Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg has revealed how wearing one of the band’s “disgusting” trademark masks affected him.
During an appearance on 102.9 The Hog (via Ultimate Guitar), Weinberg was asked whether the band get to “pick out what you’re looking for” or “have input” when it comes to the masks.
“It’s definitely kind of like a mix of all approaches. When I first joined the band and we made [2014’s] .5: The Gray Chapter, I was binding off so much, just to keep pace – like jumping on a moving freight train,” Weinberg replied.
He continued: “I was so focused on the music, but the masks were something that I had never experienced before going on stage – I had never had any experience with that.”
“So the guys absolutely helped with creating – you know, you create a little bit of a different persona that you carry with you in your regular life when you’re not inside the Slipknot machine.”
“It definitely took wearing that on stage for a number of years to really understand what element that truly brings to what we do, so you know, after playing 200 shows with a mask – I only had one original mask that I had, it’s only been one.”
“And it just completely fell apart and got disgusting to wear, you know. All those things that you can imagine happening to a mask, wearing it for 200+ shows, that’s what happens.”
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Weinberg continued on to explain that he realised what the mask “means to me” about five years after he joined Slipknot as their replacement drummer.
“So, taking all that knowledge that I gained, and then we were making [2019’s] ‘We Are Not Your Kind,’ I’m like, ‘Alright, I have a grasp of what this mask is and what it means to me, and how I want it to evolve and grow as we grow and as we make a new record,'” he said.
“And that just kind of came with the logical next step for it. I think it’s really – I always really loved how each guy in the band has evolved with the aesthetic of their mask, and it seems like that, you know, the growth of a person, and you kind of tailor that to your dynamic as a person,” he continued.
“So yes, it’s a very part of the art of Slipknot, and we take it very seriously, and each guy, I can’t speak for anybody else but myself, and I think every guy goes into a little world, figuring out where that growth will take place and where that change will take place, some more drastic than others, but I think it’s all reflective of our mood as individuals.”
“Out of that mood that the individual creates, then the cohesive, unified band, everybody together with their own individual parts, that’s where it comes together and becomes a unit, and I think that’s amazing.”
“It’s not necessarily something that’s like spoken between us. It’s just what naturally kind of happens. It’s so much that’s going on that we can’t necessarily cover like, ‘Oh, are you using staples for your mouth?'”
“It’s not necessarily any conversation that happens like that, but I think at a certain point and after a certain amount of time, you just kind of trust that everybody’s got to be on the same page and it creates a unified vision based on what we are creating.”
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Check out Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg discussing their unusual masks:
