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Just about every Slipknot<\/a> fan was shocked when longtime drummer Jay Weinberg<\/a> (who replaced the late Joey Jordison<\/a> in 2014) was suddenly and inexplicably fired back in 2023<\/a>. That said, arguably no one was more surprised by it than Weinberg himself, and in a new interview with Rolling Stone<\/a><\/em>, he confirmed that he still doesn\u2019t know why he was fired from the band.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll get into more details about Slipknot parting ways with Weinberg \u2013 and what\u2019s happened since \u2013 in a bit. Suffice it to say here, though, that the group cryptically announced the decision<\/a> via social media in November of 2023. Understandably, fans were left speechless<\/a>, and shortly thereafter, Weinberg reflected<\/a> that he was \u201cheartbroken and blindsided\u201d to receive the fateful \u201cthe phone call\u201d about his dismissal.<\/p>\n During his recent chat with Rolling Stone<\/em> \u2013 published online on April 11 \u2013 Weinberg discussed several topics (including his time with Against Me!<\/a> and selling his gear on Reverb<\/a>). Naturally, the situation with Slipknot came up, prompting Weinberg to consider why joining the legendary outfit was so exciting: \u201cI was 23 years old. Being in the band for 10 years, that\u2019s nearly a third of my life, and the vast majority of my creative life.\u201d<\/p>\n He then reflected on how he \u201ccouldn\u2019t even tell close industry friends\u201d that he was in the band upon getting the gig:<\/p>\n I understood that dynamic of the band because I remember being a fan back in 2000, pre-camera phones, pre-internet largely. There was this mystique surrounding a band like this, honestly. You couldn\u2019t discover any details about the band members. You couldn\u2019t find out what anybody looked like. You could hardly find out anybody\u2019s actual name.<\/p>\n The mystique was certainly appealing and drew a lot of people in, myself included, at a very young age. To capture that energy of this unknowingness, especially in the era of social media and camera phones, was an impressive endeavor. And we kept a lid on it for like a year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n When asked if he felt \u201clike a full member, a hired hand, or something in between,\u201d Weinberg bluntly explained:<\/p>\n If you\u2019re the new guy coming into a band that\u2019s existed for 15 years and developed its identity and dynamic, you\u2019re always going to be the new guy.<\/p>\n I auditioned for the band before the world learned that they were moving on from playing with Joey Jordison. We played together for one day, rehearsed all the old songs, and that was one thing of like, \u201cOkay, he can play the old songs. Now, what can you bring to the creation of things?\u201d<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re \u201cin the band\u201d or a hired hand, those are just things that put someone in a box that they occupy. I\u2019m comfortable with that. What matters is the work of what you\u2019re doing, the creative endeavors that you\u2019re going on. I recognize my responsibility in helping provide contributions to the creation of a song or album. Those responsibilities fall on me the same way if I\u2019m \u201cin the band\u201d or \u201cnot in the band.\u201d It\u2019s all the same work.<\/p>\n My writing partner for my duration of time in the band was largely Jim Root<\/a>, guitar player. He\u2019d come up with guitar riffs, and I\u2019d provide my contribution and enthusiasm and effort and energy to shape the song going in any direction. That\u2019s what was meaningful to me.<\/p>\n All that stuff falls away when you do the actual important thing, which is creating things in the studio and playing these things on stage. And I found as our relationship deepened, those efforts and responsibilities became greater for me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n After digging a bit deeper into the creations of his debut with Slipknot (2014\u2019s .5: The Gray Chapter<\/a><\/em>) and its follow-up (2019\u2019s We Are Not Your Kind<\/a><\/em>), Weinberg commented on being let go from the band.<\/p>\n Specifically, he began by discussing how in 2018, he discovered \u2013 and \u201cnotified [Slipknot\u2019s] management\u201d about \u2013 his \u201cfemoroacetabular impingement, FAI for short, which basically means [he] tore [his] labrum in my hip due to running and kickboxing.\u201d<\/p>\n Weinberg continued:<\/p>\n So I\u2019m approaching the band like, \u201cHey, we\u2019re not doing anything right now. This would take me six months to recover. Is this something I can do?