HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD TALKS SLIPKNOT AND MASKS

Hollywood Undead is making waves with a masked rap-rock sound, and they talk about the purpose of their get-up and if there’s room for two with Slipknot.

Hollywood Undead is digging up a lot of controversy and at the same time getting ready to break out of the underground. Their new single is “Youth” off their A&M Octone release Swan Songs, and for a point of reference many are comparing them to Slipknot due to their use of masks.

Hollywood Undead’s Charlie Scene and Johnny 3 Tears talked about the intent of the band wearing masks.

[Johnny 3 Tears] “The masks were never meant to hide our identity or anything along that line. That was never the intention. We thought it looked good. It was more of a fashion statement, I’d say, or somewhere along that line, like, if I was going to buy a pair of jeans or a shirt, I’d want it to be a nice pair of jeans. We wanted nice masks. It was something to make us look good, not gruesome. That was never the intent.”

And of the notion they’re copying Slipknot with the masks?

[Charlie Scene] “I mean people have been wearing masks for a long time and they see our masks and they say, ‘Slipknot,’ but before that I’m sure Slipknot got Kiss and other bands that wore masks. I know they weren’t the first, and I know we’re not the first, and we definitely didn’t do it because of them.” [Johnny 3 Tears] “And people have been using masks, like he said, in performance for a long time, and like I said, we’re not doing it to tie in to the music necessarily, but more the look of it and the feel of it, and we just thought it looked cool and for it to be a fun thing. They can be used for all kinds of things and all kinds of people. It doesn’t matter.”

So despite the music being different, do they think that Slipknot fans could get into Hollywood Undead?

[Johnny 3 Tears] “I think they could like either one, but I think they’d like them both for completely different reasons. I don’t think anybody goes out there and goes, ‘I like this band because they wear masks. That’s why I like them. It has nothing to do with anything else.’ I think if you like the music, you like the music, and it just so happens that both bands wear masks, you know?”

Hollywood Undead add they’re not hiding behind the masks as they freely take them off during their shows. Stay tuned in the next few weeks where we’ll have more on the band’s new masks, the future of a masked Hollywood Undead, their rift with Myspace Records, and the band’s responsibility and irresponsibility in the next few weeks.