Anders Colsefni Reflects on SLIPKNOT's Roots and the Future of 'Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.'

In an explosive interview with The Phase Remains The Same, Anders Colsefni, the original voice of SLIPKNOT, opened the floodgates on the band’s chaotic inception and the raw essence of their debut, 'Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.'. Huddled in the dank basement of a duplex in Des Moines, Colsefni and his bandmates banged out tracks that would lay the groundwork for a sonic revolution. "It was a grungy little dungeon," he recalled, with the upstairs neighbor constantly raging over the noise. "We were all crammed together, trying to muffle the sound with carpet hanging everywhere. It was gross, but it was magic."

When pressed about the album's status as merely a demo or a full-fledged record, Colsefni offered a candid perspective: "It all depends on how you look at it. In the industry, getting signed often relegates your first work to 'demo' status. But after pouring a year into crafting and arguing over that first release, to me, it felt like a full album. It was recorded and produced well, and damn, it sounds good!" His conviction is palpable, revealing a man who still cherishes the chaotic spirit of those early days.

Delving into the album's scarcity, Colsefni uncovered the details behind its limited pressing. "The first run was just 1,000 copies, and then another 1,000 were made through -ismist Records. I wasn’t hands-on with that, but it’s likely a total of 2,000 copies were out there. I can’t confirm it, but that’s the buzz I’ve heard." The rarity of 'Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.' has only added to its cult status among metalheads hungry for the raw energy that only early SLIPKNOT could deliver.

In a surprising twist, Colsefni expressed a burning desire to re-record the album, feeling that the recent 2024 version done with KAOSIS failed to capture its original power. "I want to do it right, with real instruments and the spirit that defined those songs. We’re exploring legal avenues to make it happen. Corey [Taylor] and Shawn sold their catalog, and now it’s a maze trying to track down the new owners and see if we can get this done without stepping on toes," he explained, clearly passionate about giving fans a proper homage to the beloved tracks.

Reflecting on the album’s legacy, Colsefni admitted, "It blows my mind that this album still resonates so deeply today. It was a formative period for us, and the sound evolved into something more digestible later on. But those raw songs? They’ve been silent for too long, and I want to bring them back to life, reimagined but true to their roots. At this stage in my life, everything just makes a hell of a lot more sense than it did back in the day." With that, he leaves us longing for a return to the primal fury that first ignited the flames of SLIPKNOT.