Slipknot have changed their masks with the release of each new album. "They represent the growth of the band and the difference with age." Quoted from Joey Jordison. The band design their own masks and they tell Joey and Shawn what they want it to look like then they draw the masks and oridinally the band made the masks themselves. They used a small shop in Des Moines to make their masks.
Sid Wilson's masks has eyebrows and a mouth that move in a mechanical fashion. It also has electronic glass eyes which are supposed to light up different colours. This is because Sid is a fan of the Transformers franchise. Transformers was created by Takara/Hasbro. Takara was formed in 1955 and is a Japanese toy company that formed with Tomy to promote their sales. It's headquarters are in Japan, U.K, France, U.S, Hong Kong and Thailand.
Chris Fehn's mask has a lot of ideas behind it but no one knows where he got the actual idea from. One of the ideas was based on the masks that the doctors wore during the Black Plague, where the nose was 7.5 inches long and filled with herbs to prevent the disease from spreading. Another idea was that it was influenced by Pinocchio which is a fictional character that first appeared in 1888, in Italy and was written by Carlo Collodi.
Jim Root's mask is of a jester-style and has been edited to have black rims around his eyes and mouth. It is said to have originated in Europe and has been said to resemble the jester in Jim himself.
Slipknot have two major upcoming tours which are to promote their new album "All Hope is Gone". The Mayhem Festival was held during July and August 2008 and is being held in Canada and the United States. In July the festival was being held in Auburn in Washington, Marysville, Mountain View, Devore, Fresno and Chula Vista in California, Phoenix in Arizona, Albuquerque in New Mexico, Englewood in Colorado, Bonner Springs in Kansas, Maryland Heights in Missouri, Dallas, Selma and Houston in Texas, Tampa and West Palm Beach in Florida. In August the festival was being held in Virginia Beach and Bristow in Virginia, Burgettstown and Scranton in Pennsylvania, Mansfield in Massachusetts, Uniondale and Darien Lake in New York, Toronto in Ontario, Clarkston in Michigan, Tinley Park in Illinois, Atlanta in Georgia, Noblesville in Indiana, Camden in New Jersey and Hartford in Connecticut.
The All Hope is Gone World Tour is being held in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, New Zealand and United States. Most of the Canadian and American concerts are being played in the Mayhem Festival. The Japanese part of the tour is being held in Nagoya, Tokyo, Osaka and Sendai. The Australian/New Zealand part of the tour is being held in Auckland in New Zealand and Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth in Australia. The European part of the tour is being held in Tev Aviv in Israel, Moscow in Russia, Helsinki and Tampere in Finland, Oslo in Norway, Stockholm in Sweden, Copenhagen in Denmark, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Offenbach, Stuttgart, Antwerp and Munich in Germany, Winterthur in Switzerland, Milan in Italy, Amsterdam in Netherlands, Paris in France, Vienna in Austria, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield in England, Cardiff in Wales, Glasgow in Scotland and Luxembourg in Luxembourg.
The Iowa album tour was held during the Reading Festival in England and Ozzfest in America but some concert dates were postponed due to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They also toured with American Rock Band System of a Down to promote this album.
The Vol.3 (The Subliminal Verses) tour was held during Ozzfest (held in America), the Download festival (held in England) and the Jagermeister Music tour (held in America).
Injuries
On the opening day of the Mayhem Festival in Auburn, Washington Sid Wilson broke both of his heels when he jumped from an elevaed area of the stage and landed badly. He continued with the festival in a wheelchair. Joey Jordison also broke he ankle on this tour however he isn't able to play with the band for the rest of the European tour.
Sid Wilson is also known to fight on stage while performing and light himself on fire and throw himself into the crowd. He calls this the "Human Inferno".
This video is a recording from Kiss FM where Corey and James are performing the song acustically. This is rarely performed live because the band feels that the song is too slow to fit in with the rest of their set.
Slipknot have had many albums and most have been successes. The album "Slipknot" was recorded in at the Indigo Ranch in Malibu, California in 1989 or 1999. It was released twice with edited tracks as a result of a lawsuit. It was released by Roadrunner Records both times.
The album "Iowa" was recorded in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California in 2001. It was recorded at Sound City and Sound Image in California.
The album "Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)" was recorded in 2004 at The Mansion in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California. The special edition in 2005 was recorded at the Akademie Mathematique of Philosophical Sound Research and Sound City in Los Angeles, California.
The album "All Hope is Gone" was recorded in 2008 at the Sound Farm in Jamaica, Iowa.Slipknot only has one live album called "9.0: Live" was recorded during their "Vol. 3: Subliminal Verses" tour in 2004-2005. The entire album was recorded at every concert they played during that tour and the best recordings were put on the album. The entire album was recorded in Singapore, Tokyo, Osaka, Los Vegas, Phoenix, New York City and Dallas.
