Slipknot | Blender Magazine | 06.15.01
What a crazy—but totally fun—shoot in Joliet, Illinois. Honestly, it was my first and only time shooting there. This was one of my earliest assignments for Blender Magazine, the new publication from the crew behind Maxim and Stuff. I was in New York when they asked if I wanted to fly out and shoot a band called Slipknot. I said yes… but truthfully, I had no idea who they were or what they were about.
I met them at the venue with my assistant. They rolled in for soundcheck, but I had to wait while they got into full costume and slipped into that Slipknot mindset. We did some straightforward band shots, but what I loved most were the individual portraits. Even though I didn’t know their music, they were visually intense and fascinating to shoot.
Afterward, the guys asked if I wanted to stay for the show. We had time to kill, so why not? My assistant and I camped out at the soundboard. The lights went down, the band hit the stage—and my first thought was: WTF is this?! The crowd was losing their minds. Absolute chaos. Slipknot tore through song after song with a level of energy I’d never seen before. My assistant thought it was amazing. Me? Let’s just say… not my kind of music.
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