I’m a very lucky guy. I get to write music that I love, and lo and behold, people seem to really like it. I know how fortunate I am.
When I’m working on a Slipknot song, it’s like a switch flips in my head. I can go there easily – it doesn’t take a lot of soul searching – and it’s a dark, almost sinister place. Stone Sour is more the way I’ve always written. It’s a different tone.
The fact that the public are mesmerised by Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and all these miserable people makes me laugh because those celebrities are more miserable than the people reading about them for escapism.
The first year I was sober was probably the worst year of my life. My immune system was screwed. I completely isolated myself. I was weak all the time. I didn’t know who I was.
A song is only as strong as its foundation, and when it comes so naturally in any setting, those are the songs that will hopefully outlive you, maybe even outlive the next generation of You.
The biggest difference between me and other artists out there is that they’ll put anything out to sell a record or sell a ticket.
I’m the guy that gets up at three in the morning to jot down an entire sheet of lyrics for something that won’t be recorded for six months. You have to get it down when you can, because thoughts are fluid.
I will always make music with Stone Sour. Stone Sour will always be here.
Playing live is a lost art, and you don’t see a lot of bands that go out and play the way the older bands do. It’s a celebration, and a lot of people treat it like a commercial or a distraction.
I’m not gonna do the same, tired, standard ‘I was born in a log cabin’ kind of book. There’s so much more I want to do.
As iconic a band as Metallica has become, I think sometimes we forget just how raw they were in the beginning of their career, and to a 15-year-old kid like me, it was just shattering. I mean, it was beyond.
My biggest influences were 1980s punk and metal. Metallica were my biggest influence because they were good at everything – riffs, energy – but with such an ear for melody, it was hard not to get pulled into it and become a fanatic.
To me, it makes more sense to write different songs and to play different kinds of music and to find your own voice. But no matter what, get out and play for people. Get out and learn, and do everything that you can, you know?
I’m a Gibson guy. I play anything from Hummingbirds to J200s.
Too many people chase dreams that they don’t understand. Too many people try to go for things that they’d like to do, but they’re not realistic enough to know they don’t have the talent.
The people I respect the least are the ones that take themselves way too seriously.
I’ve got to be honest, and I’m not just saying this because the majority of you reading this live there, but I love the United Kingdom. I just flat-out love it.
I think of how and where all the horrible people I’ve come across in my life ended up, and I smile.
You ever tasted a smell? It’s a very strange feeling. I’ve done it quite a few times and it still freaks me out.
People ask me all the time what or who my influences are. To be honest, it would take a decent set of encyclopedias to get them all down. I am here today to let the world know my greatest influence, my secret ingredient, really. What inspires me? That’s simple: COFFEE.