Image Courtesy of Roadrunner RecordsSlipknot's most recent album, .5: The Gray Chapter, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 -- the band's second straight number one appearance on the chart. But even with a top-selling album under his belt, Knot guitarist Jim Root is concerned about the general state of the music industry.
"You don't even know are we going to have a career," Root tells The Morning Call. "Are we going to be able to sell records? Are we going to have a label? I mean, labels are [shutting down] all the time. It takes like pop and rap to keep these labels going because those are the only people that are buying records anymore."
.5: The Gray Chapter sold 132,000 copies in its first week. 2008's All Hope is Gone, Slipknot's last number-one album, debuted with 240,000 sold.
"To have a No. 1 with 130,000 copies sold is, you know, I remember when we first started selling records, in order to have a No. 1, you'd have to sell at least a half a million if not more, for the rock side of things," Root says. "And now it's a fraction of that. So it kind of really shows you the state of where everything's at. I don't put too much into that anyway because we don't see a penny off of record sales and we never have. For us it's all about touring."
Slipknot has been touring quite extensively, from their Prepare for Hell tour with Korn to their own music festival, KnotFest. The band also will be headlining the 2015 Rock on the Range festival, held May 15-17.
Elsewhere in the interview, Root declines to identify the new Slipknot members, even though former a drum tech recently revealed them to be drummer Jay Weinberg and bassist Alessandro Venturella.
"It's a little bit of a confusing part of our lives," Root says. "I'm just going to say we have drummer X and bass player Y helping us out for the time being, and who knows what the future will hold?"
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