Press

Son of the Mask

By Heather Adler
--.--.2005
Vue Weekly

There's an obedient mama's boy hiding underneath Slipknot bassist's scary stage persona

Slipknot bassist Paul Gray is a mama's boy. You wouldn't know it from his band's chaotic brand of brutal metal or their catalogue of songs, which includes the profound "People=Shit," the heartwarming "Pulse of the Maggots" and the spooning-with-your-honey hit "New Abortion." And the fact that Gary, along with his eight other headbanging cohorts, is usually seen sporting some sort of Silence-of-the-Lambs-meets-evil-birthday-party-clown mask, inspiring a generation of moody suburban teenagers and terrifying their sweater-vest-wearing parents, doesn't make the notion that he's actually a family-loving man any more believable. But as I speak with him over the phone, it becomes apparent that Gray is nothing more than a down-to-earth, easygoing guy who loves his mom and doesn't seem to have a complaint in the world.

Although Slipknot's image and music are the kind of thing parental warning stickers were invented for, it seems all the wacky teenagers playing with razorblades and tattooing the Slipknot logo on their necks are a lot more freaky than the band members themselves. "The last time we were in Australia," Gray recalls, "we shot a video of these kids who were taking razorblades and carving 'Slipknot' into their backs. That was pretty crazy; they were bleeding all over.... I don't know what to think about that. Obviously, I don't think people should mutilate themselves just to pay homage to our band. I think maybe those kids just need some attention paid to them."

Aside from being baffled by his bleeding diehard fanatics, Gray (who sports a leather pig-face mask to represent his self-indulgent personality) is also a little perplexed by why some stuffy parents don't seem to like their troubled tykes listening to the band. "All we've ever preached is do what you want for yourself, and forget whatever anyone else stereotypes you as," he explains. "I don't think we've ever preached anything bad, but sometimes parents look at the image and automatically make a judgment without taking a deeper look at us."

According to Gray, parents have nothing to worry about when it comes to Slipknot's violently melodic metal. And just to prove his point, he says even his own mother is a fan of the band. Well, sort of. "My mom, actually, she loves the band," he laughs, "but she can't stand listening to it - she doesn't like those loud guitars and the screaming. Every time I come home from the road, she snags all my merch and gives it out to all her friends and stuff.
"She's obviously very proud, you know, because I actually did something with myself," he continues. "For so long, we'd been working and working on the band, and my mom was like always like 'Why don't you go back to school or get a job?' I always told her one day, the band would do something. So now I know that she's really happy."

Recently Momma Gray had even more reason to be proud after Slipknot was nominated for two Grammys in the categories of Best Metal Performance and Best Hard Rock Performance. The nods came for their latest effort, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verse, which was recorded with world-renowned producer Rick Rubin in an old, allegedly haunted mansion in the Hollywood hills that was once owned by Houdini. "This is the fifth time [we've been nominated]," Gray says, "so hopefully we will win one. I think I'm going to go this year because I hear they give out this awesome gift bag, and I missed it, like, three years in a row, so I'm going to try it out. I'm probably going to clean up and wear a suit. I'll probably bring my mom."

Slipknot is a band that records in haunted mansions, wears freakshow-worthy masks, writes about maggots and inspires troubling acts of adoration from their fans, but at the end of the day, they really aren't as scary as they purport to be. You know what they say: never judge a band by their music, image or, uhh, cover.

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