Press
Slipknot: And They Blew The House Down!By Debbie
Seagle In the car on my way to interview Chris Fehn, #3 and percussionist for the platinum selling Slipknot, I was a little worried. I had read somewhere that members of Slipknot were never interviewed without their masks and I was going to find myself staring smack dab into the face of a ghoulish pinocchio nightmare. Okay, in such cases, is it rude to stare at someone's nose? Would I be able to tear my eyes off that nose and concentrate enough to speak intelligently, or would I be too preoccupied? There is no etiquette book for these types of situations! Thankfully I was spared the embarrassment of forgetting myself and reaching out to touch that nine inch nose as I look at it quizzically. After introducing myself to the band's tour manager, I was escorted onto the tour bus and introduced to Chris Fehn. Thankfully, Chris was a quiet, calm, smiling un-masked man. Well, if you are all waiting for me to tell you what Chis, alias #3, or 3 of 9 looks like, keep waiting! I'm not going to tell. Not even if you tickle me or offer me money. Lets just say (girls) that I didn't go blind and I didn't run screaming from the bus. That's just all I'm going to give up. Let's just say that none of them need to wear masks and leave it at that, okay? So lets mosey on back to the lounge in the rear of the bus and talk to Chris . . . (Debbie Seagle for) Rock N World: Well I'm here today because I get tons of requests for coverage of Slipknot by the Rock N World and antiMUSIC readers.. So, I've never seen you live before, I've heard an awful lot of talk about your show. I've heard your CD, I think its great. Chris Fehn: Cool. RNW: Very heavy, very dark. I don't see the comparisons though, to Korn and Limp Bizkit, the way I hear a lot of people lumping you into a lot of the rapcore scene now. Any opinions on why people are doing that? CF: Oh, its just something to talk about, you know? Some way to try and categorize. Its just a bunch of labels that ain't nothin to me at all. RNW: I agree. Since I've never seen a Slipknot show before and since I'm going to be the eyes and ears of the fans tonight, can you tell me what I can expect tonight from this show that people say "You've got to see?" CF: Everything and anything! RNW: Its wild? CF: Pretty much, yeah. It would probably be a different interview after you saw it. RNW: Yeah, you know what? I'd love to have a chance to ask some questions. I'm sure I'm going to have a lot after the show. Why the two percussionists? CF: Why not, you know? RNW: Okay, true, true. Why not three guitarists then? CF: True. A lot of bands have those too. RNW: In my research on Slipknot I noticed that there is a very uniform theme throughout the interviews that I've read with you guys, and that is that you've got a real healthy respect and gratitude for your fans. CF: Oh, absolutely. RNW: You know, that whole grass roots thing that really got you guys going. Not a lot of play on MTV. Radio play now, a little bit more. But I think that their (the fans') numbers are increasing just because of word of mouth and people seeing the show. What do you perceive the average Slipknot fan to be like? CF: Like myself. RNW: Okay, and what is that like? What attracts them to Slipknot? CF: Well, its got to be the music first, you know what I mean? Any album that I had when I was a kid, you know, I wouldn't go travel four hours to go see certain bands, but certain ones I would. I'd be there six hours before anyone even thought about showing up, you know? Slayer shows and stuff like that. RNW: So you listened to Slayer, you listened to Sabbath . . . CF: Absolutely! RNW: KISS? CF: Yeah. So its like, the kids, that's how I am too. If a band really does it for me, I'm going to be all over it. RNW: I've heard people describe Slipknot as the band that teenagers love and parents hate. I'm not quite sure why I hear that. Do you think that parents might be afraid of the image that they see you projecting maybe? CF: Which would be what image? RNW: A scary image, I think to some parents who know their teenage kids are coming to the shows. Like I said, I don't know, I've never been to your live show, but reports I've heard of the shows are like, unbridled anger and aggression and release of tensions, etc. CF: The key word is "release." Its not some thing where we're fuckin up the fans, you know what I mean? Its nothing like that. RNW: I haven't heard of a lot of violence or anything. CF: If you want to see violence, you can turn on the TV. RNW: For sure. CF: That's some serious shit there. This is just music and an afternoon with kids that like the same thing. That's all it can be. Any parent that, you know, that's how they were brought up then, I guess. They weren't able to do their Elvis thing or whatever, I don't know. RNW: Don't you think that's the same though, in every generation? CF: Absolutely, there's always that thing. RNW: Yeah, the "Elvis factor." One of the things I do for Rock N World is I write a feature column called "Backstage Pass." What I try and do is give the fans a peek at what its like to be on the road, what its like to be a musician, a touring musician. Without shattering the illusions or fantasy that music creates. But I'd like to talk a little bit about what a typical day is like for Slipknot when they are on the road on a show day, and then what a typical day would be like when you have an off day on the road somewhere. I know I've read that some of you guys like to do Nintendo and Play Station. CF: Yeah, all that. RNW: Some of you like to sleep a lot, some of you like to play on the computer, online, surfing. You've got two great web sites. But for you, what's a typical day like on show day? CF: On show day? Like today? RNW: A-huh. CF: Wake up, usually get something to eat, chill out for a little bit. Do sound check, then I listen to a lot of music, you know? Cause that's the shit. Music is the shit. So I just do that. We're not during the day gettin all fucked up or nothing like that. We're just, you know, getting a lot of things done that we need to get done, you know? In a nine person band there's a lot of work that has to be done too, between all of us. RNW: I can imagine. Are you guys writing right now? Writing for the new . . . CF: All the time! RNW: I don't want to go too much into the masks and the coveralls, I think that's been covered a million times, but as far as you being #3, 3 of 9, I understand that the numbers now kind of mean something to each one of you, as well as the masks being some sort of an extension of your personality or an exaggeration of your personality. So what does three mean to you - what