Slipknot is an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa, formed in 1995. Slipknot consists of nine members. The current band members are Sid Wilson, Joey Jordison, Paul Gray, Chris Fehn, Jim Root, Craig Jones, Shawn "Clown" Crahan, Mick Thomson, and Corey Taylor. Each member of the band wears a unique mask. Early formations of a band were beginning to coalesce as early as 1992, when the core band members, drummer Shawn "Clown" Crahan, vocalist Anders Colsefini, and bassist Paul Gray enlisted the help of guitarists Donnie Steele and Quan Nong, and created "Painface." In September 1995, the band "The Pale Ones" was created comprising Crahan on drums, Gray on bass, Colsefini on vocals, and guitarist Steele. Joey Jordison joined the band shortly after, taking up the role of drummer and, subsequently, Crahan moved to percussion. The band continued to develop their vision of what the band would be, deciding to add a second guitarist, recruiting Josh Brainard and moving Colsefini to percussion along with lead vocals. The band played their first live performance under the name of Meld on December 4, 1995 at a club called Crowbar in Des Moines. Soon after, Jordison suggested renaming the band "Slipknot" after their song that eventually appeared on the band's demo Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. The band also began experimenting with their image, wearing grotesque make-up and eventually the anti-image concept developed towards the members wearing masks. Up until this point, the band had remained mainly obscured due to their desire to wait until their music was fully developed. With plenty of material ready, the band began recording in a local studio, SR Audio with Sean McMahon. In February 1996, guitarist Donnie Steele left the band due to his Christian beliefs; though the other band members were prepared to allow him to stay, Steele decided to leave. His replacement, Craig Jones, arrived during the mixing stages of this new project. On April 4, 1996, Slipknot played their first public performance at Des Moines reggae club the Safari, where they played most of their early gigs. Their second gig at the Safari was alongside Stone Sour. The band began to realize again that there was need for a change, as they were adding samples to their recordings but could not produce these sounds live. Subsequently, Jones moved to full-time sampler and Mick Thomson was brought in to fill the space on guitar. After conflict over the mixing and mastering, the band self released their first album Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. on Halloween, October 31, 1996. After the success of their debut, Slipknot decided to enter the studio again for a second album. By then, the band had created a huge fan base, and the expectations for their follow up album were great. They went back into the studio in early 2001 to work on a new album. Iowa, the band's second album with Roadrunner Records, was released on August 28, 2001. Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic said "It's really all you could ask for in a Slipknot album, and then some", and David Fricke of Rolling Stone called the album "the first great record of the nu metal era." It was also a commercial success, peaking at number three on the Billboard album charts, and at number one on the UK album chart. In mid-2001, the band once again toured with Ozzfest, and performed in the Kill The Industry tour in support of Iowa. The band has stated that their primary influences include Kiss, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Judas Priest, Korn, White Zombie, Led Zeppelin and Beastie Boys. Death metal, black metal and heavy metal have been mentioned as a key influence on the band's musical direction alongside nu metal, the category the band is generally listed as. They have also stated that they are influenced by industrial bands like Head of David, Godflesh and Skinny Puppy as well as Neurosis and jungle music like Roni Size. The band's image has started controversy over the years. A portion of the controversy comes from the band Mushroomhead, who, along with their fans, claimed that Slipknot stole their image. In 2009, Mushroomhead vocalist Waylon Reavis stated that the feud had ended. Another source of controversy was the band's 2005 lawsuit against Burger King, claiming that company created the advertising based band Coq Roq to capitalize on Slipknot's image. The band's lawyer claimed that Burger King had contacted the band's label to get Slipknot to take part in an "advertising campaign designed to motivate young people to vote". Burger King responded to the suit with a countersuit, and in that suit pointed out that many other bands, such as Mr. Bungle, Mushroomhead, Mudvayne, Kiss, Insane Clown Posse and Gwar have used masks as part of their image, although after private discussions the advertising campaign was dropped.