SLIPKNOT NEW CD “IOWA” DEBUTS #1 ON SOUNDSCAN’S HARD MUSIC AND ALTERNATIVE CHARTS AND #3 ON BILLBOARD’S TOP 200

FROM: MAGGIE WANG/KRISTINE ASHTON/MITCH SCHNEIDER

SLIPKNOT NEW CD “IOWA” DEBUTS
#1 on SOUNDSCAN’s HARD MUSIC AND ALTERNATIVE CHARTS
and #3 on BILLBOARD’s TOP 200
SELLING OVER 254,000 COPIES

Tightening their chokehold on the collective imagination of America’s youth, SLIPKNOT‘s much-anticipated sophomore CD IOWA (Roadrunner Records/Island/Def Jam) has debuted in the number one position on Soundscan’s Hard Music and Alternative charts as well landing at #3 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart selling well over 254,000 copies. IOWA was released around the world and found itself on the top of the UK and Canadian sales chart at #1 and the Australian charts at #2. Preceded weeks prior by the debut single “Left Behind”–which was #1 most added its first week at Active and Modern Rock with over 70 stations onboard–IOWA follows on the heels of SLIPKNOT‘s 1999 self-titled platinum debut CD which is approaching three million in global unit sales.

With critics enthusiastically declaring “there is every indication that SLIPKNOT are the future of music” (Bob Mack, Blender, August/September 2001), the group’s chart-topping debut is just their latest triumph. In a rare demonstration of enthusiasm for a musical guest, talk show host Conan O’Brien prefaced SLIPKNOT‘s Aug. 10, 2001 performance by stating: “Adjust your sets! Get a filter! Call the neighbors! This is gonna be big … SLIPKNOT!” Following the band’s wrathful performance, the host again displayed his zeal, proclaiming: “God help us all, it’s SLIPKNOT!”

The same day that IOWA was unleashed on the public, UK magazine Kerrang! bestowed their “Best Band In The World” honor on the group in a ceremony held in London. This Fall, fans nationwide can witness the SLIPKNOT spectacle when the band co-headlines the historic Pledge of Allegiance Tour, a six-week arena jaunt that launches September 14 in Chicago, IL. Filling out the bill are co-headliners System Of A Down and opening acts Rammstein, Mudvayne, No One and American Head Charge. Co-produced by No Name Management and No Name Recordings–the pioneering multimedia company that represents SLIPKNOT, Mudvayne, No One and American Head Charge– The Pledge of Allegiance Tour was named in honor of the fans that have fiercely expressed their support and loyalty to uncompromising heavy bands like the ones appearing on the tour. As one listen to IOWA attests, SLIPKNOT‘s music ranges from eerily thought-provoking to utterly terrifying. From songs like “Heretic Anthem,” “New Abortion” and “Left Behind” IOWA is a venomous cocktail of defiant lyrics, molten riffs and earthshaking percussion. Vocalist COREY TAYLOR (#8) commented in Metal Edge magazine (June 2001): “The first album was soft and fuzzy compared to this one.” In an interview with MTV Online (June 7, 2001), TAYLOR added: “It’s all about staying true to yourself. Our new album is the darkest, heaviest thing we’ve ever done, just because I’m so tired of seeing bands with a lot of potential go to shit because they taste a little success…We would rather go out and rage and be ourselves than sell ourselves out and not feel good about what we’re doing.”

As they proved recently on the 2001 Ozzfest tour, SLIPKNOT have raised the standard for rock theatricality and performing intensity. Featuring vocalist TAYLOR, DJ SID WILSON, drummer JOEY JORDISON, bassist PAUL GRAY, percussionist CHRIS FEHN, guitarist JAMES ROOT, sampler CRAIG JONES, percussionist SHAWN CRAHAN and guitarist MICK THOMSON (also known as 012345678 respectively), SLIPKNOT stormed out of Des Moines, Iowa to become “the most talked-about band” (Rolling Stone) of the 1999 Ozzfest.

Fans were similarly impressed by SLIPKNOT‘s primal fusion of buzz-bombing guitars, savage vocals and sampled noise. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune (June 12, 2001) wrote: “Looking like the victims of a nuclear accident in their mutant clown masks and industrial jumpsuits, Slipknot is an army of nine going to war, necks snapping in unison to their drums of doom. A wrecking crew of percussionists, a bed of electronic background noise humming like a lawnmower, vocals that proclaim distrust and hatred for everything that moves.” A similarly shell-shocked Lina Lecaro wrote in the Los Angeles Times (July 2, 2001): “It was the clamorous reverberations of head-shrouded SLIPKNOT that seemed to satisfy the noise-hungry audience most. Wearing matching black jumpsuits embellished with the band’s bizarre symbols and their signature creepy masks, the nine-piece group was as ominous visually as sonically.”

For more information on SLIPKNOT, check out www.peopleequalshit.com, www.slipknot1.com and www.roadrunnerrecords.com.

The Pledge Of Allegiance tour dates are as follows:

Slipknot, System of Down, Rammstein & Mudvayne are on all dates
No One will open 9/14-10/7
American Head Charge will open 10/10–10/31

Contacts:
Mitch Schneider/Kristine Ashton/Maggie Wang at MSO (818-380-0400 or
kashton@msopr.com and mwang@msopr.com)
Maria Gonzales at Roadrunner Records (310-858-2676 or
gonzales@roadrunnerrecords.com)

# # #