James Ruth is known as a member of the sensational (at one time) metal band Slipknot, in which he uses the pseudonym # 4. Initially, the guitarist worked for some time in the team of Corey Taylor - Stone Sour and combined participation in two groups. However, later he made a choice in favor of Slipknot.
From the article you will learn interesting details from the life of a musician and you can see some photos of James Ruth. By the way, his mask is a formidable buffoon with demonic features, and another distinctive feature of the guitarist is his high growth.
Private bussiness
James Donald Routh was born on October 2, 1971 in Las Vegas - the city of gambling entertainment in Nevada. From early childhood, the boy remained at home all alone, as his parents were forced to earn money. Perhaps that is why he matured early. An example to follow was the slightly older guys.
Jim became interested in music long before the first mustache appeared, so his mother gave him a gorgeous gift for Christmas - a Memphis guitar. At that time he was only 13 years old. Having practiced pretty well at home, James Ruth was accepted to the position of guitarist in the Atomic Opera team, but around the 95th he left her to participate in Stone Sour.
Career
For two years, the group worked quite successfully, but leader Corey Taylor left for Slipknot and, it seems, completely forgot about his own project. Nobody wanted to play in a team without him, so the Stone guys scattered wherever. James Routh soon sided with Deadfront and helped release the Nemesis album. However, a year later he left them, taking the place of Josh Brainard in Slipknot. At the end of the debut album in the song Purity, you can already hear his play.
In a short time, the group gained tremendous popularity, and one by one sold two vinyls. But in 2003, the Slipknot nearly broke up, so James Ruth and Corey Taylor revived Stone Sour, which turned out to be no less popular. The first album sold around the world in the amount of 500,000. Therefore, the guys were nominated for a Grammy. But despite such tremendous success, in 2014, James Ruth left.
Mask evolution
The guitarist joined Slipknot by the end of work on the first album (in '99), so he hid his face for the first time under a black leather bag (with openings for the mouth and eyes) of the previous member. However, James soon replaced the mask with another, which was the white latex face of the jester. Black rhombuses flaunted in the eye area, his mouth closed with a zipper, and his chin hid behind a feeble beard.
In 2001, the mask changed and began to look more severe. The eyebrows were angrily lowered, the rhombuses around the eyes darkened, and the raised cheekbones protruded forward. In addition, the beard was replaced by a demonic horn.
With the onset of 2004, metamorphoses again occurred with the mask, moreover this time more significant. The face was still white as lime, and the patterns were black, however, distinct lips appeared around the "lightning", to which a dark line stretched from the right eye. After the implementation of All Hope Is Gone, the mask remained almost unchanged and acquired human features.
If someone thought that the stage appearance of James Ruth resembles a character from the cult film "Raven" - then this is indeed so. The musician admitted that he liked the image of Eric Draven (played by Brandon Lee in the 94th) so much that he was taken as the basis for his mask.
In 2013, at the Ozzfest festival, held in Japan, Slipknot participants appeared in front of the public in a slightly different guise. The mask of James Ruth lost his chin, on the site of which now stood a magnificent beard of the musician, and the “skin” acquired an alien silver hue.
Facts from life
Interesting facts about James:
- The musician has several creative pseudonyms: Peach, # 4, Stuperbee, Mr. Bigs
- James is 198 centimeters tall. In the group, he is the highest.
- He is left-handed from birth, but plays the guitar as a right-hander. The fact is that Ruth belongs to a rare type of people - ambidextras, who are equally good in both hands.
- In the summer of 2012, the musician had a bad stomach ache. When he was taken to the clinic, it turned out that he had an appendix rupture. As you know, this is very dangerous for life, but it all ended happily.
- James Routh for thirteen years - from 2004 to 2017 - met with singer Christina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil). However, the marriage did not end, and the young people broke up.
- Looking at the photo of the musician, you can see that James Ruth is now without a beard. And rightly so, because a change of image has not harmed anyone.
James Ruth Equipment and Guitars
Until 2007, the musician used instruments of popular companies: Maverick, Jackson, Charvel and PRS. He then became an endorser for Fender, which created a subscription model for Ruth Jim Root Telecaster. A little later it was put on stream, and soon became the best in the Hottest Guitar nomination of the English print publication Total Guitar.
Since 2009, the musician often began to use the Gibson Flying V guitar, with EMG pickups. In early 2010, Fender launched mass production of the Jim Root Stratocaster, which James had used on a world tour the year before.
Orange Amplifiers, together with Ruth, developed the Tiny Terror amp, which was introduced to the world in 2012. The basis was taken the scheme Rockerverb 100 - a favorite amplifier of James. Soon, Tiny Terror was put on stream. It is worth noting that its design is made in the style of "minimalism": the front panel is decorated only with the musician’s autograph and number pseudonym # 4; and on the back there are Stone Sour and Slipknot logos.
Similarity of a surname and a name
Recently, there have been rumors that the musician was married, but this is not true. The thing is that this is talk about the wedding of Theo James and Ruth Kearney - famous actors. Moreover, the star of the sensational picture "Divergent" is not very happy that such a joyful event has become public. The celebration was held in the family circle at Villa Vistarenni (Chianti, Italy). As you see, you should not believe what they say without checking the accuracy of the fact.