..Slipknot Continued 

RNW:  We didn’t talk anything about your days off on the road.  Do you guys like to just get away from the entourage and go out and see places?

CF:  Absolutely, yeah.  Every time I can, you know?  Its good to get away for a while.  A lot of time, I spend a lot of time on the phone. 

RNW:  Back with your home base?

CF:  With families, you know, let them know what’s goin on. 

RNW:  That must be hard.  Do you use the internet to keep in touch.

CF:  I’m not really a computer person, but I love my family and I try to stay in touch with them as much as possible.

RNW:  I bet your cell phone bill is astronomical, right?

CF:  I don’t have a cell phone either.  Actually, I just got one, but phone cards and all that stuff.  I’ve done it for a long time. 

RNW:  I’ve read in several interviews that you are pegged as the soft spoken but funny one of the group.  Do you think that fits you pretty good?

CF:  Yeah, laugh and kicks ass!  Its fun.  You’ve got to have fun with it.

RNW:  So if a fan wanted to know who the true Chris was behind the mask, it would be, they could pretty much sum you up that way, huh?

CF:  Yeah.

RNW:  What’s in store for the fans for the remainder of 2000 and what’s coming up in 2001 with the new project?

CF:  The album is going to fucking shred!  No sell out shit or nothing like that.

RNW:  Any differences that are going to be really apparent from the first? 

CF:  I’m sure there will be.

RNW: I’ve heard some band members say its going to be more of the same and some say its going to be different, but our fans are going to love it.

CF:  Yeah, but that’s like, the future.  So I have no idea what its going to be at that time.  I hate to say anything now, cause I just don’t know.  The songs I know that we’re working on now slam.

RNW:  Well I can’t wait until your set. Like I said, I’ve listened to the CD and it rocks, I love it.

CF:  Yeah, but when we bring it live, we BRING IT LIVE, you know?  There’s no dat machines, everything that’s on the record, we can bring live, plus the energy between the nine of us slamming to songs that are our favorite songs too, its just a beautiful thing.

RNW:  You were out in 1999 with a new CD and the second one is supposed to be out in the beginning of 2001?

CF:  I don’t know.  I really don’t.  I’d love to tell you.  That would be great if I knew too.  There’s so many things now that go on, tours and this and that.  You just never know when its going to be a time to sit down and write it, make it and put it out.  Its like, a big process.

RNW:   Radio play is a big part of breaking a new CD and MTV is kind of like this "now generation", and a lot of kids spend a lot of time watching MTV, waiting for their favorite bands to come on. 

CF:  Yeah, but if its not on there, they’ll be playing the CD or getting the home video.  You know, there’s other ways to access a band than those bullshit mediums, you know what I mean?

RNW:  Well, one way is to see them in person and it seems like you are certainly canvassing quite a bit of the USA, trying to get the word out.

CF:  Yeah, totally.

RNW:  The fans are definitely carrying the flag and marching around with it, trying to bolster the fan base, so you don’t seem to have any problem there!  It will be interesting to see, with the next record, now that the word is out and the debut gave you such incredible exposure, just what’s going to happen with it.

What’s the best thing that’s happened to you in your Slipknot career thus far?

CF:  I got to meet Max Cavalera (of Sepultura) last night.

RNW:  Did you?  That’s pretty cool.  What happened with that?

CF:  He’s an amazing human being, you know?  Much respect.  Much respect. 

RNW:  Definitely.  I imagine that getting together with different bands, different people in the music business, just in the music industry in general is very, very enriching.  Very cool to see people you may have heard growing up and loved, like with Ozzfest.

CF:  Yeah, meeting Ozzy Osbourne, I’m like "sshsh."

RNW:  Yeah, (laughs) I know!

CF:  Its really cool!

RNW:  Yeah, just kind of completing that whole, you know, when you were a kid growing up.  Looking up to that music and now you are at a point in your life where you . . .

CF:  Yeah, its definitely a benefit of it.

RNW:  Is there anything that you’d like to accomplish that you haven’t yet, that you see in the future as far as your musical dreams and ambitions?

CF:  Well, of course there’s a lot of bands I’d just like to be around. 

RNW:  Like who?

CF:  Like "Corrosion of Conformity," or when Phil Anselmo did the band "Down."  You know, those type bands, that’s it man.  I listened to him every day.

RNW:  So, if that happened, you’d be like, okay . . .

CF:  Oh, I can die now.

RNW:  Take me now God.

CF:  Yep, yep!

RNW:  I hear ya.  I have bands like that too.  Well, I think I would probably like to take in one of your shows and I know I’ll have a bunch of questions for you after that.  What I’m going to do is check out the show and get some photographs of you guys for the fans and I’ll put together this interview for them to give them what they want.

CF:  Cool, thanks.
 

After my interview with Chris I was pumped up and ready to see and photograph the live Slipknot experience.  Alas, the audio gods had other ideas.  I would call this the show that never happened, but too much happened this night.   Scores of death/thrash metal followers flooded into this Southern California venue to catch a glimpse of the controversial and unique band Slipknot.  Any one who has experienced the tuned down heaviness and dark aggression of their self titled CD was chomping at the bit to get the other side of the story - the live experience.  The nine members who make up this bizarre troupe of masked musicians are some of the wildest, most uninhibited performers you will ever see.  They made their mark with their slot in 1999’s Ozzfest and just kept right on going. 

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