JIM ROOT

It's the best thing, me leaving Stone Sour.

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

I've started to look at guitar playing from more than just a standpoint of using certain modes and techniques.

It's important to evolve without ever straying too far from your roots and what established you.

There are many different artforms that are just being lost because the whole digital revolution has homogenized everything, turned it all into Walmart.

I have a hard time with any sort of criticism; not because I have some huge ego or anything like that.

I'm constantly writing, maybe a little more than other guys in the band. I find it a very therapeutic thing to do on the road, where you're estranged from your hobbies.

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

You know, unfortunately I'm only one person. I can't really be in two places at one time and the amount of focus that I need to put into Slipknot makes it really difficult for me to be on tour with Stone Sour.

There's a lot for us to achieve and a lot more music to explore. I'm not saying we want to start doing experimental prog or something, where it turns into elevator music after a few records, but I don't think we've even scratched the surface.

All my racks are the same between Slipknot and Stone Sour. The only thing I'll do is switch out pedals in the GCX system. But it's the same heads, same wireless, same GCX.

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

It's easy to get a good amp that might not be the right amp for you. When you go to a music store, really turn the amps on and turn 'em up - hopefully they'll let you - and work through the sounds. This is an important decision, so take your time and be methodical.

You spend 20 years doing something and when you're not doing it, it's hard to figure out what it is you're made of. Am I the guitarist in Slipknot and that is it, or do I have more dimensions than that?

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

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.

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

I'm just a dumb guitar player, man.

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

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.

People need to go back and figure out why it is that Slipknot plays the way it is. That way, maybe, you know, maybe every band doesn't start sounding the same anymore.

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.

When we recorded 'Iowa,' we jammed, we went through the songs, we played as a band and we recorded as a band.

Yes, it is extremely lucky to be doing what I'm doing, and I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

When you've got a mask on, you're kind of invincible. It's almost like nobody can see you, and you can do what you want to do without consequences.