Slipknot is not the first band to wear a costume or elaborate face paint, but after over 20
years, their masks are an essential part of the band.
The disturbing masks represent their intense music and explicit lyrics, and offer a view
of the darker side of each musician's personality.
Before the formation of Slipknot, two of the founding members of the band, Anders Colsefni
and Shawn Crahan, became friends in the early '90s.
The duo met at gigs from the same metal scene in Des Moines, Iowa
However, the two also got along well because they played a role-playing game called "Werewolf:
The Apocalypse," which was more violent and less popular than the well-known RPG "Dungeons
& Dragons."
Unlike "D&D," the "Werewolf" franchise focuses on a horror theme, with main characters being
werewolves and vampires.
For both musicians, a major appeal of the game was that it was possible to become something
else.
In the book "Slipknot: All Hope is Gone," by Joel McIver, Colsefni says,
"The attraction was being able to play a different person, to be able to do something different.
This was the founding of Slipknot — that was it, right there."
After the band was created, this mentality was carried over into their first gig on December
4th, 1995.
Colsefni says that from the very beginning, Slipknot performances have generated what
he says is,
"A primal feeling — I'm transformed into an animal, and that's the reason we wear what
we do on stage."
In January 1996, Shawn Crahan was rummaging through boxes of his stuff in the basement
when he came across an old clown mask of his that he had not seen in 10 years.
The percussionist then decided to wear the old clown mask during a practice session with
the band and that changed everything.
The drummer enjoyed wearing the clown mask so much that he wanted to keep wearing it
regardless of what the others wanted, even during shows.
Crahan recalls that there was some pushback from his bandmates.
He said,
"A few of them were like, 'No f--king way.
You can't be the only guy wearing some stupid mask.
So I said, 'I really don't care what you think, this is who I am and this is what I'm going
to do.'
So here we are all these years later..."
After Crahan and Anders Colsefni wore masks for a few performances, the rest of the band
eventually gave in and agreed to do the same.
Corey Taylor explained,
"We started from day one knowing we had to evolve, knowing that we had to stay relevant,
and one of the things we knew we had to do was find ways to look like a unit and do it
in a way that didn't feel forced."
Masks became such a part of Slipknot's identity that the fans never saw the musicians' faces.
Photographer Paul Harries took numerous pictures of the band, and was frequently asked by fans
if he had ever seen their faces, and even asked if the members actually had real faces.
Eventually, as the band grew in popularity, some of the members became much more lax with
showing their faces, especially Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan.
As his side project, Stone Sour, became more well-known, not only was Taylor's face seen
more often but also Slipknot guitarist Jim Root's.
The quieter members of Slipknot have remained more elusive than the rest, like Craig Jones
and Chris Fehn, but pictures of their faces can also easily be found on the internet these
days.
Corey Taylor is one of the Slipknot band members who changes masks more than the others, and
he does so because he believes it reflects how people change over time.
According to Kerrang Radio, the singer says,
"People like me, Clown, Sid [Wilson] and a couple of others, we change ours drastically.
[...] Nobody stays the same over time — that's my belief."
In the early days, Taylor wore a bondage mask but had issues because of his dreadlocks,
which he threaded through holes cut in the mask.
After a year of this, the singer did not like what was happening to his hair, so he severed
his dreads and attached them to the mask, creating his signature look for both the band's
self-titled and "Iowa" albums.
By the "All Hope is Gone" album cycle in 2008, Taylor released an entirely new, almost featureless
face mask, arguably more eery for its blank expression.
The singer's last two masks have also been quite unique, with almost no connection to
his previous masks.
“I loved the fact that every mask was different, because it represented a different person.
It wasn’t all linear, and just kind of thrown together.”
Like Corey Taylor, the masks of Shawn Crahan have changed a lot over the years.
However, they've all been variations of the clown theme that he's had from the beginning.
The clown persona has become such a part of Crahan's identity that his nickname is "Clown,"
and even though he doesn't wear the original mask during shows anymore, the drummer still
has and cherishes the mask that started it all.
Crahan was initially drawn to the mask at a Halloween store many years earlier while
walking in the mall with his girlfriend.
He was supposed to buy lunch, but instead, he spent all of his money on the clown mask.
In an interview with the BBC, Crahan said,
"I had gotten a version of this mask when I was 14.
[...] I just never knew why it was in my world but it was always around me.”
He continued,
“Then one day, it just so happened, it was that moment of clarity to decide what I want
to project.”
He went on to say of his mask,
“This thing has no f--king limits."
When it came time for the intimidating guitarist to choose, Mick Thomson initially went for
the look of the iconic hulking mass murderer Jason Voorhees from the classic horror franchise
"Friday the 13th."
This meant that he easily found a hockey mask at the store, but it involved very little
imagination.
So, after wearing the hockey mask for the cover of their first album in 1999, he exchanged
it for a black leather mask that shortly after had his own metallic design.
Thomson's masks have all been based on his original hockey mask idea, albeit with some
major tweaks to incorporate his own style.
The guitarist's masks have evolved, but for over a decade, the changes have been minor,
so his signature look has remained relatively the same during the last few album cycles.
The metallic grill over the mouth is something he's stuck with and made his own, yet it's
also the way his newer masks are linked to the original.
As one of the band members who has modified his mask the least, Thomson summed up his
feelings on the matter when he said,
"If you know who you are, you don't need change.
I think I pretty much nailed it with this one for being able to get across how I am."
