In February this year, Corey Taylor revealed he was working with horror special effects ace Tom Savini on his new Slipknot mask.
The finished product was introduced to the world last month when Slipknot unleashed their video for Unsainted – and Savini has spoken about how the pair came together to create Taylor’s new look.
He tells Revolver: “It's amazing. I was on a plane with my wife looking at old photographs, and there's a picture of her with Corey in 2014. I think it was my assistant, Jason Baker, who talked to him backstage at a show and Corey mentioned needing a mask.
“I guess my assistant said like, ‘Hey, I work for Tom Savini,’ and the next thing you know Corey Taylor is in my house playing with my cats, then we made a cast of him. Then we did the mask, and the mask has gone crazy!”
The mask has drawn criticism from some fans, something which Savini shrugs off.
He says: “There was a lot of negative response, initially. I just got a copy of Kerrang with Corey talking about the man behind the mask – about me, but the fans were like, ‘Savini? Oh shit, my sister could have done better than that.’
“Someone even fastened a milk carton to their face and posted a side-by-side and said, ‘Nailed it!’ Regardless, the mask looks excellent.”
Savini adds: “You know, he puts the makeup on underneath it, the hood, everything. It's a nice mask, but he sells it. He's the one who makes it look the way it looks.”
Slipknot are currently on tour across Europe and will headline this weekend’s Download UK. The band will release their new album We Are Not Your Kind on August 9.
Slipknot: We Are Not Your Kind
1. Insert Coin
2. Unsainted
3. Birth Of The Cruel
4. Death Because Of Death
5. Nero Forte
6. Critical Darling
7. Liar’s Funeral
8. Red Flag
9. What’s Next
10. Spiders
11. Orphan
12. My Pain
13. Not Long For This World
14. Solway Firth
