in the earlier days. Making a record meant going off the road. Going off the road meant that escapism living of just getting drunk and doing shows and chasing girls had to come to an end every time we went into the studio. Touring was all it was about 10, 15 years ago, and now touring is less and less vital to us. And projects such as this one and the Garage Inc. [covers album] thing are just much more creatively challenging.

LAUNCH:
Do you or any other members of the band have any urge to delve into outside projects?

ULRICH:
I get enough musical satisfaction out of this. I mean, I'm not looking for things to do, you know what I mean? It's not like, "What am I going to do with my time now?" I've got my record company. I've got interests in all kinds of other things that occupy my time. It's not like James is going to run off to Nashville and make a country record next month...at least not that I've been told. Who knows, anything's possible.

LAUNCH:
What do you think is the Internet's impact on the way Metallica goes about its business?

ULRICH:
Obviously there's a lot of positives that come out of it, but it's sort of opening up a whole can of worms. You've got some guy there with a computer and keypad going, "Okay, Metallica Rumor No. 7 today: Kirk Hammett is on heroin. Let's send that out there." It gets a little silly, that type of readily available information, truthful or not. And you roll into town and people already know the setlist because everybody from the day before has posted it. Some of that stuff gets weird. I'm a realist, so instead of spending time fighting it or questioning it, it's just like, "The Internet exists, this is how people communicate, so be it." It makes me turn off more to the information flow, because a large part of it becomes rumor-based and I don't have a lot of time for that.

LAUNCH:
What are your memories of struggling in the early '80s at the Jamaica Building in New York? I heard it was pretty rough there.

ULRICH:
Let me confirm that for you: it was a sh-thole. It was cold, it smelled, and it was muggy. We slept between our instruments and our gear. But you know, this was 1983. At that point in time you can't be demanding, and we weren't, and we just made the most of it. It was a vibe.

LAUNCH:
What did you think about the VH1 Behind The Music Metallica special?

ULRICH:
The best thing about it was that it repeated every five minutes. So take up as much network time as possible. I thought it was good. One of the better things like that, certainly. Sometimes they get a little dramatic, but that's what people want, man. Dig up the dirt. Thankfully, there isn't all that much dirt to dig up here.

LAUNCH:
Have your views on Woodstock '99 changed now that you've had some distance from the festival?

ULRICH:
We came, we played, we left. We played an above-average show that night, good energy. It's not often you get to follow Rage Against The Machine, so that's great. Without patting ourselves on the back too much, we've been in those type of situations enough to know when just to show up, play, shut the f--k up and leave--and not incite anything more. I still think that any time you put a bunch of bands together that are so varied, it's always a cool thing, and one that America could use a lot more of. Now whether they want to call that Woodstock or something else is irrelevant, but that variety is definitely great.

LAUNCH:
So what's next for Metallica creatively?

ULRICH:
The thing is that you make yourself open to things without necessarily forcing it. I think there's a difference between going out and searching for stuff and jumping on what's thrown at you. That was more the case with [S&M]; we were jumping at a wonderful opportunity thrown at us. It's been five years since we've really written any new material. And we've done some wacky projects with the Garage thing and now this. We're going to take a pile of time off and think about the next Metallica studio record. We're open to anything, but for right now, speaking for myself, I'm pretty excited to get back to writing again