Brett Callwood
Slipknot
Slipknot (Roadrunner)
LA Math Rockers Have standards: Marcos Mena and Cam Mitchell of standards told us about their love for Slipknot and Glassjaw classics.
Marcos Mena: I can pinpoint the exact moment I knew I wanted to be a musician. I remember vividly when Slipknot, headlining their All Hope Is Gone tour in 2009, stepped foot onstage at The Palladium. This was the culmination of many major moments for me as a young tween living in Long Beach, California.
(Roadrunner)
When I discovered Slipknot, I couldn’t get enough of the band. I had Slipknot shirts, box set DVDs and due to my rampant obsession with late drummer Joey Jordison I also owned a pair of his signature drumsticks. Joey was my idol, a powerhouse drummer who wrote many Slipknot anthems that I kept blaring in my ears in-between my middle school classes. To me, the band was one-of-a-kind, with an unmatched ferocity that made me a lifelong fan.
As my musical palette changed throughout the years and interest in other genres came and went, Slipknot’s debut album has never failed to amaze me. Recorded in an era before drum samples and without any digital equipment, the raw energy still resonates with me years after its initial debut. While I do not consider myself a metal musician, certain things about Slipknot have certainly influenced me. They were a band that weren’t afraid to be different and unconventional. When I listen to the self-titled Slipknot record, I hear a group of outsiders creating for other outsiders. The feeling of all of us in a room together was sublime and has never left my being since.
Glassjaw
Worship and Tribute (Warner Bros.)
(Warner Bros.)
Cam Mitchell: I can’t think of an album that had a bigger part in shaping the musician and person I am than Worship and Tribute by the band Glassjaw. From Daryl Palumbo’s heartfelt delivery and poetic lyrics to Justin Beck’s crushing guitar licks, the album shows you that heavy music can be so much more than what the average listener might expect.
I have vivid memories of my brother Dylan who I learned how to play music with sharing his love for this band with me as a young child and it really opened my eyes to how expressive you can be with the hardcore genre. I’ll never get sick of listening to the track “Trailer Park Jesus” as loud as I possibly can.
LA Math Rockers Have standards: The new standards single “Smile” is out now, and the album Fruit Town is released July 22 through Wax Bodega.
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