Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler says he was a fan of Slipknot and the ’90s nu-metal explosion
Black Sabbath‘s Geezer Butler has spoken about his appreciation for Slipknot and the nu-metal explosion in the 1990s – see what the legendary bassist had to say below.
Speaking to Knotfest, the Black Sabbath co-founder shared that he found the ’90s wave of nu-metal interesting, and refreshing. Out of the explosion of nu-metal were bands like Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Korn and more.
“I was really into metal back then, and it was influencing the stuff I was writing as well. It was amazing to see what new bands were coming out then. And each one had a different version of metal, if you want to call it metal. Different versions, instead of just going on and screaming into the microphone and everything sounding the same. Really good, different bands coming out. Slipknot being one of them, obviously. It was great.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Butler cited Fear Factory as another band he was intrigued by, and noted that they had influenced some of the material he was writing at the time: “I really liked Fear Factory at the time and I’d been writing all this stuff that was too heavy for Sabbath or Ozzy. Pedro [Howse, guitarist], my nephew, had this band called Crazy Angel, who were like an ultra-thrash band. So when me and him got writing together it came out ultra-heavy, and I wasn’t restricted to what lyrics I was going to write about. A lot of it is about science fiction – a bit like what’s going on now with the AI stuff and everything.”
Earlier this week, Butler revealed that that, similarly to Ozzy Osbourne, the Beatles were a pivotal band for him. Both Butler and Tony Iommi have previously admitted they don’t listen to modern heavy metal, with Butler again mentioning his preference of the Beatles – and Iommi saying: “I tend to listen to the more older stuff really. More the classic stuff than the newer stuff because I relate to that more.”
Last month, six weeks after the surprise announcement that Slipknot had written ‘Long May You Die’, their first track with new drummer Eloy Casagrande, Crahan teased that the iconic metal band will release new music “really soon”.
Speaking to Revolver, the musician said: “Well, one thing I can say is this: There’s always going to be new Slipknot music. But we’ve also said that there is a filter, and we are the filter, and that filter must go through everyone.
“And when I was telling you that we’re doing a lot better communicating, now apply that to communicating about music. I can say that there’s gonna be music sooner than you can imagine, delivered to you in a way you can’t imagine.”
Elsewhere, Crahan also spoke with NME at the end of last year and opened up about the lost Slipknot album ‘Look Outside Your Window’ and when it will possibly be released.
Though the album was supposed to drop during Slipknot’s We Are Not Your Kind tour, it was delayed until 2021 due to the pandemic. Since then, frontman Corey Taylor has teased that the record will be due sometime this year.
“The art’s been done. It’s been mixed. It’s been mastered. It is definitely coming out in 2024 and it’s such a great album. Corey is my favourite singer ever, and you’ll never hear him sing in the same way as on this album, so it’s been worth holding it back. It’s such a different, timeless project,” Crahan said.
The masked band will embark on their ‘Here Comes The Pain’ 25th anniversary tour in North America this summer, with Knocked Loose and more appearing as special guests at the shows. Find any remaining tickets here.
A run of European and UK gigs will follow in December, including two performances at The O2 in London. You can see Slipknot’s 2024 UK dates below and find any remaining tickets here.
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Surej Singh
NME
