When I first heard that I'd be doing Slipknot (for an interview, fool), I wasn't too sure what the hell I ought to make of it. 

GASHAUS: How's it going guys? Are you psyched about coming to Singapore?

SLIPKNOT: Yeah of course, man! We've always wanted to perform in Singapore for a long time. We can't wait to get on stage and show Singapore what Slipknot is all about! This will be a show to remember.

GASHAUS: Erm, no offense, guys, but you sound kind of normal. I kinda thought you would sound, you know, more guttural.

SLIPKNOT: (deep guttural voice) We're normal people underneath all the uniforms and masks and stuff. We may look like freaks, but we sure as hell aren't.

GASHAUS: I don't think you look like freaks.

SLIPKNOT: You don't? We sure as hell think we do. But in a good freaky kind of way, not like a crazy mass murderer kind of way.

GASHAUS: Why did you start wearing your goth outfits?

SLIPKNOT: We did it because, after being degraded constantly for trying to play music or do something in Des Moines, it just came to be like we were an anonymous entity. No one gave a damn, no one cared, so we were never about our names or our faces; we're just about music.

So we just put it on and it started gettin' people, and it just started to turn into this big thing. The music's the most important, though. The coveralls and masks happened, and for some reason it worked, therefore we had to kind of continue with it. We got stuck with it.

GASHAUS: So what's with the numbers? Everyone of you has a number assigned to him right?

SLIPKNOT: We forget each other's names sometimes, so it's easier to have a number so you know who you're talking to. (loud laughter) I don't remember.

GASHAUS: How would you describe your music?

SLIPKNOT: Freaky. It has to go with the uniforms man. (beat) Our music is rough, violent, visceral. We're not mainstream metal. But we're not underground either. Definitely above ground.