SLIPKNOT's MICK THOMSON: 'We Hope To Do Our Next Record Sooner'

SLIPKNOT took six years to make its latest album, ".5: The Gray Chapter", and that time was filled with tragedy and turmoil. In a new interview with Music Radar, guitarist Mick Thomson said that with the band members being able to write music on the road on their laptops, there should be less time between records from now on. He explained, "It enables us to have songs in the can already before we go in a studio to work on a new album. We hope to do our next record sooner after touring '.5'. We don't want to spend the same amount of time between albums as we've done with the last two."

Guitarist Jim Root added that he wrote most of the music on the new disc, saying, "When you had Paul [Gray; late bassist] and Joey [Jordison; fired drummer] writing, you had to find your place . . . With '.5', it seems like I, basically, did the whole record. That's why last November (2013),I really put my nose to the grindstone and put together enough arrangements so that we could finally get going."

Percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that Paul Gray will always be an important part of the band. "Paul will always be part of that nine," he said. "He will be there 'til the end of time. Number Two [Gray's number in the band] will always be represented. Paul Gray will always be talked about, he will always be onstage, he will always be part of the real nine."

Although the band has not revealed the identity of its new bassist, he is all but confirmed to be Alessandro "V-Man" Venturella.

".5: The Gray Chapter" is the first new SLIPKNOT record since the 2010 death of Gray and the 2013 dismissal of Jordison.

SLIPKNOT will tour Europe and Australia through the end of February before kicking off a series of U.S. festival appearances in late April.