Jay Weinberg has opened up about the pressure he felt to live up to the legacy of former Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison when he joined the band.
In an interview with Spanish publication The Metal Circus via Blabbermouth, he chatted about his first impressions working with the band, and replacing someone who had been with Slipknot for so long.
“I wouldn’t say I was walking on eggshells. For me, I understood my role in the context of a band changing its dynamic dramatically, working on new songs without two of its founding members.
At the time he joined Slipknot in 2013, not only had the band just lost Jordison but also bass player Paul Gray. “That was huge for a band that had, at this point, existed almost 20 years or something,” continued Weinberg.
From the very start, he knew it was set to be a steep learning curve. “And still, to this day, I approach this band with open eyes and open ears, ’cause I think every day, I’m learning more and more.
“So, no, not walking on eggshells, because I had a lot to bring and a lot to prove — not to an audience,” he added.
Weinberg went on to say that he tried to mainly worry about the things he could control, coming into the band but also proving his worth and remembering he wouldn’t have been invited to join the band if Slipknot and Corey Taylor didn’t rate his skills.
“I didn’t concern myself with that, because I can’t control that — I can’t control how a listening audience is going to accept new Slipknot songs that are my first songs playing with the band or whatever; I can’t control how anybody’s gonna react to that.
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“But I had a lot to prove to myself, I had a lot to prove to my new bandmates, that, for whatever reason, they were drawn to my playing and that I was asked to be a part of their band for a reason.
The exit of Jordison has remained a point of contention, with the former drummer putting out a statement after his exit denying he had quit the group.
Slipknot was recently announced as one of several bands to receive PPP loans for their cancelled tours, as part of the US Government’s $2 trillion CARES act.
Check out ‘Nero Forte’ by Slipknot:
