In a new interview with Drummer’s Review, former SLIPKNOT drummer Jay Weinberg reflected on his mindset and approach to playing with the band when he first joined SLIPKNOT in late 2013 as the replacement for the group’s founding drummer Joey Jordison. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I think approaching music, whether it’s in purely the creation of it or coming into a project that exists and understanding the history and respecting the history, those are all hugely important things to me. To be in the present moment and playing what’s inspired, but also when you’re tasked with respecting that past, it’s at times, maybe a fine line to ride. But I think if you, in your heart, have the right mindset and the approach of wanting to approach things with respect… And in the case of SLIPKNOT, a significant part of that was approaching things in a fan-first sort of perspective. I knew that to respect such material meant not approaching it 99 percent or less. And that meant approaching it with a hundred percent tenacity, focus, drive, respect. Those were all the things that I kind of kept in mind.”
He continued: “I don’t really think I’ve ever found myself in a situation where I’ve needed to approach it with less than a hundred percent of any of those things. But I think, in a certain way, to respect the situation at hand, it certainly required pulling no punches and just going for it to the fullest extent possible. And then that sort of morphed into other things, because then it was a matter of being… I mean, we started playing together and the very next day we started working on new material together. So in the course of an afternoon, to shift from that fan-first perspective to then kind of crossing a threshold as a co-creator and collaborator and all those sorts of things, you kind of have to make a switch in your head. Especially when it comes to making new material for myself, and this even goes on from record to record, you completely ignore the past. And even in the instance of our second record together, it was a matter of completely ignoring what we had just done. Even though I was tremendously proud of that effort, that didn’t come into focus at all when you’re working on new stuff. So there’s kind of this like internal kind of switch-around of growth and looking at something that you looked at one way completely in a new way and keeping pace. And not just keeping pace, but hopefully accelerating the development of new songs and new material and contributing in some way where, like I said, if I can authentically represent whatever it is that I’m being asked to do, to push something, to be the best that it can be, then my focus is on that entirely. And in an instance like that, it does require not being timid, not being shy, although your instincts, you’d be forgiven for approaching anything, especially of a size like that, you’d be forgiven for approaching something with shyness or whatever. But that’s not the task at hand. The task at hand is to knock down every single door in front of you. So, yeah, that’s kind of how I look at situations like that.”
During an appearance on a July 2024 episode of the “One Life One Chance With Toby Morse” podcast, Weinberg addressed his surprise firing from SLIPKNOT in November 2023, saying: “Truth be told, I’m at kind of a point where I’m not quite yet really ready to talk about it, really. And that’s not to dismiss the conversation, but I’ve spent time, and spend time, just processing the entire experience. And the experience not being the last six months, but really the last 10 years [of playing with SLIPKNOT]. And finally, in a way, processing all of that. And doing it in kind of what I would consider the responsible way.
“I have a fantastic therapist who helps me,” he continued. “Before I speak on it, it’s important for me to do the right work of processing these events that you spend 10 years exclusively committed to one thing. There’s a lot to process that on the other side. And I think there is definitely a time where I’ll speak to my lived experience over those ten years — just not quite yet.”
On November 5, 2023, SLIPKNOT released a statement via social media in which it said it had “decided to make a creative decision and to part ways with Jay.”
Six days later, Weinberg, who replaced Joey Jordison, SLIPKNOT‘s original drummer, in 2013, shared on Instagram that he “was heartbroken and blindsided to receive the phone call”, “the news of which, most of you learned shortly after.”
Jay played his final show with SLIPKNOT on November 3 at the Hell & Heaven festival in Toluca, Mexico.
Jay discovered SLIPKNOT when he was a pre-teen, through his father. 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.
“.5: The Gray Chapter” went on to score a trio of Grammy nominations, including two for “Best Metal Performance” and a nomination for “Best Rock Album”.
Weinberg also played on 2019’s “We Are Not Your Kind” and 2022’s “The End, So Far”, both of which topped Billboard‘s rock albums chart.
In February 2024, SLIPKNOT recruited former SEPULTURA drummer Eloy Casagrande as the replacement for Jay.
Prior to joining SLIPKNOT, Jay played with AGAINST ME! and MADBALL.
Jay played his first concert with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES in March 2023 in Osaka, Japan.
In addition to Weinberg and frontman Mike Muir, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES‘ current lineup features lead guitarist Dean Pleasants, rhythm guitarist Ben Weinman (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN) and bassist Tye Trujillo (son of METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo).
Weinberg‘s pairing with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES came less than two months after he was announced as the new drummer of INFECTIOUS GROOVES, the long-running outfit formed more than three decades ago by Robert Trujillo alongside Robert‘s then-SUICIDAL TENDENCIES bandmate Muir.
