Heavy metal icons Slipknot will soon embark on a trip to Australia as a part of the massive Soundwave 2015 lineup and while it has been confirmed by Soundwave boss AJ Maddah that the band will not be playing any sideshows, guitarist Jim Root has expressed he would be keen to return for a separate Australian headline tour.
“I would love to do that. I mean, we haven’t been able to do a headlining tour down there in quite some time,” Root told Music Feeds in a recent interview. “Every other time we come down there it’s always a festival. I’d like to do both, that would be ideal.”
Root said his motivation for a separate headline tour comes in part due to the fact that Soundwave will not be making a stop in Perth in 2015. “I think is kind of a bummer, because I really like Perth a lot,” he said.
“Obviously, we’ve got a couple years at least of touring ahead of us so I’m sure the powers that be are putting their heads together to figure out how we can make it cost effective to be down in Australia and do a proper headlining tour on our own and make it so we’re not just spending money to be down there.”
Root also expressed his excitement at the band’s upcoming visit, saying he is “pretty passionate” about Australia.
“Tours like Soundwave, they’re an experience to not just be able to play most of the major cities in Australia, but to have a couple of days off in all of them too… When you’re on tour, you don’t get a chance to really absorb the places you go.”
Slipknot’s last full Australian headline tour was a stop on 2008’s All Hope Is Gone world tour.
While he’s optimistic about Slipknot’s future, Root is also hesitant to make any definitive statements about what will come next for the band.
“This band is an anomaly and we never know what’s gonna happen and so we tend to just take things day by day, but everything’s looking really good right now and we’re getting along really well and everybody’s talking and we’re communicating,” he said.
“And I think that’s only gonna get better as we hit the road. We haven’t done a proper headlining tour since All Hope Is Gone. So this’ll definitely be something that’ll tell us a lot about our future, this album cycle.”
Slipknot’s new album .5: The Gray Chapter is released 17th October. The band will headline Soundwave Festival in 2015.
