On stage, he is #7 – the guitarist with the metal mask, heavy riffs and reserved presence behind one of the most recognizable names in modern metal. Mick Thomson turns 53, and his career with Slipknot now spans three decades.
Thomson was born on November 3, 1973, in Des Moines, Iowa. It was there that the musical environment from which Slipknot would later emerge took shape. Before joining the band, he played in Body Pit – a group associated with several future Slipknot members.
He joined Slipknot in 1996
Slipknot was formed in Des Moines in 1995, and the band’s first concert took place on April 4, 1996. Thomson joined the lineup that same year, taking the place of guitarist Donnie Steele. Since then, the number #7 has remained firmly associated with his stage persona.
In its early years, the band built its identity through masks, jumpsuits and numbers that replaced the musicians’ names. Thomson has maintained this approach throughout the different stages of Slipknot’s history, while his mask gradually became one of the band’s defining symbols.
“I never wanted to be in a band, I just loved playing music,” Thomson said in an interview with Metal Hammer.The guitarist behind key albums
Thomson played on the recording of the self-titled debut album Slipknot, released in 1999. He was also part of the lineup that recorded Iowa in 2001, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses in 2004 and All Hope Is Gone in 2008.
On these albums, his guitar was part of Slipknot’s dense, downtuned sound. Together with Jim Root, Thomson forms the guitar duo behind many of the heavy riffs in the band’s music.
He later also played on We Are Not Your Kind, released in 2019, as well as The End, So Far from 2022. In this way, Thomson remains one of Slipknot’s longest-serving members and one of the few musicians to have been present throughout all of the band’s major periods of development.
From reserved guitarist to recognizable symbol
In his interviews, Thomson often describes himself as someone who does not seek attention. According to him, his mask helps him be on stage without feeling like a traditional rock performer. This very contradiction – between his reluctance to be in the public eye and Slipknot’s massive stage – has become part of his image.
Today, Mick Thomson is recognizable not only as a member of Slipknot, but also as one of the guitarists associated with the development of heavy music in the late 1990s and early 2000s. For the band’s fans, #7 remains the man behind the riffs, the mask and his steadfast position on the right side of the stage.
Sources: loudersound.com, guitarworld.com