Jim Root has revealed that he and Corey Taylor played bass on Slipknot’s latest album.
The band began work on .5: The Gray Chapter around four years after the death of bassist Paul Gray after losing his battle with addiction.
Before they had appointed a full-time replacement, Root and Taylor recorded bass on demo tracks, with some of their work surviving in the album’s final mix.
Root tells MusicRadar: “I played bass on six, maybe seven tracks. I can’t even remember which. I’d have to sit down with the guy who played bass on the other tracks to find out.
“Some of the lines were taken from the demo versions that I recorded in my garage, because they were moody, and had a unique vibe that was too hard to recreate. Goodbye uses the full bass line that Corey recorded for his demo.
“I was prepared to do it if it had to be done, but I didn’t want to do it. Both the band members and, according to management, our fans, wanted to see somebody in there.
“No one will ever replace Paul, and Paul will always be a part of what we’re doing. There was a speck of me that out of respect for Paul didn’t want somebody new to play everything.
“But at the same time, if we’re moving on in this way, why hold on to things? I also didn’t want to play bass because of the workload. I was already writing most of the songs, so that’s a lot of playing, arranging and layering just for guitar.”§
.5: The Gray Chapter was released last October and went to number one in America and Canada, and reached number two in the UK. The band are on tour in the UK this month with support from Korn and King 810.
SLIPKNOT/KORN/KING 810 2015 UK AND IRELAND TOUR DATES
Jan 14: Dublin 3Arena
Jan 16: Sheffield Motorpoint Arena
Jan 18: Glasgow SSE Hydro
Jan 19: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Jan 20: Manchester Arena
Jan 22: Liverpool Echo Arena
Jan 23: London Wembley SSE Arena
Jan 24: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
Jan 26: Nottingham Capital FM Arena
Jan 27: Birmingham Barclaycard Arena
