SLIPKNOT Guitarist Talks About The Songwriting Process For New Album

SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root spoke to View From The Pit last week about the songwriting process for the group's much-anticipated follow-up to 2001's "Iowa". "There's like 13 songs written right now, and so far it's, like, really heavy — a lot of blast beats," he revealed. "So far I think it's more like towards the first album. But we're gonna go back in and after pre-production, we're gonna write 10 more songs, so who knows what direction it could take after that.

"As of about four months ago, or five months ago, I wouldn't have wanted to go back, I actually had a sick feeling about going back to do another SLIPKNOT record," Root explained. "Just because… 'Iowa', for me, I hated doing that album — it wasn't a good experience for me. But now, having been away from it, I can step out of it and look at it objectively, you know what I mean? Like I'm not even in SLIPKNOT. And I can watch the DVD without getting that sick feeling, and I can see that what we're doing is still valid, and I can see from touring [with the other band STONE SOUR, which also features SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor] that there are still kids out there that still want it. As long as that's the case, then I'll do it — it's a great thing, and I'll feel comfortable about it. But [once] it becomes this circus sideshow thing, then I think it's time to hang it up."

When asked how SLIPKNOT's newly reactivated status will affect the recording process for the next STONE SOUR album, Root said, "We're gonna spend at least three, maybe four, months doing the recording and pre-production and everything for SLIPKNOT, and I'm sure we'll probably tour for at least a year with SLIPKNOT. So it could be a year and a half before you see another STONE SOUR record. We're gonna try to do things in the meantime, like when we get time off, we'll go in and demo some stuff, maybe try to do an EP, just to kind of try to keep it afloat." Download the 13-minute audio interview in Wave format at this location.