Jim Root Quotes

For Slipknot, I’d say drumming is only 50 or 60 percent of the job. The rest of it is who you are and what your personality is.

I can never look at anything I do subjectively – whether it’s a Stone Sour record or a Slipknot record, I can never really have my own opinion of it, ‘cos in my opinion it’s all crap.

With all the different guys in the band and all the different ideas of what’s what, it’s hard to get everybody on the same page sometimes. We are a very tight brotherhood, but we never know what we’re going to do.

I don’t like to try to put, like, ‘Let’s do this type of record,’ ’cause it never turns out that way anyways.

We’re still evolving as a band. I think that’s really important for a band to do, especially after being around for so many years.

In my opinion, I would still like to go into a studio – because I love the environment of being in a studio – and record a great album beginning to end, but then maybe not release it as an album. Maybe put singles out there, put songs out there – either give some away or release some the traditional way.

I plan for the best and expect the worst.

I’ll never be able to listen to anything we’ve done like someone who’s just picked it up for the first time.

I’m definitely a lot more reserved without the mask on. And with the mask on, all those inhibitions kinda go out the window. I can act like Keith Richards, I guess!

My approach in 1999 was basically to play what I had, that was all I could do. At the time I was broke. I think I only had one guitar, a flametop green Jackson and I had these DC-10 Mesa Boogie heads. I think I had a cheap Shure wireless.

Rick Rubin was able to do things that Dave Fortman could never do. I’m not trying to take anything away from Dave Fortman as a producer. He’s extremely talented. He wasn’t able to get nine people together on the same page and, to me, that’s the most important thing in making a Slipknot record.

Every time we go into the studio and use a different engineer or producer I try to look, listen and learn their approach. That has helped with the gear I look for to use live and in the studio.

The thing that scares me about the way the music industry has changed so much is that I’m afraid that the record, the album, will disappear, and it’ll go back to the way it was in the ’50s where everything is single-based.

There’s always something to rage about, right?

I’m always living at least a year ahead of where I’m really at, and that can really lead you to some negative thoughts and some bad vibes.

You always have to be on top of your game, because you never know what is going to happen.

I was spreading myself too thin. That was making me unhappy and that, in turn, was making the rest of Stone Sour unhappy.

Sometimes, hindsight is 20/20. Sometimes it takes another situation to kind of make you look back at a different situation and really see how good you had it, you know?

As you’re touring there are so many layers to a live show, it has always been important for me to have a guitar that I can use live and in the studio.

We’re closer friends in Stone Sour than I am with the guys in Slipknot and that makes life a lot easier. I’m not trying to take anything away from Slipknot.

One of the downfalls of not being in Stone Sour was I sat at home for two and a half years, and I hadn’t ever done that since we started touring in 1999. I was really nervous and freaked out.

We’re just kind of dark as humans, generally.

Some of the guys in Stone Sour, I think they just want to be a radio band and write strictly for radio and try to be more of a poppy rock band. And that’s not really what I’m into.

The future of Slipknot is always in doubt. I always prepare for each album as if it’s gonna be the last.

Well, basically Corey and I were in Stone Sour before we joined Slipknot.

My first real real guitar I had was a Charvel, model 1 and that was when I was 15, I think, I got that.

There is a solo on ‘Spiders,’ albeit a kind of a non-traditional solo, but that’s what I love.

Music is like wine, it ages beautifully – and if you spend enough time you can just sit there and listen to it entirely differently.

It’s always been about the live show for us. We’re having Halloween onstage every night.

I love ‘Mad Max’ and ‘The Road Warrior,’ in particular – those movies are very close to my soul, you know what I mean?!

No, I would never in a million years compare anything we’ve done to anything we’ve previously done. I don’t believe in it – I think it’s bad.

Finding the right amp can be a process, especially when you’re young and just starting out. When I was a kid, I had to rely on whatever I got for Christmas. Then my mom got me a Peavey VTM 120. I used that for a few years.

I use Pro Tools version 9 LE at home and I take that on the road with me.

You don’t even know are we going to have a career? Are we going to be able to sell records? Are we going to have a label?

The masks, for us, are more of a way to present ourselves live, you know?

In a nine-piece-band is one guy gonna call up eight guys and have a 45-minute discussion about every decision? No. So things are a lot more democratic in Stone Sour. Plus, we’re closer and it’s a lot easier to communicate. In Slipknot that’s the big problem – communication.

It became apparent to me near the end of the album cycle for ‘House Of Gold & Bones’ that it had basically run its course. But the band kept pushing for more dates, and I was just, like, ‘It’s time to stop!’

Slipknot’s the kind of band you need to step away from and kind of take a break from and let it heal, so to speak.

It’s probably a lot cooler than wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Once I put on the mask, I don’t even realize that it’s there. They’re molded off of our faces, so they fit really well.

For one reason or another, a lot of guys wind up with a guitar that isn’t really right for them.

You know, ‘Mad Max’ and ‘The Road Warrior’ was part of my childhood, and that’s why I’m so close to it. I remember seeing those movies at a drive-in theater with my parents when I was very young.

I don’t seek out knowledge when it comes to guitar playing; I like to let it happen naturally.

I don’t consciously think of any certain direction when I’m writing. I only try not to be repetitive or redundant.

I wanna buy vinyl and I want to listen to records on it. I want to put on ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ in the dining room while I’m eating pasta or whatever. You know what I mean.

As a person, I think you’re always kind of searching for something or going through a hardship, whether it’s your parents splitting up or anything like that. I mean, my parents stuck together, for whatever reason, until I was about 23, and then they decided to call it quits.

A&E eggnog, there’s nothing like it anywhere on Earth. It’s the best liquid ever made.

Sometimes I can be a little bit I don’t know, stubborn or something. Maybe to a fault.

I like to keep my world positive. There’s enough negativity kicking around.

I can’t be on tour constantly if I really want to be creative.

I was awkward in school. I didn’t really fit in with any kind of crowd in school. I didn’t have a lot of friends. But the friends I had were very close friends.