significance has it taken on for you and the appearance of your mask? How do they relate to you? CF: Well, all numbers are important. Numbers are very, oh how do I explain this? There's, everything is numbers. Spirits and all that stuff, you know? Its like, mine personally, I don't know. It just came, its given to me. It wasn't something I picked or . . . cause my favorite number is eight. But the mask is just a thing that happened. It kind of allows you to do things you might not normally do or say, but I guarantee with this band we still would. We'd be slammin just as hard and being just as fucking crazy as if we didn't have this stuff on. RNW: Do you think there's going to come a time when you guys are going to get away from that or... CF: You mean, like, the masks? RNW: Yeah, kind of like with KISS, you know, they did the make-up for a while and they were really anonymous and that was really cool for a while. And then they just kind of got tired of it and then they were like, the make-up's giving me a rash and I don't want to do this shit anymore. Now they're back, so . . . CF: I don't know, I mean, we're not going to today. RNW: And your mask is, what would you call that persona? CF: The persona? RNW: Yeah, is it Pinocchio, lets say? Childlike, mischievous? CF: Yeah, absolutely, all that. RNW: Have you ever had any thoughts of modifying it or changing it at all? Do you have an idea for other things you could do? CF: There's some stuff in the works, for the next record I think. RNW: Does that apply to everybody? CF: I don't know. RNW: Are we going to be seeing some different faces now? CF: Don't know. I don't yet. Always constantly thinking about stuff. RNW: We didn't talk anything about your days off on the road. Do you guys like to just get away from the entourage and go out and see places? CF: Absolutely, yeah. Every time I can, you know? Its good to get away for a while. A lot of time, I spend a lot of time on the phone. RNW: Back with your home base? CF: With families, you know, let them know what's goin on. RNW: That must be hard. Do you use the internet to keep in touch. CF: I'm not really a computer person, but I love my family and I try to stay in touch with them as much as possible. RNW: I bet your cell phone bill is astronomical, right? CF: I don't have a cell phone either. Actually, I just got one, but phone cards and all that stuff. I've done it for a long time. RNW: I've read in several interviews that you are pegged as the soft spoken but funny one of the group. Do you think that fits you pretty good? CF: Yeah, laugh and kicks ass! Its fun. You've got to have fun with it. RNW: So if a fan wanted to know who the true Chris was behind the mask, it would be, they could pretty much sum you up that way, huh? CF: Yeah. RNW: What's in store for the fans for the remainder of 2000 and what's coming up in 2001 with the new project? CF: The album is going to fucking shred! No sell out shit or nothing like that. RNW: Any differences that are going to be really apparent from the first? CF: I'm sure there will be. RNW: I've heard some band members say its going to be more of the same and some say its going to be different, but our fans are going to love it. CF: Yeah, but that's like, the future. So I have no idea what its going to be at that time. I hate to say anything now, cause I just don't know. The songs I know that we're working on now slam. RNW: Well I can't wait until your set. Like I said, I've listened to the CD and it rocks, I love it. CF: Yeah, but when we bring it live, we BRING IT LIVE, you know? There's no dat machines, everything that's on the record, we can bring live, plus the energy between the nine of us slamming to songs that are our favorite songs too, its just a beautiful thing. RNW: You were out in 1999 with a new CD and the second one is supposed to be out in the beginning of 2001? CF: I don't know. I really don't. I'd love to tell you. That would be great if I knew too. There's so many things now that go on, tours and this and that. You just never know when its going to be a time to sit down and write it, make it and put it out. Its like, a big process. RNW: Radio play is a big part of breaking a new CD and MTV is kind of like this "now generation", and a lot of kids spend a lot of time watching MTV, waiting for their favorite bands to come on. CF: Yeah, but if its not on there, they'll be playing the CD or getting the home video. You know, there's other ways to access a band than those bullshit mediums, you know what I mean? RNW: Well, one way is to see them in person and it seems like you are certainly canvassing quite a bit of the USA, trying to get the word out. CF: Yeah, totally. RNW: The fans are definitely carrying the flag and marching around with it, trying to bolster the fan base, so you don't seem to have any problem there! It will be interesting to see, with the next record, now that the word is out and the debut gave you such incredible exposure, just what's going to happen with it. What's the best thing that's happened to you in your Slipknot career thus far? CF: I got to meet Max Cavalera (of Sepultura) last night. RNW: Did you? That's pretty cool. What happened with that? CF: He's an amazing human being, you know? Much respect. Much respect. RNW: Definitely. I imagine that getting together with different bands, different people in the music business, just in the music industry in general is very, very enriching. Very cool to see people you may have heard growing up and loved, like with Ozzfest. CF: Yeah, meeting Ozzy Osbourne, I'm like "sshsh." RNW: Yeah, (laughs) I know! CF: Its really cool! RNW: Yeah, just kind of completing that whole, you know, when you were a kid growing up. Looking up to that music and now you are at a point in your life where you . . . CF: Yeah, its definitely a benefit of it. RNW: Is there anything that you'd like to accomplish that you haven't yet, that you see in the future as far as your musical dreams and ambitions? CF: Well, of course there's a lot of bands I'd just like to be around. RNW: Like who? CF: Like "Corrosion of Conformity," or when Phil Anselmo did the band "Down." You know, those type bands, that's it man. I listened to him every day. RNW: So, if that happened, you'd be like, okay . . . CF: Oh, I can die now. RNW: Take me now God. CF: Yep, yep! RNW: I hear ya. I have bands like that too. Well, I think I would probably like to take in one of your shows and I know I'll have a bunch of questions for you after that. What I'm going to do is check out the show and get some photographs of you guys for the fans and I'll put together this interview for them to give them what they want. CF: Cool, thanks. |