PRODUCTION PROFILE: Slipknot
Opposite: Slipknot were back in the UK with a whole new spectacle for their European fans; Vocalist Corey Taylor had a flick through TPi’s January edition. Below: Mick Thomson and his devilish mask; Production Manager Jordan Coopersmith brought order to the Slipknot chaos; Production Assistant Marvin Torres came along for the ride with Coopersmith; Taylor, fully masked-up and ready to terrorise his fans.
knew a fair few of the Slipknot crew, so when the job was presented to me it made it really appealing. There were also a few openings on the crew that meant that I could bring in some people I was familiar working with. So from the start it has been a very comfortable working environment.” One such addition included Coopersmith’s Production Assistant Marvin Torres, who has worked with Coopersmith for some time. “I knew it was going to be a little crazy on tour with Slipknot and I can safely say there has never been a dull moment!” he stated. NO PYRO BUT STILL GOT THE FIRE First thing on the agenda to discuss with Coopersmith was the change in set design. Known for their incredibly ferocious live shows, Slipknot’s usual antics of jumping off ramps and hanging from percussion kits have more often than not gone hand-in-hand with a healthy dose of pyrotechnics. However on this tour, the band’s show has undergone a transformation, swapping out fire for a new video element. “The changes to the show started to be discussed around September last year when I got given the dates for this tour,” explained Coopersmith. “As the band had already brought
the tour through the UK and Europe, it was decided that they would try something new on this run.” Coopersmith also explained their hand was somewhat forced as some of the venues they were due to play are not ‘propane friendly’; an issue for the traditional Slipknot show. “We had a meeting with all the guys in early December while at Knotfest in Mexico and discussed the idea of not carrying pyro to give a fresh show to return customers.” Enter Production Designer, Trevor Ahlstrand of Ahlstrand Productions. With the band’s production wanting to make such dramatic changes, Ahlstrand was brought back in to add his creative touch to the new look. Coopersmith explained: “Prior to this point we had not had to bring Trevor back in as any changes we had to make over the last year were done by our Lighting Director, Gregory Kocurek.” The PM admited that he was more than a bit nervous about making so many changes in such a short space of time. “It was a little frightening. We were making all these decisions around the holidays when a lot of places were closed and we had to be in the rehearsal facility in Espoo, Finland by January. But Trevor really killed it!” According to Coopersmith, video was always
something the band had wanted to experiment with, however it had never worked out either aesthetically or financially. Ahlstrand talked about how the indoctrination of video took place. “With the last tour I worked on a lot of asymmetrical lighting. However, with the video wall it had to be the main focus and we worked around that.” One member of the band who was particularly interested in the introduction of video elements was Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan. The percussionist and co-founder of the band has often been cited as one of the dominant creative forces in the group, directing many of Slipknot’s music videos as well as various side projects such as his photographic book The Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey. “Clown was definitely involved in the creation of video content,” stated Ahlstrand. “One of the key things that he brought to the table was his huge selection of his own art and photos as well as some short video clips. We took a lot of that content and manipulated and blended it, which worked out really well. Along with some of Clown’s pieces we added some stock content, which was also manipulated. We also used short clips from some of the band’s music videos for certain songs.” He explained 75