Anders Colsefni
Name: Andrew Rouw (Anders Colsefni)
ex-vocalist and custom percussionist
Andy was replaced by Corey Taylor and Gregory Welts
Quote: “Only one of us walks away”
Co- founded Slipknot along with Shawn Crahan, Anders was the original vocalist for Slipknot. He has underseen the recording of Slipknot’s EP Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. Slipknot thought that in order to make the next transition to find a major label they needed a more nice radio voice rather than the deep Max Calvera like grunt of Anders and so they brought in Corey Taylor. The band wanted Anders to do back up vocals and handle percussion, but he got bored of that idea and publicly quit before performing Heartache and a Pair of Scissors (Scissors) for the last time. After Slipknot, Anders formed Painface, and started where MFKR left off. Shortly, Painface fell through as well.But after a while Painface became On A Pale Horse,which is a great band.It contains Josh (ex-#4 of Slipknot) on guitar.Anders has now retired from all music.But he did a good job in his career.
Anders’ first job was a paper route. After that, his first “real” job was McDonald’s.
There are not many people who know this, but Anders’s real name is “Andrew Rouw” – Anders Colsefni was a pseudonym (made-up).
Nickname: Corn Wallace (originally created by Joey as a clawed monster in one of his pictures, Anders took the name on).
Anders wrote the original lyrics for the song Slipknot – now called (sic)
Born: 1972 – Des Moines
Instrument: Vocals/Growls – Auxiliary percussion
Mask: Electrical tape on face, tribal war paint on flesh, fur skin skirt – “The skirt is a simple contrast with the rest of myself. It’s odd-looking on me. The fur helps me keep in touch with the Wild. The electrical tape is also simply an odd-looking thing. I don’t wear that stuff very often. Only on very special occasions. That was my whole Slipknot get-up. I didn’t wear an actual mask. The sticky tape was inspired by a section from the secret track within MFKR, Dogfish Rising where Shawn rips of tape from his face to create a noise.”
Bands:
First band- 1989- 1991: VeXX
Josh from Slipknot was guitarist/singer Paul from Slipknot was bassist
Anders was the drummer
Second band- 1991- 1993: Inveigh Catharsis
Same line-up as above
Third band- 1993- 1995: Body Pit
Mick – guitar (Slipknot)
Donnie Steele (original Slipknot guitarist)
Danny Spain – drums (Deadfront)
Paul – Bass (Slipknot)
Anders – vocals
Fourth Band- 1995- 1997: Slipknot
(Original Line-up)
Anders – vocals
Paul – bass
Shawn- drums
Donnie S. – guitars
Josh – guitars
Joey Jordison – drums
Joshua Brainard ex #4
Name: Joshua (Josh) Brainard
ex-guitarist and back-up vocalist
Josh was replaced by Jim Root
Nickname: Gnar – Josh used to have a nervous habit of gnawing on his knuckles, so they called him Gnar. He still has a nervous habit of gnawing on his knuckles, told by his girlfriend Nikki: He still chews on his knuckles…it’s so gross!!!! He tries to cover them up with bandaids, but nothing helps…
Josh lives in Des Moines IOWA, with his girlfriend. He is currently in a band called On A Pale Horse, he joined it after Painface broke up. Josh plays guitar and handles back-up vocals for On A Pale Horse.
Born: August 6th,1974
Mask: Originally he wore a black Balaclava but it kept changing and finally ended up becoming a black bondage mask.
Corey about Josh: “He is one of the best guys I have ever met”
Bands:
First band- 1989- 1991: VeXX
Josh from Slipknot was guitarist/singer
Paul from Slipknot was bassist
Anders was drummer
Second band- 1991- 1993: Inveigh Catharsis
Same line-up as above – Josh met Joey through Inveigh Catharsis and came to see Modifidious play a gig. As a result of this Josh left and joined Joey’s band, Modifidious.
