“When I wear my mask,” says Slipknot lead guitarist 7 (a.k.a Mick Thomson), “I’m nothing, I’m anonymous. So on stage I can do anything.” And “anything” is exactly what you get when the nine members of Slipknot take the stage. With their matching coveralls, numerical identification system and homemade horror masks, the group seems more like a gathering of serial killers than a metal band.

With their self-title Roadrunner debut, Slipknot (which consists of two guitarists, a drummer, two percussionists, a sample/media player, a DJ, a bass player and a singer) capture the chaos and energy that helped propel them from the almost nonexistent Des Moines, Iowa, music scene and onto the stage in the 1998 summer’s Ozzfest. With darkly experimental riffing by 7 and meat-head guitarist 4 (Jim Root), as well as multilayered, industrial –style rhythms, Slipknot was “recorded the same way we play our live shows,” says 7. “Fast, aggressive and totally out of control.”

Slipknot aren’t afraid to get down and dirty onstage, either. “With Ozzfest we finally had a stage that was big enough for the band,” says 7. Which still didn’t prevent some of the members from ending up in the emergency room. “6, on of our percussionists, once split his head open on a drum,” relates 7. “Even though blood was spraying from an eye socket, he stayed on his feet until we finished the gig.”

It’s this dedication that has made the band one of the most talked about of that 1998 summer Ozzfest. The fact that many of the discussions were tinged with fear doesn’t bother the band at all. “You know, people have many different sides,” says 7. “Slipknot is the scary one.”

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GUITARS (7) Custom King V Jackson, Ibanez; (4) Jackson SL2

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CURRENTLY LISTENING TO (7) Immolation and The Beatles; (4) System of the Down—System of the Down, Oingo Boingo—Nothing to fear

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