Slipknot’s Jim Root: “I’ve given my entire life to this band”

Slipknot guitarist Jim Root sat down for the JOE cameras moments before a blistering set at Dublin’s 3Arena.

As Corey Taylor himself noted a fistful of songs into Slipknot's triumphant return to Dublin earlier in the week - it's been a while. Back in Ireland for the first time since a show at Belfast's SSE Arena in February of 2016, Taylor and his masked crew delivered an incredible performance in support of their latest album We Are Not Your Kind, which hit number one here upon its release last August. Around that time, JOE caught up with M. Shawn 'Clown' Crahan for a thought-provoking conversation that you can read right here. This time, we were able to grab guitarist Jim Root for a face-to-face chat about an hour-and-a-half before he took to the stage in Dublin's 3Arena on Tuesday night. On the agenda in the video below; injuries, Slipknot's place in a world that continues to burn, a chance encounter with Sting and some wise words from his grandfather.

"It’s a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice. It’s almost like you have two alternate realities that you live in. You have your home world and then your touring world," Root says of donning his signature jester mask for the past 21 years.

"I’ve put off having a family because I knew that I was going to be gone on the road all the time so when I go home it’s just, like… me. 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 and Corey, they have children and wives and things like that and they go there and I’m sure for them that’s a weird transition to make because when we tour we don’t just tour for like a month or two and then we’re done," Root continued.

"We tour six, eight, maybe sometimes nine or 10 months of the year. That’s a lot of time being away from home and over 20 years, I’m starting to realise at the age that I’m at now that it’s like wow, I’ve kind of 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.

"My grandfather said to me - I didn’t finish high school and I never went to college or university I suppose you guys call it here - but I was talking to him on the phone one time and I was talking to him about some people in Paris and just the things that I’ve done and some of the travels I’ve done. He’s a southern guy from Arkansas and he’s like, ‘Well, James Donald… you got an education, after all, didn’t you?’

"And I was like, you know what, yeah, I kinda did."

Click the above video for the entire interview. Slipknot bring their Knotfest experience to the UK in August - tickets on sale here. That same month, they'll also embark on the first ever Slipknot cruise in the form of Knotfest at Sea. More information on that right here. Featured Image via Glen Bollard Photography