Third band- 1993-1995: Modifidious
Craig: Guitar (Slipknot)
Josh Brainard Vocals + Guitar (original Slipknot guitarist)
Joey Jordison: Drums (Slipknot,Deadfront)
Fourth Band- 1995- 1998: Slipknot
(Original Line-up)
Anders: Vocals
Paul: Bass
Shawn: Drums
Donnie S.: Guitars
Josh Brainard: Guitars
Donald Steele
ex-guitarist
Donnie was replaced by Mick Thomson
Donnie was the original guitarist for Slipknot. Even before Josh. He recorded on ALL of the songs on the CD mfkr. He quit the band for personal reasons (he found God, and felt there was a conflict) while Slipknot were still finishing up the mixing. Mick wasn’t even on the album, though his pic is in there.
Donnie Steele: “As far as Killpact is concerned, this is a band that I started with the drummer from Body Pit, Ernie McGinn. We started this band in the summer of 2001 with some songs I’d recorded in my home studio. As far as our sound, this band has more in common with Body Pit. It’s a mixture of death metal, 80′s thrash, and shred with a strong emphasis on hooks. The main difference between this and the original Body Pit are the songs are a bit shorter and the arrangements are much more straight forward. I think most of the technical aspects are still intact but the emphasis is more on strong songs than on technique and flash. I have a lot of great memories working with Slipknot early on. As far as what I might have brought to MFKR is probably a lot of diversity. I’ve studied a lot of different styles of music. From classical, and jazz, straight through to death metal. Classical and Metal being my 2 favorite styles. As far as the original members of Slipknot (and Bodypit). We’re all still great friends. We all bump into each other and hang out on a pretty regular basis. Particularly Paul, Mick, Josh (who I bump into constantly), Craig, and Cory Tarr(Body Pit). I don’t bump into Joey alot but when I do I always enjoy talking with him, and I don’t see Shawn too much at all but it’s been cool talking to him when I do. Maybe we’ll bump into each other a bit more in the future. I don’t disclose much about my involvement with the early SK. Just because I don’t live in the past. As far as rumors…….don’t believe everything you read. 99% of what you read online about SK is false or incomplete. Regardless of the source. Something to think about….., Me and Mick have actually had conversations about this. I don’t spend much time looking back though……I stay busy with what lies ahead. I’m much more concerened with where I’m going then where I’ve been. I’m constantly playing and writing and looking to forward to what lies ahead for myself, my band and any side projects that come up. Killpact’s near future will revolve around more songwriting and live playing. We’ve completed a 3 song demo we’ll be shopping to labels and we’ll probably be back recording more material later this summer. We’re having great regional success at the moment and consistently great turnouts for all of our live shows.”
Donnie has been a guitarist for 17 years. He’s also been studying classical guitar for the last 16 years and has been a guitar instructor for the last 14 years. Past bands include Slipknot and Bodypit.
Josh Brainard: “I hang out with Donnie alot. He comes to my parties, we see each other at shows… probably at least once or twice a week.
Influences include Chuck Schuldiner – Death, Paul Masvidal and Jason Gobel – Cynic, Randy Rhodes, James Murphy, Rush, In Flames, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Shadows Fall, Fear Factory, Allen Holdsworth, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker, Eddie Van Halen, Anthrax, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson, Andres Segovia, and Christopher Parkening. Also Michael Curry, Paul Wilson, and Greg Brown.
