Slipknot's Alessandro “V-Man” Venturella: I borrowed a bass from Tool's Justin Chancellor for our new album

Masked up, in a black boiler suit, it’s hard to believe that bassist Alessandro ‘VMan’ Venturella has been with heavy metal outfit Slipknot for almost a decade. For his 2014 audition, he borrowed one of Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders’ prized Zon four-strings, and went in all guns blazing. And so, it’s fitting that for their seventh album, The End, So Far, which marks the end of an era as they move on from longtime label Roadrunner Records, VMan sought out another loaner, this time from Tool bassist Justin Chancellor.

An interview with Knotfest saw Venturella explain how the loan came about: “When we did ‘Adderall,’ I didn’t want to use my standard bass guitar that I use live. Kindly, Justin from Tool lent us this really old P-bass." Talk turns to gear at 08:48 in this video. 

The first track from the new album, ‘Adderall’ isn’t the explosive opener Slipknot fans might be accustomed to, but a slower burn which required a specific bass tone on the low-end. Naturally, Chancellor’s P-Bass was a great fit.

While Chancellor’s Wal 4-string is responsible for most of what you hear with Tool, he did use a 1963 Lake Placid Blue P-Bass on the band’s 2019 release, Fear Inoculum. Could this be the bass in question? 

“It’s probably my favourite bass to play around with at home,” Justin told us when we interviewed him in 2019 for Bass Guitar magazine. “If I go and jam with someone I always take that. It’s naturally nasty-sounding and you don’t have to put it through any effects, because it has an amazing rasp. I used that on ‘Culling Voices’ when the bass comes in half way through. It just worked for that part.”

For more information on the new album and tour visit slipknot1.com