Is SLIPKNOT's New Drummer A 'S**tbag'?
September 18, 2014Laura Jane Grace, the lead vocalist for the punk-rock band AGAINST ME!, appears to have slammed the group's former drummer, Jay Weinberg (pictured),as a "shitbag" after it was revealed that Weinberg has joined SLIPKNOT as the replacement for Joey Jordison.
Weinberg — the 24-year-old son of Max Weinberg (BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND) — was a member of AGAINST ME! from November 2010 until December 2012.
The musician joined AGAINST ME! shortly after he was ousted from MADBALL and following the departure of AGAINST ME!'s previous sticksman, George Rebelo.
Without mentioning Weinberg by name, Laura tweeted earlier today (Thursday, September 18): "Dear Slipknot, good luck with that. #shitbag"
Laura, who came out as transgender in 2012, previously revealed that she was notified of Weinberg's departure from AGAINST ME! via a tweet and that they have not spoken since his exit.
Asked by SPIN.com what caused Jay to leave AGAINST ME!, Laura said, "To be honest, I have no idea. He never said a word. I just woke up one morning and read on Twitter that he was leaving the band. [I] never talked to him since."
Press on whether she thinks Jay was weirded out by her transition, Laura said: "I have no idea. I have no ability to hypothesize about it. You would really just have to ask him."
In May 2013, Weinberg filled in for KVELERTAK drummer Kjetil Gjermundrod during the band's North American tour because Gjermundrod had to bow out of the run after experiencing significant pain in his arm.
SLIPKNOT announced in December 2013 that it had parted ways with Jordison, one of the band's founding members and key songwriters. SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor said in a new interview with Metal Hammer that firing Jordison after 18 years was "one of the hardest decisions" the group ever made, adding that Jordison is "in a place in his life" which is "not where we are."
Taylor said he could not get into specifics for legal reasons, but admitted, "It's when a relationship hits that T-section and one person's going one way and you're going the other. And try as you might to either get them to go your way or try and go their way, at some point you've got to go in the direction that works for you. This is me speaking in the broadest terms, with respect to Joey. I guess to sum it up, it was one of the hardest decisions we ever made."
Taylor said that the band is "happy right now and we hope that he is . . . he's just in a place in his life, right now, that's not where we are."
The singer would not answer whether drug use played a role in Jordison's dismissal, and confessed that he had not been in touch with his former bandmate. Taylor said, "I haven't talked to Joey in a while, to be honest. That's how different we are. It's not because I don't love him and I don't miss him. And it is painful; we talk about him all the time, but at the same time, do we miss him or do we miss the old him? That's what it really comes down to."
SLIPKNOT releases its fifth studio album, ".5: The Gray Chapter", on October 21. It's the band's first without Jordison and late bassist Paul Gray.
The identities of the band's new bassist and drummer have not been officially revealed, but both appeared — disguised in the same newly designed mask — in the video for "The Devil In I", the first single from the new album.
Nonetheless, it is widely believed that the new bassist is Alessandro "Vman" Venturella, who sports the exact same tattoo on his hand that was spotted on the hand of the new bassist in the video.
Dear Slipknot, good luck with that. #shitbag
— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) September 18, 2014
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