Ex-SLIPKNOT Drummer JAY WEINBERG On His Hip And Femur Surgery: 'I'm So Pleased To Have Done It'

In a new interview with Australia's Heavy, former SLIPKNOT drummer Jay Weinberg offered an update on his recovery after undergoing hip and femur surgery in November. The 33-year-old Nashville-based musician, who required crutches as he recovered from his operation, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I feel really good right now. It was an injury that was sustained over years of, honestly, from running, was the thing that hurt me the most… And that's my favorite way of exercising, because when you're on tour, you can just, like, 'I'm gonna run an hour that way and an hour back,' and that was my favorite way to exercise. But in about the summer of 2017, or '18, I would go for a run, and, like, five minutes in, I'd be in, like, debilitating pain on my left side, and I had no idea why. But I found out that I had a misshapen bone. My femur, as it goes into my hip, was misshapen — it had a little bit of extra bone — so as I was running and when I was younger, I used to kickbox, that motion would bash up against the labrum of my left hip. And so it tore it over time. And so I got together with a doctor who does this kind of operation all the time on athletes and stuff, and he was, like, 'Hey, I do this kind of operation all the time. You should get it done while you're younger as opposed to risking your joint deteriorating by not doing anything about this.' So it's always been a goal to do it, but it was always a moving target for about six years. As I had a very rigorous touring and recording schedule, I didn't really have a period of time because, as it was clear to me, I would need a period of between four to six months to fully recover. Luckily, to this point, it's been three and a half months, and I feel really good. I'm able to play. Obviously, when you're on crutches for six weeks, you lose a tremendous amount of power in your legs. So I'm getting that back gradually and just doing all the right things."

Jay continued: "That's the goal, is to get back to a hundred percent. That's why I did the surgery, was so I could get back to running, get back to doing all the things that I love without having pain in my life. So, yeah, I already feel really great. My physical therapist says I should be back to running by July, which is really nice. And yeah, that's the idea. Having done it at a relatively young age, I don't run the risk of having done further damage to the joint. So I'm really, really happy to have bitten the bullet. Yeah, it sucked to do it, but as I'm here now, with a greater range of motion and just getting everything back, I'm so pleased to have done it."

In January, Weinberg — who has recently joined bother SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and INFECTIOUS GROOVES — shared a video of him walking "unassisted" for the first time since undergoing his surgery.

On November 5, 2023, SLIPKNOT released a statement via social media in which it said it had "decided to make a creative decision and to part ways with Jay."

Six days later, Weinberg, who replaced Joey Jordison, SLIPKNOT's original drummer, in 2013, shared on Instagram that he "was heartbroken and blindsided to receive the phone call", "the news of which, most of you learned shortly after."

Jay played his final show with SLIPKNOT on November 3, 2023 at the Hell & Heaven festival in Toluca, Mexico.

When SLIPKNOT announced Weinberg's departure, the band thanked Jay "for his dedication and passion over the past ten years." The group added: "No one can ever replace Joey Jordison's original sound, style or energy, but Jay honored Joey's parts and contributed to the last three albums and we, the band, and the fans appreciate it. But as ever, SLIPKNOT is intent on evolving. We wish Jay all the best and are very excited for what the future holds."

Jay discovered SLIPKNOT when he was a pre-teen, through his father, Max Weinberg, of Bruce Springsteen's E STREET BAND, and leader of the house band on Conan O'Brien's talk show. He was hooked immediately and was a huge fan of SLIPKNOT by the time he was invited to Los Angeles to try out as replacement for Joey Jordison in 2013.

For the first few months after the release of 2014's ".5: The Gray Chapter", the members of SLIPKNOT had declined to name the musicians who were playing drums and bass on their tour, despite the fact that their identities were revealed as Weinberg and bassist Alessandro "Vman" Venturella by a disgruntled former drumtech for SLIPKNOT who posted a picture of a backstage call sheet on Instagram.

".5: The Gray Chapter" went on to score a trio of Grammy nominations, including two for "Best Metal Performance" and a nomination for "Best Rock Album".

Weinberg also played on 2019's "We Are Not Your Kind" and 2022's "The End, So Far", both of which topped Billboard's rock albums chart.

SLIPKNOT has yet to announce a replacement for Jay.