For gear he uses primarily Custom USA BC RICH guitars, Ibanez Guitars and pedals and VHT amps
Mask: None
Gregory Sean Welts ex #3
ex- custom percussionist
Cuddles was replaced by Brandon Darner
Nickname: Cuddles
Cuddles, otherwise known as Gregory (Greg) Welts is the ex-Slipknot percussionist. He had a similar role to that of Chris Fehn who replaced him. Cuddles, although looking mundane and stoned (see above) was like Sid, in the respect that he was one crazy mother fucker. During shows he smashed up sets and even threw his drum kit into the crowd. Cuddles became part of the band following the departure of Anders Colsefni and much against the advice of family and friends. Before joining the band Cuddles was the groups tattooist and is responsible for the tribal S tattoo on Anders’ leg and several other tattoos. Cuddles also drummed for another band, The Havenots which also included Joey and Paul (more about The Havenots here). Despite not being within the group during the time MFKR was recorded, Cuddles appears on the inside tray. He was the naked guy, and was thanked at the back of the album,he is being smashed with a sledgehammer by “Dav-O” a good friend of Slipknot” (more about Dav-O here). Cuddles has been the only guy to ever be sacked from the band, this was due to his lack of dedication to the position he took on and the lack of contribution besides the parts Anders previously delt with, he played his last show during the summer of ’98 shortly before the signing to Roadrunner Records. Following his movement away from the band and the firing from Axiom piercing studio(owned by Dav-O), Greg left Des Moines. He currently owns a tattoo shop in South Dakota named “The Ultimate Prick” – there are rumours that this has been shut down now. Greg was then replaced by another percussionist called Brandon Darner,who was later replaced by Chris Fehn #3. There are rumours that Greg co-produced the unauthorized Slipknot DVD “The Knot Gone Wild”.
Mask: Cuddles wore a babyface mask as you can see on the pic below.
Dav-O on Cuddles a.k.a Greg: “I met Greg one week night at 2nd Ave Foundry in the Summer of 95. One of the Owners, Eddy introduced us. We spent the night talking about the OC scene. Greg had been part of the OC scene for a number of years in the early 80s and had played with Mad Parade, Organised Crime, claimed to have played a few gigs with CH3 and had made the finial cut trying out for Agent Orange. He moved out here with his pregnant girlfriend and got caught cheating shortly after she gave birth. She throw him out and he went back to Steamboat, CO. When I was in need of a tattooist, Greg moved back out here and started drumming for us.”
Brandon Darner ex #3
ex- custom percussionist
Brandon was replaced by Chris Fehn
Name: Brandon Darner
Age: 26
Nickname: Grouch
Brandon was only a temporary percussion for Slipknot. He was never intented to stay for a long time.After Greg Welts (Cuddles) was fired from the band, they were looking for a replacement and brought Brandon on as a second percussion along with Shawn #6. Then when Chris #3 joined the band, Brandon left. Brandon was Joey’s drum tech. Brandon is currently in a band (Shawn’s #6 side project) called “To My Surprise” – He is the vocalist. More about “To My Surprise” in the “Side projects” section.
Mask: Brandon wore an old ogre mask with grey hair, kinda reminds me of a clown but it’s not.
Kun Nong
ex-guitarist
Kun was replaced by Josh Brainard
Kun Nong was an asian kid and was the guitarist for Shawn Crahan’s first band: Heads on the Wall. He started out as Slipknot’s guitarist, but quit after about 6 practices. Donnie joined at about the 3rd practice. Neither had masks, as we hadn’t really played a show before both of them quit. Kun decided it wasn’t his style. He was more of an alternative/punk player.
Josh Brainard: “I ran into Kun probably about a year ago at my club – he seemed to be doing good.”
Many think that Kun is spelt Quan, but it is really spelt Kun.
Kun means either “universe” or “mountain range” in Chinese.
Mask: None
Patrick M. Neuwirth
Ex-guitarist
Pat was replaced by Kun Nong
Name: Patrick M Neuwirth
Age: 31
Nickname: NEKCHECK
Patrick or Pat was in the original Slipknot line-up (Slipknot chapter 1) in 91-93 “Andy – vocals, Shawn – drums, Patrick – guitar and Paul – bass”. Pat used to help Shawn Crahan’s first band Heads On The Wall which contained Kun Nong (ex-slipknot guitarist). Pat is currently making a living as a Metal sculptor and furniture designer. He has been building up this business full time for the last three years and he’s really starting to see the returns. When Pat was with them they called themselves Painface, and before that they called themselves “Pull My Finger” later shortned to “Pull”. Andy used the “Painface” name shortly after he left SK. Patrick was the “very,very” first guitarist – he only played with the guys for a few months during spring ’92 – when SK reformed in late 95 – it featured a new line-up.
Click here for an interview with Patrick done by MFKR1.com
Mask: None
