Things are pretty dramatic in the Slipknot camp right now with the surprise, if unconfirmed, news that Sid Wilson may be out of the band. But then things have always been pretty dramatic when it comes to the most explosive metal band of the last 30 years.
That was certainly the case around the time of their second album, Iowa, if producer Ross Robinson is to be believed. Speaking to Metal Hammer in a brand new interview just ahead of the album’s 25th anniversary, Robinson looks back on the internal and external pressures surrounding the band as they worked on the follow-up to their game-changing 1999 debut – and how they were even talking about splitting at one point.
“I did get a complaint from Paul [Gray, bassist] or maybe Joey [Jordison, drummer] at one point before we recorded, where they were like, ‘We’re just not getting along. We’re gonna break up,’” says Ross. “So I flew out to them. Corey [Taylor, frontman] took me out and was showing me Stone Sour stuff. It was like, ‘Erm, this is cool… but it’s not Slipknot.’”
Robinson puts the tensions down to the intensity of being the most talked-about new band in metal. “That transition from having this vision from nothing, to it becoming so extreme as far as success and everything goes… Nobody goes to school for it, there’s no education for how to deal with everybody suddenly kissing your butt no matter what you do or say,” he says. “Girls that would never have looked at you, suddenly paying you all this attention… it’s very confusing. It was tough on these innocent Beavises!”
Robinson also recalled singer Taylor rolling around naked on the floor and cutting himself with glass during sessions. “He had to strip his soul all the way. I do remember seeing him naked a lot. We’d get all woo-woo around the lyrics, go deep into the meaning and the tone of everything, so I’d have chills by the time I hit record.”
Read the full interview with Ross Robinson about the making of Iowa in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer, onsale now. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door.
