Last week was filled with ups and downs for Slipknot as they released a new EP but lost a key band member.
Released on Friday, Adderall features three alternate versions of the title track, accompanied by three previously unreleased songs: “Death March”, “Red or Redder”, and “Hard to Be Here”.
“Deconstructing to continuously pave the way for evolution,” the band’s Shawn “Clown” Crahan said cryptically in a statement about the new release. “At this point in the program nothing is safe.”
The EP is the quick follow-up to the band’s 2022 album The End, So Far, which had “Adderall” as its opening song.
In a previous interview with Rolling Stone, lead singer Corey Taylor discussed the inspiration behind “Adderall”.
“Everybody’s comparing it to Radiohead and stuff like that, and I’m like, ‘All right, I don’t listen to Radiohead, so that’s interesting,’” he said at the time. “To me, I was kind of leaning into my inner David Gahan. I’m a massive Depeche Mode fan. That was just me kind of doing my impression of that, but I’ll take Radiohead as well.”
However, in more surprising news, the departure of longtime keyboardist-sampler Craig Jones was also confirmed last week (as per Revolver).
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“To our fans, Slipknot is announcing that we have parted ways with Craig Jones,” Slipknot wrote on Instagram. “We wish Jones all the best for the future.”
Shortly after it was posted, the message disappeared, and neither the band nor Jones have elaborated further on the situation. Jones joined the lineup in 1996, donning a pinhead mask for the following two-and-a-bit decades.
Slipknot fans have lots to look forward to this year, despite Jones’ departure. The band have several US summer festival dates lined up, including at Rock Fest 2023 and Blue Ridge Rock Festival.
Taylor, meanwhile, is preparing for the release of his new solo album, CMF2, in September. He’ll be touring in support of the record between August and October.
