In a new interview with Dave Hanratty of Ireland’s Joe, SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root spoke about the difficulties of spending so much time on the road, especially when he is trying to take the necessary steps to improve his health.
He said: “Touring is hard, man. It’s hard to find good food to eat. It’s hard to get out and actually do stuff and be active. ‘Cause you’re so worn out from all the traveling, it’s, like, ‘Do I really wanna try to go jogging today?’ ‘No.’ ‘I can just flip on my Xbox and play Call Of Duty instead.’
“It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of sacrifice,” Jim continued. “And recently, I’ve had to try to explain that to some people. It’s, like, the real work starts when you get a record deal and you get out there and you start doing things and you start putting records out.
“You have to be thinking about your next record while you’re working on the record you’re working on. You always have to be a step ahead of yourself. And there’s always something happening. And there’s travel. It’s hard on relationships — not just personal relationships, but with family, friends. Missing your home. It’s almost like you have two alternate realities that you live in — you have your home world and then your touring world.
“I’ve put off having a family, ’cause I knew that I was gonna be gone on the road all the time, so when I go home, it’s just, like, me. You know what I mean? So that’s a hard thing for me to wrap my brain around, and it’s a little bit difficult sometimes. Some of the other guys — Clown [Shawn Crahan, percussion] and Corey [Taylor, vocals] — they have children and wives and things like that. And I’m sure for them, it’s a weird transition to make. ‘Cause when we tour, we don’t just tour for a month or two and then we’re done for the year.
“We tour six, eight, maybe sometimes nine or ten months a year, and that’s a lot of time being away from home,” he added. “And over twenty years, I’m starting to realize, at the age that I’m at now, that it’s, like, wow, I kind of have given my entire life to this band — willingly. I don’t regret it. And I wouldn’t change a second of it. I’ve learned so much.”
SLIPKNOT released their sixth studio album, We Are Not Your Kind, on August 9 via Roadrunner Records. Album was once again recorded at a Los Angeles studio with producer Greg Fidelman, who engineered and mixed SLIPKNOT‘s 2004 album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) and helmed 2014’s .5: The Gray Chapter.
