Craig Jones

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Craig "133" Jones is a musician, better known as the sampler/keyboardist of the alternative metal band Slipknot.

He was born Craig Michael Jones on February 11 1972.

In the early days, Craig originally joined Slipknot as a guitar player to fill in for Donnie Steele, but later switched to being in control of the samples working with Sid Wilson. Craig also controls the guitar effects used live. His mask in the early days of Slipknot was a Gas Station mask with long needles, but eventually switched to a tight leather mask with six inch nails in it.

Craig is also in charge of the official Slipknot website[1], which he once ran with his wife before their divorce. His ex-wife died on May 3, 2005.

While all of the Slipknot band members wear their stage masks in the public eye, most have been seen without their masks, mainly due to side projects they may be involved in that do not have this same tradition. Craig Jones is the most elusive face of Slipknot, and no fan has ever seen his true face knowingly. (Some fans did see his face, knowingly, at the 'Duality' video shoot Slipknot held in Des Moines, IA). He is also a video game fanatic and gets his ideas for samples in songs from movies. Eg: The line "Here comes the pain" in the track "(Sic)" was taken from Carlito's Way; the voice was of Al Pacino. The opening track for their self-titled album was created by Craig, and the dialogue in the background, "The whole thing I think, is sick", was taken from a Charles Manson documentary.

Jones has also never been quoted officially as having made any comments to interviewers, preferring to start an interview with the zip covering his mouth opened, and closing it in answer to any questions asked. During photo shoots, he wears patches over his eyes to keep his anonymity. He is also known to leave shows early for the same reason. It would seem he is rather isolated and independent, which is why he is probably looked upon as the "darkest" member of the band.

James Root once said about Jones that: "He even scares me. I kind of feel I'm doing a service to the community by knowing where Craig is from day to day."

There is a persistent rumor that his only words have been when an interviewer asked him to describe himself; "I have a rather slim, serial killer profile." Craig Jones has given an interview about his samples to the company Cakewalk , which is the company he prefers when doing samples.

When asked about Craig, Slipknot's producer Ross Robinson said, "When I first met him he never talked. He was super-quiet and never spoke a word. I would point at him and say, hey dude, I bet you're the most psycho fucker in this band! And he still didn't say anything. I would try and get him to talk and he would just sit and stare at me. The first time he talked during an interview he said, "if I wasn't in this band I'd probably be out killing people." And when he said that, it caused so many problems, all these letters coming in. So the only time he talked, he caused a bunch of shit!" Whether or not this is true is unknown.

It is speculated that he is autstic.

[edit] Trivia

The nickname "133" has been confirmed as the speed of the processor of Craig's first computer, which was high-tech at the time.
It was rumored that Craig ran Slipknot1.com by himself, but it has been proven false.
He is a computer game fanatic, his screen name when playing Quake III Arena online is ZZ 5. He even has his own "Slipknot member" skin, so it looks just like him when he plays.
Just prior to some European dates with Slayer in October of 2004, Craig had to pull out of some dates due to some much needed dental surgery.
He is a smoker.

Slipknot