SLIPKNOT Puts Out Mystery Music Video Casting Call

SLIPKNOT has put out a casting call for a new music video, inviting fans to a shoot in Los Angeles on Friday, October 5. The message was captioned "Slipknot 20th Anniversary," presumably referring to the 20th anniversary of the release of the band's self-titled debut album, which arrived in 1999.

Fans wanting to participate in the music video shoot are being asked to e-mail their name and age to [email protected]. Those who are under the age of 18 will need to provide a copy of their parent/guardian's photo identification and a release form signed by the parent/guardian.

SLIPKNOT's Shawn "Clown" Crahan recently hinted to the Des Moines Register that the band will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its self-titled debut album in 2019. Asked whether the group had any plans to mark the milestone, he replied: "Oh, for sure."

"Slipknot went double platinum in the U.S., led by cornerstone tracks "Spit It Out" and "Wait And Bleed".

Back in 2015, SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor told Noisey about the making of the band's debut album: "We went into this so positive; there were no expectations whatsoever. Because who we were, and what we were as a band, there were actually less expectations. No one expected us to win, least of all us, to be totally fucking honest, man. We went into that album so young and green and just ecstatic to make our first album. After we recorded it, it was, like, 'Well, now what?' We had to wait six months just to see what happened. We got added to Ozzfest '99 at the last second."

He continued: "True story. We're out in Malibu on top of a mountain. Nine assholes from Iowa, no idea what the fuck we're doing. [Laughs] With this mad scientist, Ross Robinson, helping us create this crazy fucking album. Really, it was a blank check, metaphorically; we were playing with house money. Nobody knew what would happen. Every other band on Roadrunner was expected to blow up and not us. MACHINE HEAD just put out a new album at the time. AMEN was finishing their record at Indigo Ranch before we moved in, and I was convinced AMEN was going to be so much bigger than us. I love those first two albums. They're unbelievably amazing. So here we are, these nine kids playing heavy metal, wearing masks, wearing coveralls, doing crazy shit, our highest expectation was that we were maybe a band that sold 200,000 albums. Which at the time was enough to keep you on the road.

"And we did Ozzfest '99, and you could tell something was happening," he added. "Something was becoming fucking crazy. The album hadn't even come out yet. It came out halfway through that tour. So really there was nothing to prepare anybody for anything. And then after Ozzfest '99 ended, we had three days off and we went right into the COAL CHAMBER tour where we were third on the bill, right below MACHINE HEAD. Halfway through that tour, we ended up switching places with MACHINE HEAD and becoming direct support. Because we would play, and this is nothing against any of these bands, nothing at all, we'd play and half the audience would leave after. We didn't have anywhere to go after we played, so we'd go out to the audience and hang out, watch the other bands, and we'd watch people streaming out — buying our merch and heading out. So it became a point where nobody wanted to take us out on the road with them. So we had to headline out of necessity. Meanwhile, the album goes gold and we didn't realize it. We didn't get the plaque for it until February 2 of 2000. When we got the plaque, we found out within two months it would go platinum. Then it went double platinum. People don't understand just how fucking insane it was. We're sitting back going, 'What?' Suddenly we're the biggest band on Roadrunner, and no one prepared us. We didn't know what the fuck was going on. We had shitty management at the time, and it was insanity. It all started because we went up a mountain, and had an absolute fucking blast making that album. It went through three people's hands to mix it."

Taylor went on to tell the story of how Clown, Robinson and drummer Joey Jordison, "broke into the studio" where the master tapes were held because they weren't happy with the mixes they were getting. He recalled: "They stole the tapes, and mixed it themselves! [Laughs] I think Paul [Gray, bass] was there too. I had to go back to Iowa to go back to work, and I get a call from Clown: 'By the way, we committed grand larceny; we just stole our own fucking album.' And they sat down and mixed it because no one else understood it. When you're the first, no one knows. There's not track record for it. So we'd get these shitty fucking mixes that were either too thin, too bass-laden. People didn't understand what this noise was. So we ended up mixing it ourselves, man.

"There's so many crazy stories from that first album," he continued. "I can look back and smile that it's happened to us, and the subsequent years. It all started from the first album and all the crazy shit. Living off 20 bucks a week, having to hide your ramen because your asshole bandmates were trying to steal it. Having to come up with 30 ways to make ramen so you don't lose your mind, that's how we lived. It was so insane, but it was so awesome because we were in it. All the talk, dreaming was over. It was time to do the work. And we did. The rest is fucking history, man."