2 hours ago
3
Jay Weinberg opened up about his ouster from Slipknot in a new interview with Rolling Stone, revealing that his firing still “remains confusing” to him.
Weinberg had served in the group for 10 years, spanning from the sudden 2013 exit of Joey Jordison to his own sudden dismissal in 2023. Weinberg played on three albums for the group: 2014’s .5: The Gray Chapter, 2019’s We Are Not Your Kind, and 2022’s The End, So Far.
“My world just kind of bottomed out from under me,” Weinberg told Rolling Stone of learning he’d been let go from Slipknot. “This thing that I have been dedicated to with complete focus and drive and attention and love and holding on to a dream, despite the difficulties, despite all the things that happen with entering a volatile environment like that and a dark environment at that, to having nothing but questions. So I went on a walk with my wife to clear my head and process what had just happened. And then 20 minutes later, they posted their own statement online.”
He added, “I mean, how would anybody feel about that? It perfectly encapsulates the confusion of that. And like I said, it came after an extraordinarily tense year for the band, things that I could only see as an outsider in relationships that are 25 years deep. It came without an explanation, [with] no reason. It was confusing then. If I’m perfectly honest, it remains confusing.”
Weinberg also revealed that he was battling a medical issue during his time in Slipknot that he discovered in 2020 after noticing sudden pain in his hip which left him sometimes “unable to walk for several days.”
“I got an MRI done and I found out that I have what’s called a femoroacetabular impingement, FAI for short, which basically means I tore my labrum in my hip due to running and kickboxing,” explained the drummer.
He continued, “I was asked to not have that corrective surgery because we’ve got a record to make. We got to be on tour, and this and that. So I can’t hold up this operation.”
Weinberg planned his surgery for late November 2023 following the end of their touring commitments for that year. He had a digital drumkit prepared based on his own in case he wasn’t able to play with the group during preparations for a new album before the end of his recovery, but was let go shortly thereafter in a surprise phone call by the band’s management.
While unable to pinpoint an exact reason for his firing, Weinberg feels that years of unrest within the band, even dating back to before he joined the masked metal act, may have contributed to the decision. “It took place, to be quite honest, at the end of a year that was a very difficult year within the band,” recalled Weinberg. “That might relate to some of those preexisting tensions before I arrived at the band, sort of coming back.”
Weinberg joined the group at just 23 years old, making his decade-long tenure roughly a third of his life. In the same interview, he also discussed his creative role during his time with the band.
“My writing partner for my duration of time in the band was largely Jim Root, guitar player. He’d come up with guitar riffs, and I’d provide my contribution and enthusiasm and effort and energy to shape the song going in any direction.”
He continued, “For instance, with The Gray Chapter, our first album together, Jim had 14 songs or something. They were loose sketches of arrangements. I added some things to them, since they asked me to help ‘Slipknot them up a little.’ I’m like, ‘Those are my marching orders and this is what I’m bringing to the table.'”
Weinberg initially moved on from Slipknot to crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies in what amounted to a three-way drummer swap, in which Suicidal’s drummer Greyson Nekrutman moved on to Brazilian thrash band Sepultura, and Sepultura’s drummer Eloy Casagrande moved on to Slipknot.
Weinberg has since left Suicidal Tendencies and has been working on a guest-filled solo album. In November, he released the single “Sandstone” featuring Deafheaven’s George Clarke, and last month he unveiled “Drone Operator” featuring NOWHERE2RUN, an outfit made of up members of Code Orange. Hear the latter song below.
English (US) · 