Originally, like all new Slipknot members, Jim Root did not choose a mask and instead
was given the black bondage mask of the member he replaced, Josh Brainard.
But the inherited mask was simply too difficult to play in, and Root wanted a mask of his
own, so he discarded the hand-me-down almost immediately.
To represent his mischievous character, the guitarist now usually wears a type of jester
mask.
The group also had a role in the decision because Root said in a radio interview,
"The guys chose this mask to tame me.
I was a timid guy before I joined this band.
Now I'm a freak."
Like Mick Thomson, Root's masks have remained very similar to the mask he wore during the
release of the album "Iowa" back in 2001.
Both musicians seem to firmly believe that there is no reason to fix something that isn't
broken.
Craig Jones' first mask was basically just underwear over his face until he got more
creative for the release of Slipknot's first album.
Now, Jones is known for his mask with nails sticking out of it, similar to Hellraiser's
Pinhead.
The sampler initially stuck the nails to an old helmet and added a flashlight as well.
However, he switched it up to a spiked leather mask for the release of "Iowa."
Since Jones is notorious for his silence during interviews, he also put a zipper on his mouth
slit that he could slowly zip shut with glee when asked to speak.
From then on, Jones' bondage Pinhead look has become his own, and the only real change
is that the nails have gotten longer.
The masks of Sid Wilson have changed more than the masks of any of his other bandmates.
Over the years, the DJ went from a standard gas mask for Slipknot's first album to a skull-shaped
gas mask for "Iowa," then a stylized skull for "Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses," and a
robotic mask for "All Hope Is Gone" in 2008.
Wilson made sure it was somewhat functional and included adjustable eyebrows to display
his desired expressions, and fully leaned into the Transformers look in 2012.
More recently for the last two album cycles in 2014 and 2019, Wilson has worn a hood with
creepy teeth, first with metallic eyes and with the most recent mask looking more like
he's wearing the skin of a human than any previous mask.
Chris Fehn is notorious for wearing a long, Pinocchio-like nose on his masks that he says
reflects his comedic personality.
It is common to see the drummer rub the nose in a vulgar manner during performances.
When discussing his first mask, Fehn noted of the mask’s zipper,
"I chose it for the bondage factor."
For the "Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses" era, the drummer's mask had the fascinating characteristic
of often changing colors.
The mask first looked like it had started to rust and then eventually became all red.
Fehn's masks changed very little, with only minor alterations.
Sometimes he wore a hood over the back of his head, while he did not for other album
cycles.
Fehn used the same mask for Slipknot's self-titled debut album and "Iowa," and the drummer noted
how bad of an idea that was due to how bad the mask ended up smelling.
Early on, Bassist Paul Gray wore a Halloween pig mask that the band said was a reflection
on his character flaw of self-indulgence.
However, a rival band, Mushroomhead, accused him of stealing their look, so Gray modified
his subsequent masks to be more human in style.
While the mask for "Iowa" still retained a vaguely pig-like look, the black mask he wore
in the "Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses" cycle lost that trait and instead had a Hannibal
Lecter-looking design with nails that made a grill over the mouth.
Before Gray tragically passed away in 2010, the bassist featured two different masks for
a couple of years during the "All Hope Is Gone" era.
Both retained the Hannibal Lecter style of the previous mask, but one had a paint smear
and the other had small cracks to differentiate them.
As a child, Joey Jordison was creeped out by the blank look of Japanese Kabuki masks
after he witnessed his mother wearing one when she came home from a Halloween party.
Jordison kept this style for his masks throughout his years with the band, only with slight
alterations.
The drummer's last mask for the "All Hope Is Gone" cycle was the most creative, appearing
like a demonic Christ with a crown of thorns and stitches across the face.
Even though the blank expression of the Kabuki masks frightened him the most as a kid, it
became one of his favorite features as an adult.
As Jordison noted,
"You feel however you want to feel; scary, evil or perverted.
All those things held in one mask."
But like other members, the drummer had issues playing in the masks, saying,
"It's very difficult to play in the masks sometimes.
You feel like you're locked in hell."
Sadly, Jordison passed away in July, 2021.
After Paul Gray's tragic death and Joey Jordison's emotional exit from Slipknot, bassist Alessandro
Venturella and drummer Jay Weinberg replaced them in the band.
But out of respect for the former members, the masks they were given were less creative
than those of their bandmates.
Both masks appeared as corpse-like faces with a pentagram on the forehead.
After Chris Fehn's departure from Slipknot in 2019, he was quickly replaced by a drummer
who is believed to be Michael Pfaff from Shawn Crahan's side project, Dirty Little Rabbits,
says Alternative Press.
Yet the band attempted to keep his identity secret, so he was simply known as "Tortilla
Man" due to the look of the basic mask he was provided with.
Similar to the masks of Venturella and Weinberg, it has a zipper mouth and looks like decaying
skin, and resembles a tortilla.
In the most recent round of Slipknot masks, Alessandro Venturella and Jay Weinberg have
been allowed to wear masks that are entirely their own.
This is especially beneficial for the new bassist, whose mask pays tribute to Paul Gray's
with a pig look but also incorporates his own samurai design.
On the other hand, Corey Taylor's mask ended up being a huge letdown after all the hype
leading up to its release.
Renowned makeup artist and SFX master Tom Savini helped design and create the mask,
so there was a lot of built-up excitement and expectations for greatness.
Instead, the high hopes were quickly dashed once the mask was revealed, with many posters
on Reddit and other platforms ridiculing it for its comically large cheeks and chipmunk
look.
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