Mick Thomson is more than just Slipknot’s guitarist - with his steel-plate mask and towering frame, he’s one of the band’s most recognisable members. He’s racked up more years than anyone other than founder Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan, joining the Iowa band in 1996 just after they recorded their demo album, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.
In 2006, the usually interview-shy guitarist sat down with Metal Hammer for a look back over his life and career, from his earliest bands through to Slipknot’s mega-success. This is what the big man had to say.
Where and when were you born?
“November 3rd 1973 in Des Moines, Iowa.”
What were you like at school?
“At early grade school, going up to nine or 10-years-old, I guess I was really fun and played with all my friends all the time. Then after that I decided that I didn’t really like people that much and started to do my own thing and stick to myself a bit more.”
Were you the school misfit then?
“No, I played sports and shit, but I never really hung out with anybody. I went to a rich suburban school, but I wasn’t a rich kid, so that had a whole host of bullshit problems that I I had to deal with. It wasn’t much fun and I didn’t like it. I wouldn’t do it again! But I think it’s funny as fuck though when I bump into somebody back home now who has some shit job. You’re in the mall and use the public bathroom and he’s plunging the toilets and you’re like, ‘Oh hey asshole, weren’t you rich and cool? Here’s my card!’ It’s the ultimate revenge!”
What was the first record you ever bought?
‘The first one I ever took money and got, that my parents didn’t get for me, was Led Zeppelin on cassette when I was about 11. But when I was a kid I got some singles. Oh Jesus! I had The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats! Just funny shit, but there was actually decent pop on the radio at that point.”
Do you remember the first time you performed in front of anyone?
“The first time I performed in front of anyone was at a battle of the bands in my high school when I was 16. It was just me and a couple of people and we never even had a singer until that day! I’ve got a videotape of it and it was funny! I had a blond mullet with a blank tank top and a big zit on my chest that is clearly visible. I was sixteen, leave me alone! We played In My Darkest Hour by Megadeth, Four Horsemen, Paranoid, Fade To Black and Last Caress. But because we never had a singer we were writing the words out for him in the car before the show and I was thinking, ‘oh man, we’re dead! We’re gonna look like douchebags!’”
And did you?
“Oh fuckin’ A! But at the same time we had pits and at this time, like 1989 or something, there just weren’t pits, especially not in high school in West Des Moines! So that was cool and looking back on it, it was a great experience.”
Is that what gave you the bug to join a proper band?
“No. Actually I never wanted to be in a band, I just liked playing music. I wasn’t naturally a showman and if I didn’t have my mask on I wouldn’t be at the front of the stage. I don’t naturally like attention, which is kind of ironic considering what I do for a living, but I don’t really make a very good rock star. There was a thrill there, but at the same time a kind of embarrassment. But it’s a huge learning experience and that’s what I used to tell my guitar students; there’s only so much you can do by playing in a bedroom all by yourself and even if the other people totally stink then you’re learning something by interacting with other musicians. Even if it’s a bar where only four people are at, go do it just for the experience! You will always grow from it, it’s all steps!”
Do you enjoy the anonymity of being a masked member of Slipknot?
“I get fucking picked out all the time. I mean, now I guess long hair is sort of cool again, but five years ago a taller guy with long hair... and the tattoos give it away. Fans always know! I mean, I walked in here earlier with my hair tied back and sunglasses and I could’ve been the janitor! I don’t really like attention. I mean, sometimes it’s nice and it can certainly make you feel good, but it’s kinda weird. It really depends; sometimes it’ll freak you out and sometimes it’ll make you feel really good. It’s hit and miss.”
What were your aspirations when you first started playing guitar?
“Well I played a couple of shows with some guys I went to high school with, which was kinda weird because I was staring at the floor the whole time I was playing, and then I ended up meeting Paul [Gray, bassist] when I was about 20. But I had no expectations whatsoever. This is part of me hardening up from being nice as a little kid to being… I wouldn’t necessarily say bitter, but more cynical with a negative view of the world. I hated having my hopes up and then having them dashed. I fucking don’t like that at all, so I developed an easy way to go through life where you’re kind of dumb and you don’t care and you try not to be too positive. As soon as you’re positive you get kicked in the fucking teeth and you get bummed out. If I have no expectations then I’m never let down. My thing is that every day is different and let’s just see where things go. I mean, you try to guide things in a good direction, but I would never think that I’d be able to achieve that because then I’d fail.”
Wasn’t it weird to have that success happen so quickly then?
“Yeah, but I don’t really think we appreciate what we do at all. And by that I mean that it’s not easy to step outside what you’re seeing and dealing with day to day and see it in a bigger perspective. I mean, I didn’t sleep last night, I walked around and found some food before I came up here and I’ve got so many people I’m trying to get into the show, there’s so many different things to deal with. But in time off you get to sit back and go, ‘Woah! Do you realise some of the major shit you did in the last couple of months?’ Sometimes I don’t allow myself to have too much fun or feel too good about what I’m doing. It’s kinda weird, but I know that one day I’m gonna be able to look back and be really happy. I mean, mostly it keeps you grounded if you really don’t like yourself so much.”
Where do you think that comes from?
“All of life’s experiences leading up to wherever you happen to be. Every day whatever happens to you is moulding what you become. There’s just a lot of things that get imprinted into your mind when you’re young and kind of control you for the rest of it. I know that’s the case with me: I didn’t have the happiest childhood and I’m not crying about it, but I know that it affects my ability to feel things that other people would be feeling in the same situation.”
But if it wasn’t for all that bad shit, you probably wouldn’t be doing what you’re doing now.
“That’s exactly right and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. No matter what was ever said or done, it was always negative fuel and negative reinforcement that always worked better for me. If I beat myself up over something then I would have to be better. If I couldn’t do something as well as I wanted to, I had to do whatever until I could, otherwise I suck! Self-loathing is a great motivator. You basically have to always think you suck.”
But how is that self- destructive exactly?
“It’s very self-destructive. My thing is that I’ll just go away, just disappear and don’t answer the phone or talk to anybody, don’t let anybody into my house, and just sit around being miserable and angry. That’s hurt me a lot when there’s so much more I could be doing. I get offers all the time to do guest things on records and I would love to so much, but when I get home and start getting bummed out… I mean, I was talking to Zakk Wylde and Dimebag about doing a record, but then we get off the road after doing Iowa and there’s all sorts of bullshit going on, industry shit that makes you sick, and I just went away. When the phone rings and it’s Zakk Wylde and you don’t answer it! Talk about regret! It would have been an honour to work with those guys, but there was too much shit at the same time and I just shut down.”
Did you ever go the route of drink and drugs to get through that?
“No. If there’s people around and I’m dead sober I’ll get irritated and go to the bus, but gimme a couple of drinks and I don’t care. The first 15 shows on this tour there wasn’t a night when I didn’t have at least a couple of mixed drinks, sometimes lots and lots. I probably shouldn’t do that every day, so I back off and have a couple of nights off, but those nights off suck when everyone else is raging! Everyone’s on the bus yelling and spitting and you’re sitting there going, ‘if you repeat yourself one more time dude…’”
Do you channel all that into your music?
“Oh definitely. I mean, check out the live show! I’m never happy, but it helps me out. And that’s what sucks about being on the road: now we do two hours, but it used to be 23 hours of bullshit, but that hour you’re on stage more than makes up for it. But God, it’s tedious for the rest of the day. Most of the time you’re just sitting around with your thumb up your ass.”
Don’t the fans give you a lift too?
“Oh yeah, they’re fucking nuts! And sometimes you look out and you can see it in someone’s eyes. Obviously there’s thousands of other people, but that one person can turn the day around. And every day there’s something different, something you haven’t seen before. There was this girl in Japan dressed up in a silk nurse’s outfit with Slipknot written all over it in her own blood. She’d just laid her arms open with a fucking razor and was writing all over herself. She looked very weak from the blood loss and was completely fucking insane, but I hadn’t seen that one before! I was like, ‘can I get a picture with you?’”
Do they ever freak you out?
“Yeah. I’m usually separated in the bus or the dressing room, but sometimes people get a little too pushy and too close. You see a certain look in their eye and you’re thinking they might have a dirty needle in their pocket or something. That’s pretty rare though. But we get people who just walk up on the bus! You can get your head blown off doing that!”
Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 141, June 2005
