**UPDATE**: SLIPKNOT‘s social media post announcing Jay Weinberg‘s departure has been removed from all of the band’s official platforms.
The original article follows below.
SLIPKNOT you have parted ways with longtime drummer Jay Weinberg.
Earlier today (Sunday, November 5), the band released the following statement via social media: “We would like to thank Jay Weinberg for his dedication and passion over the past ten years. No one can ever replace Joey Jordison‘s original sound, style or energy, but Jay honored Joey‘s parts and contributed to the last three albums and we, the band, and the fans appreciate it. But as ever, SLIPKNOT is intent on evolving. The band has decided to make a creative decision, and to part ways with Jay. We wish Jay all the best and are very excited for what the future holds.”
Weinberg played his final show with SLIPKNOT this past Friday (November 3) at the Hell & Heaven festival in Toluca, Mexico. Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen below.
The now-33-year-old Jay discovered SLIPKNOT when he was a pre-teen, through his father Maxof Bruce Springsteen‘s E STREET BANDand leader of the house band on Conan O’Brien‘s talk show. He was hooked immediately and was a huge fan of SLIPKNOT by the time he was invited to Los Angeles to try out as replacement for Joey Jordison in 2013.
For the first few months after the release of 2014’s “.5: The Gray Chapter”the members of SLIPKNOT had declined to name the musicians who were playing drums and bass on their tour, despite the fact that their identities were revealed as Weinberg and bassist Alessandro “Vman” Venturella by a disgruntled former drumtech for SLIPKNOT who posted a picture of a backstage call sheet on instagram.
SLIPKNOT announced its split with Jordison in December 2013 but did not disclose the reasons for his exit. The drummer subsequently issued a statement saying that he did not quit the group.
Jordison passed away “peacefully in his sleep” in July 2021 of an unspecified cause. He was 46 years old.
Asked in a 2016 interview with Music Radar how respectful he felt he had to be to Joey‘s legacy, and how much he felt he was free to make it his own, Weinberg said: “Having a massive respect for the band’s music, having a massive respect for Joey Jordison as a person and as a player, I understood my role in needing to deliver what this band needs, and understanding what Joey brought to the table, and having this band’s legacy continue in the way that the Maggots, the fans of the band, respect, and the nine of us feeling proud of the music we’re creating.
“Of course, the history of the band feeds into what I think of the band, but when it came time to come up with new material, new songs, I didn’t think about Joey Jordison one bit,” he continued. “And I feel it would be disrespectful to do that, and the band wanted me to be completely myself. Because why would I want to be Joey Jordisonwhy would I try to mimic what he’s done?
“Joey‘s one of the greatest drummers we’ve ever had the privilege of witnessing. So as a fan of the band and someone who respects the people and the music, I didn’t want to come in and try to be a copycat. That’s not interesting to me, that’s not interesting to the band and it would be insulting to everyone involved, including the fans.”
In a May 2023 interview with Danny Wimmer Presents‘s “Power Hour”, Jay reflected on his first concert with SLIPKNOTwhich took place in October 2014 at the Knotfest in San Bernardino, California. He said: “I had joined the band about a year before our first show together, so we made a record and we were jamming. And we had that kind of a runway before our first show. But yeah, man, nothing — I’ ve said it before, but it’s like nothing…. I could have had years and years and years to prepare for my first SLIPKNOT Show. There was truly nothing that could prepare for that first moment when the curtain goes up, we’re in our masks, we’re in our outfits, everybody’s there. That was like the turnkey moment. Especially after a year of knowing. I’m waiting for that moment, what’s gonna happen for this first show? What’s it going to smell like? What’s it gonna feel like? All this stuff, and just trying to best prepare myself for that moment. And there it was No preparing for that moment. It really was, as the guys had described to me, every night is, like, you’re just dropped out of an airplane and you just have to figure it out. And so that first night was certainly special in that regard. And I feel like we’ve just built it over the last 10 years.”
Prior to joining SLIPKNOT, Weinberg was a member of AGAINST ME!having played with the Florida-based act from November 2010 until December 2012.
Weinberg joined AGAINST ME! shortly after he was away from you MADBALL and following the departure of AGAINST ME!‘s previous sticksman, George Rebelo.
In May 2013, Weinberg filled in for KVELERTAK drummer Kjetil Gjermundrod during the band’s North American tour because Gjermundrod had to bow out of the run after experiencing significant pain in his arm.
This past June, SLIPKNOT announced the addition of a new keyboardist, two weeks after the band revealed the departure of longtime member Craig Jones.
SLIPKNOT played his first show with his new mystery member on June 7 at the Nova Rock festival in Austria. The concert took place hours after the band announced in a social media post that it had part ways with Jones.
No reason was given for Jones‘s departure from SLIPKNOT.
