Slipknot/Paul Gray

I guess it's no surprise why I've liked this band since 1999, re various emo posts throughout the years. I'm not afraid to admit. I was an angry teenager, now grown into an angry man child. Slipknot was always there as an outlet I guess. The primordial screams, the relentless barrage of drums and percussion and the mournful and at the same time angry banshee like wails of the guitar, it was the soundtrack to a, upon reflection, teenage era that was wasted on anger and sadness, sometimes untowardly excessive and self inflicting. For a band of 9 to be able to illicit such a strong emotional response in me, it's got to be fucking special. True, the feelings they evoke are usually negative but, like all music, it always helps you get through when someone sings(in this case scream sings, with excessive profanity over a wall of sometimes pure noise) about your problems. About your feelings. There is, for the 3-5 minutes, a brief connection with the music and its maker, and it is that connection from what we perceive with our senses, that makes it easier to get through the shit in life. That is why I still wear my slipknot t-shirts(other than the fact that they're surprisingly really comfortable).

It was with a great and sudden sadness that I received the news of Paul Gray/#2's death on the 24th of May. You would think that, in a band with 9 members, it would be hard to feel sad for the bassist. That's what makes them special. 9. Everyone had a role and they made music that appealed, and still appeals, to me. The death of Paul Gray felt like a distant friend who I quite liked had died. It shocked me, not to the core, but I could feel a small part of me die with the realization that the band that unknowingly helped me in my younger days had lost a vital member, almost like a brother. It matters not how he died. The fact is he is gone, and 9 became 8, and that saddens me. Like I said, this band is special to me.

Rest In Peace, Paul Dedrick Gray / #2. Thank you for the music.







yes you can click it. It's not that "noisy".