\u201d And I was asked to not have that corrective surgery because we\u2019ve got a record to make. We got to be on tour, and this and that. So I can\u2019t hold up this operation.<\/p>\n I had been conditioned over years with the ever-present threat of, \u201cYou\u2019re always fireable, you\u2019re always replaceable.\u201d With that being reinforced in the environment, it\u2019s difficult to then make decisions based on health because you\u2019re like, \u201cI\u2019m not going to step outside of the bounds of this because I don\u2019t want to disturb the peace and I don\u2019t want to be replaced.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n A \u201ccouple of years\u201d later, Weinberg found that \u201cthe pain . . . didn\u2019t get better,\u201d and in September of 2023, he noticed that Slipknot \u201chad shows going up until November\u201d but then their \u201csubsequent show . . . was in April of the following year.\u201d So, he \u201ccame up with a plan\u201d to \u201chave . . . surgery in November of 2023, pretty much right after the last show of that year.\u201d<\/p>\n After telling the band about his plan \u2013 including that he could \u201ccreate a virtual instrument\u201d with \u201ca company called MixWave\u201d in case Slipknot \u201cwant[ed] to be creative in that time\u201d \u2013 Weinberg said that he got the go-ahead for the surgery.<\/p>\n However, he \u201cwoke up the morning after traveling home from [Slipknot\u2019s] last show together\u201d to a \u201cphone call from the band\u2019s manager\u201d telling him that \u201cthe band had made a decision to not renew [his] contract at the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was shocked and full of questions. I was like, \u2018Why? What happened?\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Weinberg elaborated:<\/p>\n It took place, to be quite honest, at the end of a year that was a very difficult year within the band. That might relate to some of those preexisting tensions before I arrived at the band, sort of coming back. But I\u2019m left with no explanation, just that \u201cIt\u2019s a creative decision and you\u2019re no longer the drummer in Slipknot.\u201d And what he said from there was, \u201cWe would like to release a joint statement with you tomorrow. Take the rest of the day to think about it. I\u2019ll be available to you for the rest of the day if you want to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n My world just kind of bottomed out from under me. 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n When asked, \u201cHow did you feel about that?\u201d Weinberg answered:<\/p>\n 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, no reason. It was confusing then. If I\u2019m perfectly honest, it remains confusing.<\/p>\n As a newcomer, I think being caught in between those preexisting tensions, you find yourself trying to navigate that the best you can. One guy has one way he wants things done, another guy wants another way he wants things done, and amplify that by eight other people, to try to satisfy all of those things. This was my singular focus for 10 years. I applied myself in every way possible. As a newcomer, and like you mentioned, you\u2019re like,\u00a0\u201cAre you in the band? Are you not in the band?\u201d How do you define that after 10 years? It\u2019s not a short amount of time. But it\u2019s easy for a newcomer, for myself, to be caught in the crossfire there. Maybe I became a scapegoat for certain things.<\/p>\n Processing it over the last two years, I\u2019ve wanted to take that experience and obviously learn from it. I want to experience these new things that I\u2019m now taking on, these many collaborations that I\u2019m doing, playing with as many people as possible, and finding these relationships where it\u2019s all so new to me. I\u2019m going into creative environments, say a studio or playing live, where there is love for one another, and respect for one another, in ways that I\u2019ve never experienced before.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a great band\u00a0. . . [called]\u00a0King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard<\/a>. I\u2019ve become friends with those guys over the last year and a half. Their drummer Cavs [Michael Cavanagh] came to a show that I played with Infectious Grooves<\/a>. These guys opened my eyes to what a positive creative environment could feel like with mutual respect. It\u2019s like finding water in the desert. All these new relationships that I\u2019ve formed over the last two years or so feel like that, certainly Suicidal Tendencies falls within that category.