South African Rock Star Puts Stamp on Cover of Slipknot’s ‘Duality’
Having topped the charts in her native South Africa, Esjay Jones is ready to build her fanbase on a more global scale, starting with her own take on the Slipknot classic, "Duality." Check out the eye-grabbing video for the track, issued under her (WE ARE) Pigs moniker, premiering right here at Loudwire in the player below.
Jones has built quite a few connections not only as an artist, but in writing and producing for others in both hip-hop and metal. Now, under the moniker (WE ARE) PIGS, the singer has teamed up with Alien Ant Farm's Terry Corso on this new cover.
“I’ve always had a great love for the nu-metal era and ‘Duality’ is one of my favorite tracks from the early 2000's,” states Jones about the project which is heavily influenced by her love of the Deftones. “It’s been a great quarantine process to put a different spin on this incredible song to record this ‘PIGS version’ in isolation, then finish it with a couple of friends from around the world over the inter-web.”
Jones also leaned on her production skills, self-producing the track. “I ended up leaving the very first original one-pass demo vocal take on the track. It was initially recorded a semi-tone higher but there was an uncertainty, imperfection and vulnerability to the vocal that I didn’t want to mess with. I’m a big fan of the imperfect. I didn’t want to overthink this. The slip and slide of the vocals and the backing vocals not being perfectly in-time, gave it a live, erratic quality which I felt sat well with this particular vibe.”
As an artist, Jones initially made inroads in South Africa with Stealing Love Jones, a band that scored four chart-topping rock singles. Now broadening her horizons with (WE ARE) PIGS, the singer has future collaborations lined up with Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, Korn's Brian "Head" Welch, P.O.D.'s Sonny Sandoval and Crazy Town, so you should expect to hear more of her as the year rolls on.
As for the video, viewers should be warned of imagery that could trigger seizures for those with photosensitive epilepsy. The Dean Roberts-helmed clip is a trippy, psychedelic journey featuring a wide-array of effects and intriguing visual imagery. Have a look below and if you like what you hear, the song is also available via Spotify.
(We Are) PIGS, "Duality" (Slipknot Cover)
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