SLIPKNOT Bassist VMAN Says Role Replacing PAUL GRAY Is To "Fill A Great Man's Shoes And Do Him Justice"
October 17, 2019, 5 years ago
Slipknot bassist Alessandro "VMan" Venturella recently spoke with Music Radar about his journey with the band over the last five years. Following is an excerpt from the story:
Venturella examined the prior recordings of original ’Knot bassist Paul Gray, who passed away in 2010, in an effort to “delve deep into what he did and the tonality of what was happening.”
He says that his role early on in the band was to “fill a great man’s shoes and do him justice” – it wasn’t about replacing the irreplaceable.
“My approach isn’t the same as Paul’s. I can’t be him and never will be, every player is ultimately born different. That said, if you listen to Paul’s note choices on 'Vermilion', he was all over the shop and it sounded great. I wanted to try things like that. After listening to his stems, I honestly looked at bass in a different light and understood how to support everything as the backbone. Take the bass out of the mix and everything will fall flat on its arse – and equally, if you mix too bass-heavy, you’re not going to get your point across either. Lead guitarists, on the other hand, always need to cut through because that’s what the job entails. As the rhythm section, we’re there to hold the fort.”
Read the complete story here.
