JAY WEINBERG Is Still Confused By His SLIPKNOT Firing: 'It Came Without An Explanation'

In a new in-depth interview with Andy Greene of Rolling Stone, drummer Jay Weinberg opened up about his surprise firing from SLIPKNOT nearly two and a half years ago. The split happened just two days after Jay played his final show with SLIPKNOT on November 3, 2023 at the Hell & Heaven festival in Toluca, Mexico. Weinberg said: "I woke up the morning after traveling home from our last show together, and I received a phone call from the band's manager in which he informed me that the band had made a decision to not renew my contract at the end of the year. I was shocked and full of questions. I was like, 'Why? What happened?'

"It took place, to be quite honest, at the end of a year that was a very difficult year within the band," Jay continued. "That might relate to some of those preexisting tensions before I arrived at the band, sort of coming back. But I'm left with no explanation, just that 'It's a creative decision and you're no longer the drummer in SLIPKNOT.' And what he said from there was, 'We would like to release a joint statement with you tomorrow. Take the rest of the day to think about it. I'll be available to you for the rest of the day if you want to talk.'

"My world just kind of bottomed out from under me," Weinberg admitted. "This thing that I have been dedicated to with complete focus and drive and attention and love and holding on to a dream, despite the difficulties, despite all the things that happen with entering a volatile environment like that and a dark environment at that, to having nothing but questions. So I went on a walk with my wife to clear my head and process what had just happened. And then 20 minutes later, they posted their own statement online."

Asked how he felt about that, Jay said: "I mean, how would anybody feel about that? It perfectly encapsulates the confusion of that. And like I said, it came after an extraordinarily tense year for the band, things that I could only see as an outsider in relationships that are 25 years deep. It came without an explanation, [with] no reason. It was confusing then. If I'm perfectly honest, it remains confusing.

"As a newcomer, I think being caught in between those preexisting tensions, you find yourself trying to navigate that the best you can," Weinberg added. "One guy has one way he wants things done, another guy wants another way he wants things done, and amplify that by eight other people, to try to satisfy all of those things. This was my singular focus for 10 years. I applied myself in every way possible. As a newcomer, and like you mentioned, you're like, 'Are you in the band? Are you not in the band?' How do you define that after 10 years? It's not a short amount of time. But it's easy for a newcomer, for myself, to be caught in the crossfire there. Maybe I became a scapegoat for certain things."

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 discovered SLIPKNOT when he was a pre-teen, through his father. 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.

In February 2024, SLIPKNOT recruited former SEPULTURA drummer Eloy Casagrande as the replacement for Jay.

Prior to joining SLIPKNOT, Jay played with AGAINST ME! and MADBALL.