MICK THOMSON: How SLIPKNOT Was Formed

Fishman Music has shared a six-and-a-half-minute video in which SLIPKNOT guitarist Mick Thomson discusses the beginning stages of the band and what led the Iowa masked metallers to being a multi-platinum, award-winning powerhouse. Mick also gives an inside scoop to how the band started wearing their iconic masks.

Regarding how SLIPKNOT was formed, Thomson said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Before SLIPKNOT, Paul [Gray, late SLIPKNOT bassist] and Andy [former singer Anders Colsefni] and I — Andy was our original singer of SLIPKNOT — were in a band called BODY PIT, a death metal band. And they just lost their drummer. They got me in the band, and the drummer and other guitar player left, so we were looking for a drummer. So we were writing songs — me, Paul and Donnie [Steele, former SLIPKNOT guitarist and bassist], we were working on stuff, and I actually got some things on a four-track that never really ended up going anywhere. But we'd written them. So we were doing that stuff, and we were looking for a drummer. Well, at the same time, our gear is there where we were practicing, which was our singer's house, Andy. So, Clown [percussionist Shawn Crahan] would come over. He knew Andy. Clown comes over and starts playing with Paul and Andy, jamming stuff in the basement on the BODY PIT stuff, really — it was where BODY PIT practiced. We didn't have a drummer, so there was some down time when they started doing that stuff. And then that's kind of how that started. Paul and Andy were doing it with Clown. I didn't know Clown, really; I'd met him before. And Paul and Andy and I were in this thing. So it was them just dicking around with a friend of theirs. It was separate; [they were doing] different music. And then we never really… How are we gonna find a technical death metal drummer in Des Moines? [Late SLIPKNOT drummer] Joey [Jordison]. But Joey didn't wanna do it. But Joey did wanna do the SLIPKNOT stuff with Andy and Paul and Clown. So, that's kind of how that went. Our band died. See, Joey was in a band with our other guitar player on the first record, Josh [Brainard], and Craig [Jones], who did our sampling stuff. They were both the guitar players in Joey's band. So it's kind of like you took me, Paul, Andy, Joey, Josh and Craig, and threw those bands together and then added Clown. Clown was kind of the — he was the pivotal thing on that, because basically you had two bands that sort of broke up around him, and reformed around that idea. So I guess, in a way, it's like two different bands sort of dissolved and turned into the other thing. We never really looked at it like that, because just the chronology and the way it happened and it wasn't the intent. What's funny, though, is we went around and broke up another band — we broke up Corey's [Taylor, SLIPKNOT singer] band [STONE SOUR] by stealing him. And then we eventually needed another guitar player, so we got Jim [Root] from Corey's band to come in. So, yeah, it was a very incestuous kind of thing. We basically just went around and screwed up people's bands and shit."

SLIPKNOT has played three shows so far with new the band's new drummer, former SEPULTURA sticksman Eloy Casagrande: April 25 at Pappy + Harriet's in Pioneertown, California, April 27 at Sick New World in Las Vegas, Nevada and May 12 at Welcome To Rockville in Daytona Beach, Florida.

For all three gigs, SLIPKNOT adopted a classic look, bringing back the 1999 red jumpsuits and elements of their early masks into their modern versions, tying into the fact that SLIPKNOT is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

After parting ways with Jay Weinberg last November, SLIPKNOT teased fans with a hint about a new drummer two months ago, posting a photo of a single broken drumstick online with the caption "Rehearsal."

The band explained in a statement that the split with Weinberg was a creative decision. Jay followed up with a statement of his own, saying that he was "heartbroken and blindsided" by his dismissal.

Weinberg has since joined SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and INFECTIOUS GROOVES.

Casagrande abruptly quit SEPULTURA three months ago, shortly before he was supposed to begin rehearsals for the band's recently launched 40th-anniversary farewell tour.

Casagrande joined SEPULTURA nearly 13 years ago as the replacement for Jean Dolabella.

SLIPKNOT's latest album "The End, So Far", arrived in August 2022. It marked the band's the last full-length LP before the departure of both keyboardist Craig Jones, who left the group in June 2023, and Weinberg.