Chris Fehn

Christopher Michael "Chris" Fehn� (born February 24, 1965), or known by his number� #3, is an American/Scottish� musician� known as one of the two custompercussionists� of the� Grammy Award� winning heavy metal band� Slipknot.

Personal life and career
Fehn was born in Des Moines and raised in� Ankeny, Iowa, just north of Des Moines. Prior to joining Slipknot, he played as a� kicker� on the Wayne State University Football team. Fehn joined the band around April 1997, replacing percussionist Greg Welts, who was forced out of Slipknot after the band due to personal conflicts with� drummer� Joey Jordison� which stemmed from Welts dating Jordison's sister.

As well as lending his percussion talents to the band, Fehn has also sung� backing vocals� on a number of songs Slipknot has both recorded and performedlive. Outside Slipknot, Fehn is a very keen golfer, and evidences this on the band's 2006 DVD,� Voliminal: Inside the Nine, where he is interviewed while playinggolf. Fehn describes himself as a "big fan of the band" and says of Slipknot, "the world needed something like this."[1]

Prior to joining Slipknot in 1997, Fehn was close friends with Slipknot's percussionist� Shawn Crahan. According to Fehn, he had originally asked Crahan if he could be drummer� Joey Jordison's drum tech. Shortly after his request was made, Fehn was given an offer to play custom percussion in the band. Fehn was then given a rough demo that contained all of Slipknot's songs. Fehn has said that "Spit It Out" was the song that stood out to him the most. Fehn then tried out on percussion and was subsequently made part of Slipknot.

In the early years of Slipknot before their signing with� Roadrunner Records, Fehn was an� electrician. In a recent interview with Face Culture, Fehn said that the band members gave him a hard time in his early years with the band. He described that his time during the self-titled album era was his "hazing period" with the band.

[edit]Mask
� Chris Fehn's masks all have the same overall design, worn over a bondage hood. His first mask for the bands self-titled era was white. For the Iowa era he changed to a tanned leather mask. One of his more popular masks was from the Vol. 3 Subliminal verses which had a red face. His most recent mask for All Hope Is Gone has a color similar to the Iowa era mask. The nose always stays at 7 1/2 inches. All of these masks are face-masks with leather straps worn over bondage hoods. Fehn's mask design is most likely based on those worn by doctors during the� Black Plague, where the nose was filled with herbs to 'protect' the doctor from inhaling the fumes of death. Another widely discussed influence is the possibility of the mask being based on that which was adorned by Alex and his "droogs" during the rape scene in the 1971 film� A Clockwork Orange.

A third idea of the origin of the mask also comes from� Commedia dell'arte, an� Italian� comedy which held its popularity through the 15th and 18th centuries. In particular Chris' mask resembles a version ofPantalone's� phallic-nosed mask.

A fourth idea of the origin of the mask is the� Pinocchio� character.

Backstage at Slipknot's second� Ozzfest� show, Fehn expanded on the mask to a local interviewer, saying, "This mask reflects my comic personality. Plus I chose it for the� bondage� factor. When you put it on, it takes you to another place. It's very hot, it's very tight, and it hurts– that goes along with the aggression we create." In a more recent interview in� London, Fehn claimed that, "The smell gets worse, it smells like puke, sweat, and piss!"

The mask is also shown in the movie� Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay� when Harold pulls it out of Neil Patrick Harris's bag after he is shot by the prostitutes. When they pull it out Harold calls it a "creepy mask" and it startles Kumar.

The mask is shown too in one of the scenes of the� Hellraiser IV: Bloodline� movie, where appears the Pilar Of Souls behind the Chatterer Beast,there is an exactly identical mask seen on this Pilar when Pinhead says "Work with me, or for Me".The mask can be seen at one side of the Pillar.