The Hosts of Last Words Ask: Does the Identity of Slipknot’s Tortilla Man Really Matter?

Andreas Lawen, Fotandi, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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Last year, the world was all a-tizzy about the identity of Slipknot’s new percussionist, popularly known as Tortilla Man (they aren’t even bothering with numbers and characters anymore, it’s just what your mask looks like). This week, the band appeared to accidentally reveal the drummer’s identity in a listing for facemasks printed with Tortilla Man’s mask pattern — resulting in a new round of hubub and discussion. But one has to wonder: why does it matter? Should a masked or costumed band be totally open with their members’ identities? Or should a little mystique be left in rock music?

In this week’s episode of our heavy-metal talk show Last Words, hosts Jordan Olds (Two Minutes To Late Night), Katy Irizarry (Season Of Mist), Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves/Ex Man Podcast), and The Pit’s staff writer Chris Krovatin talk about the Tortilla Man, and whether or not anyone should care about the drummer’s identity being revealed.

“Yes and no,” says Katy Irizarry. “I personally don’t, though I think I’m also a very jaded music industry person, so sometimes I don’t know if you should really trust my opinion on things like that. But at the same time I can appreciate why other people care, because it’s kind of fun! These are the good kinds of conspiracy theories! Who’s in the band, who’s in the mask, everyone’s got an idea, and everyone gets to be an Internet sleuth.”

Chris, meanwhile, brought up a more important issue — why hasn’t Tortilla Man leaned into the tortilla theme?

“I’m so disappointed he hasn’t flipped tortillas onstage,” he says, “that he hasn’t been cooking a quesadilla onstage. I thought that was going to be a lot more of his identity, and I feel like it’s been a superficial thing.”

“He should work a food truck after the set,” said Jordan. “A rotating food truck, like you do with a drum set.”

Check out the episode below:

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