In a new interview with Revolver, Slipknot drummer Sid Wilson recalled a time when former Papa Roach drummer Dave Buckner heard Slipknot 's debut LP, Iowa, for the first time while out on the road together. Buckner performed with Papa Roach until his departure in 2007.
"We had the Iowa album [with us] when we were on tour with Papa Roach," Wilson said. "And to Dave, the original drummer, we were like, 'Hey man, you want to listen to [our] new album?' I don't think it was out yet. And he was like, 'Yeah.'
"He comes up on the bus and I think we were into maybe the third track," Wilson continued. "And I just watched his face and he started getting uneasy, and he's looking around at the ground and stuff. And then he looks up and I'm looking at him, and his face collapses. One whole side of his face. And it dropped out like when you have a seizure…. His whole face collapsed and it just stayed down there…. His eye, everything. The music collapsed his face. It destroyed his whole world right in front of me. I was like, 'Are you OK?' And he's like, 'I got to go.' And he stood up and [we were like], 'What the fuck?'
The Slipknot drummer continued said that in the moment, "I looked at the guys, I'm like, 'Oh my God, did we just fuck him up? I hope he's OK.' I don't even really know what happened that day. He was still out there the rest of the tour and stuff … I guess he saw a doctor or something. But that's how dangerous that shit was."
As awesome as this story is, there's just one problem, though: Buckner is calling bullshit on Wilson's tale. Well… Sorta, anyway.
Asked to share his recollection, Buckner told Revolver, "The real story is that me, Jacoby [Shaddix, Papa Roach singer], and Tobin [Esperance, bassist] went up to Houdini Mansion, [producer Ross Robinson's studio] with the Slipknot guys while they were there recording Iowa. They played us the album in the mixing room with the volume cranked to 11. I left the room with my ears ringing, and when I woke up the next day and the left side of my face was hanging off my skull, totally paralyzed!
"I thought I had a stroke during the night! I immediately saw a doctor, and turns out I had Bell's Palsy, which is triggered by trauma to the facial nerve that runs through the ear canal in the skull. Causes can include blunt force trauma, extremely loud noise, and, apparently, Slipknot! Slipknot music literally melts faces," Buckner concluded.
As someone who had Bell's Palsy once, I can attest to it's awfulness. Literally half my face was falling off. And while I don't think it was Slipknot, per se—knowing me—it was probably loud music that did it.
