“The first song that I heard from the debut was Liberate. Sorry, guys, but to be honest I was downloading something off [file-sharing software] LimeWire and I ended up with that song on my CD. I was like, ‘Oh, my God! This is sick, I’ve never heard anything like that before.’ It had a lot of rhythmic stuff with a kind of industrial vibe, and a lot of elements I’d never heard as anew kid getting into metal. I was listening to what was on the radio, which was a lot of Linkin Park and Disturbed. Slipknot were definitely an anomaly because they were so heavy, but there was something about them that was still really accessible.
“They were the first really heavy band that I became an avid fan of, where Iknew all the songs. I went to a private Christian school and I have vivid memories of playing their videos on the computer. The librarian was horrified and I was like, ‘This is the coolest thing ever!’ There was such a mystery and such angst about them, and it wasn’t all just about the music.