During the Kerrang! Awards, Corey Taylor was asked to single out the mask that was the hardest SLIPKNOT for him to wear, as well as the easiest one. He replied (as transcribed by Ultimate-Guitar.com): “Oh, god… They were all f*cking horrible. The hardest was my original with the dreads. Anything that’s full-headed – there’s just no getting out of it.
“At least when you’ve got some kind of a half-mask with some buckles and s**t, you don’t feel like you’re singing in a portaloo. But when it’s all [closed], you just put this big rubber hood on and there’s just no getting out of it. You might as well just stick your head in a… It’s no f*ckin’ bueno.
“So that one and the [2001’s] ‘Iowa’ one, because they were basically variations of the same thing. Those were the worst. Oh my god, the ‘Iowa’ one… The ‘Iowa’ one was foam rubber. The ones from the first album were thin, they were just f*cking rubber.
“But then we got a little money and we were like, ‘Wow, let’s f*cking make some cool s**t for the ‘Iowa’ run!’ And they used foam rubber, which was basically just like giant sponges. You could tell where we were at in the show by how big my head was getting, and how heavy this f*cking thing was.
“This is true story: we were in Kansas City and it was so wet and so heavy, that f*ckin’ thing flew off my head like a f*cking wine cork. And it was right in the middle of ‘Heretic Anthem.’ I’ve got black makeup on my face and stuff, and here it is, just sitting in front of me.
“There’s like 20,000 people and I just kind of went… *imitates putting the mask back on his head very slowly* And this is no joke – it was like putting on a rug that had been sitting out in the rain. *flips everyone of in the audience* So this is for you, okay? This is for all of you. This is what we go through for each and every one of you. And I love you for appreciating it.
“As far as the easiest one… Honestly, the [2004’s] ‘Vol. 3’ one was pretty easy. However, it was the hardest to sing out of. And they call it the football mask because it’s got stitches and s**t. And it’s like… *adopts dumbass voice* ‘It looks like a baseball!’ I’m like, ‘Shut your f*cking mouth.’ But because it wasn’t like symmetric, it was hard for me to get the mic up to my mouth, so it really changed the way that my vocals sounded.
“Which is why now when I do my mask I make sure that the rubber is flushed with my mouth so I can get the mic up to it. You know, mask problems.”
