JIM ROOT: 'Healing Process' Needs To Happen Before SLIPKNOT Decides Its Next Move

STONE SOUR/SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root was recently interviewed for the Sonispherefestival web site. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

Q: First of all, do you want to tell us what the situation is now with SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR in terms of priorities and plans?

Root: Basically we are doing what we normally do, just kind of flip-flopping everything. SLIPKNOT's the kind of band you need to step away from and kind of take a break from and let it heal, so to speak. Right now we are just concentrating on releasing this record with STONE SOUR doing a year and a half to two years touring and we will cross any other bridge when we get to it.

Q: You won't be going back to SLIPKNOT for at least another year and a half then?

Root: Probably two years at least, I would say.

Q: And then would it be to tour again or will you start working on writing?

Root: I'm not sure what we are going to do. We haven't talked about anything we're going to do. We've got some things to think about so right now we are just going to not think about them. We're at the beginning of the STONE SOUR cycle and not really thinking about our calendars. There's going to be a big healing process that needs to happen before we even think about whether or not SLIPKNOT will continue. And right now that's the furthest thing from our mind. Right now we are just grieving or trying to find time to grieve anyway for the fact that our bro's gone. It's weird because some days I don't even think it's real, so that one's not going to make sense for a while.

A medical examiner recently ruled that SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray died of an accidental overdose of morphine and a synthetic form of morphine called fentanyl, according to the Des Moines Register. Polk County Medical Examiner Dr. Gregory Schmunk said on June 21 that the two injected drugs killed Gray, and that pills found near his body did not contribute to his death. Schmunk added that Gray also suffered from "significant" heart disease.

The 38-year-old Gray's body was discovered about 10:50 a.m. on May 24 by a maintenance worker at a suburban hotel outside Des Moines.

A hypodermic needle and a variety of pills surrounded Gray's body, which was curled up in a corner of the room, according to the worker's 911 call.

The news that Gray died of an accidental drug overdose came just two weeks after it was revealed that AVENGED SEVENFOLD drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan also died from a similar overdose.

BUCKCHERRY guitarist Keith Nelson, who was friends with Sullivan, told The Pulse of Radio that the business people around the musicians share some responsibility when they overdose. "I wonder where all these people that make all this fuckin' money off these guys — the record labels, the managers, the agents — at some point they have a responsibility as human beings to at least attempt to make aid available to those people," he said. "I don't know enough about Jimmy's situation or the SLIPKNOT situation whether or not they did or not, but as much as it should be a wake-up call for the artists, that the business people around them would want to see these people actually get it together and provide them the opportunity for that."

Gray leaves behind a wife and a daughter due in September.