Their other album "Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat." was recorded during 1995-1996 at the SR Audio in Des Moines, Iowa. This was Slipknot's first full-length demo album.
Awards
Slipknot has been nominated for six Grammy Awards and has one once. In 2001 their song "Wait and Bleed" was nominated for Best Metal Performance, the award ceremony was held in the Staples Center, Los Angeles, California. In 2002 their song "Left Behind" was nominated for Best Metal Performance again, the ceremony was held in the Staples Center, Los Angeles, California. In 2003 their song "My Plague" was nominated for Best Metal Performance, the awards ceremony was held in Madison Square Garden, New York City. In 2005 their song "Duality" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance and in the same year their song "Vermilion" was nominated for Best Metal Performance, the awards ceremony was held in Staples Center, Los Angeles, California. In 2006 their song "Before I Forget" won Best Metal Performance, the ceremony was held in Staples Center, Los Angeles, California again.
Thisvideo shows why Slipknot has been nominated and awarded so many awards. It also shows why they have had so much success in the years they have been together. This video was originally from youtube.com.
Sid Wilson is the turntablist for Slipknot and he also plays the keyboards. His turntables come from America. Thomas Edison was one of the first people to promote the invention of turntables by inventing the phonograph which was later turned into the turntables.
Joey Jordison plays the drums and has the largest drum kit in the world which was made for him in America. There is no other drum kit like his own throughout the entire world.
Paul Gray plays the bass guitar and he usually plays the IbanezPGB1L which was made in Spain. It was imported especially for Paul to play.
Jim Root plays the guitar and usually uses Fender guitars which are mainly made in Fullerton, California, however Jim bought his in Corona, California.
Craig Jones plays the keyboards and he got his keyboards imported from Germany.
Mick Thomson plays the guitar and generally uses an IbanezMTM1 and MTM2 models which were custom made especially for him in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. He sometimes auctions off these guitars on E-bay when he is bored with the guitar and wants another one.
Corey Taylor doesn't play an instrument in the band however he plays guitar in his other band, Stone Sour. He doesn't have a specific guitar brand that he likes to play, he generally uses his band member's guitars if he needs one.
This picture shows Shawn Crahan and Chris Fehn. Shawn Crahan who is on the right and is a custom percussionist of the band and uses custom Pearl timpani style drums which were made in Japan and were imported for him. He also uses Vic Firth 2B American Classic drum sticks which were made and he bought in Montreal. He also sometimes uses two empty beer kegs which he hits with a bat. He generally uses kegs that the band has already used previously on stage.
Chris Fehn is on the left and is the other of custom percussionist of the band but he sings backing vocals as well. He uses custom titanium drums which were welded by his fellow band member, ShawnCrahan. They can turn at 90 degrees and he uses Vic Firth Metal American Classic drum sticks which were made in Montreal. He also tends to use empty beer kegs that the band has previously used and hits them with a bat.
Sid, Jim, Craig, Shawn, Mick, Corey and Joey were born in Des Moines, Iowa but Paul Gray was born in Los Angeles, California, just before his family moved to Des Moines and Chris was born in Ankeny, Iowa. Slipknot was formed in Urbandale, Iowa with Paul and Shawn being the first of it's members that have remained in the band to this day.
Sid first joined Slipknot in 1998 and is widely known for his human inferno, where he lites himself on fire and jumps into the crowd.
Joey met Shawn, Jim, Paul and Craig while they were all touring with different bands throughout Iowa. He joined the band when Paul asked him to audition for the band while he was working in Urbandale, he immediately accepted.
All the band members officially joined the band and have remained in it to this day met in Des Moines Iowa and formed the band in this legendary town in 1995.
This is a map of Iowa andDes Moines is a very famous town in Iowa because of Slipknot, it is in the state of Polk and it is seen on this map with a little star below it, indicating that the town is famous.
Slipknot have also toured all around Iowa and America in their early years. I will be showing in my next few blogs where they have toured, where they have recorded, where they got their guitars and the geography on the brands of the guitars and where they got the infamous masks.
Welcome to my blog on the heavy metal band, Slipknot. We were ask to choose something for our environmental studies project that relates to Geography. I choose to do my blog on Slipknot because not many people know about Slipknot and I thought it would be a challenge to show how Slipknot can be linked with Geography. I would thought it would be a good idea to choose a band with a lot of band members and since Slipknot have nine members.
This is an introduction to Slipknot so readers will know what I am talking about throughout the next five weeks. There are nine band members, the most famous being the lead singer; Corey Taylor and the drummer; Joey Jordison. There is also Jim Root (guitar), Sid Wilson (turntables), Paul Gray (bass), Chris Fehn (percussion), Craig Jones (media), Shawn Crahan (percussion) and Mick Thomson (guitar) in the band. Over the next five weeks I will be talking about where the band members were born, where they have recorded and where these masters of metal have made history.