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Ultimately, Weinberg concluded that although \u201cthe departure from Slipknot was difficult,\u201d he\u2019s \u201cnever wanted to be somebody who throws a pity party from themselves.”<\/p>\n “I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what a creative person\u2019s life is.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE<\/strong>: New Tentative Release Date for Slipknot Members’ ‘Look Outside Your Window’ Revealed<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Although plenty of fans were upset about Slipknot moving on without Jordison back in 2013 \u2013 2014, many came to adore what Weinberg brought to the band. After all, he recounted to Music Radar<\/a> in 2016, he was a childhood fan, and he wanted to treat his audition and initial time with the group \u201cwith a delicate, careful respect.\u201d<\/p>\n Weinberg eventually recorded three studio LPs with Slipknot (the aforementioned two plus their latest one, 2022\u2019s The End, So Far<\/a><\/em>). Following the band\u2019s statement about Weinberg\u2019s dismissal \u2013 and his initial reaction \u2013 drummers such as Tr\u00e9 Cool<\/a>\u00a0(Green Day<\/a>), Mike Portnoy<\/a>\u00a0(Dream Theater<\/a>) and Eloy Casagrande<\/a>\u00a0(ex-Sepultura<\/a>) publicly shared support for Weinberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n Interestingly enough, and after months of speculation and teases, Casagrande officially left Sepultura to replace Weinberg in Slipknot<\/a> in 2024. \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting moment. Unthinkable until then. There is nothing to lose, there is nothing to win. There is just living. We\u2019re here as one. Thank you Slipknot for trusting me. Thanks all the maggots and fans around the world. See you on the road. Here comes more pain,\u201d he wrote on social media regarding the news<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Weinberg expounded upon his time in Slipknot<\/a> about a month after he was fired:<\/p>\n For 19 years, my goals in music and art have always centered around maintaining some sort of forward motion. It feels a bit paradoxical at times to look in the rearview mirror, but some moments and milestones are significant enough to take pause and reflect. . . . The memories and experiences that these four [Slipknot] masks [shown in Weinberg\u2019s social media post] represent, I wouldn\u2019t trade for the world. And I\u2019m honored that you all have been there, every step of the way.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In July of 2024, he revealed that he was seeing a therapist to help him<\/a> work through \u201cthe entire experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Plus, Weinberg joined Suicidal Tendencies in early 2024<\/a> (but left in early 2026). As for why<\/em> he stepped down, and as Loudwire<\/a> reported at the time, Weinberg \u201crevealed that the\u00a0birth of his first child later this year<\/a>\u201d was a factor, as was his interest in \u201cspending more time on passion projects and collaborations.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in February, Loudwire<\/a> covered the news that \u201cSlipknot’s long-awaited Look Outside Your Window<\/em> album is finally arriving, but not under the band’s name and in a manner that comes as a bit of a surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n Specifically, and as Loudwire<\/a> later reported, 2300 vinyl copies <\/a>will\u00a0be available for\u00a0Record Store Day<\/a> on April 18.<\/p>\n Loudwire added: \u201cThe release is self titled, so they are not sharing it as an actual Slipknot record. Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan<\/a>,\u00a0Corey Taylor,<\/a>\u00a0Jim Root\u00a0and\u00a0Sid Wilson<\/a>\u00a0worked on the material that would become\u00a0Look Outside Your Window\u00a0<\/em>while Slipknot were in the studio recording\u00a0All Hope Is Gone\u00a0<\/em>in the late 2000s.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information on the LP, be sure to check out our timeline feature on everything we know about Look Outside Your Window<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n How do you<\/em> feel about what Weinberg said? Do you wish he were still in Slipknot? Let us know!<\/p>\n These are the top 50 nu-metal albums of all time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat Jay Weinberg Said About Being Fired From Slipknot<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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More About Weinberg\u2019s History With \u2013 and Departure From \u2013 Slipknot<\/h3>\n
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Other Slipknot News<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Top 50 Nu-Metal Albums of All Time<\/h2>\n