New SLIPKNOT Keyboardist Is 'Killing It', Says COREY TAYLOR: 'He's A Total Musician'

June 20, 2023

In a new interview with Finland's Chaoszine, SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor was asked about the group's new keyboardist, two weeks after Taylor and his bandmates announced the departure of longtime member Craig Jones.

"Obviously, any time you have a change like that, it makes you have to kind of lean into adversity a little bit," Corey said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "We took a little more time to kind of figure things out. Obviously, [him being a] new guy."

Taylor added: "[He's] good — really good. He's a total musician. But it took him a second to kind of find his way. But now he's killing it; now he's really, really good."

SLIPKNOT played its first show with its new mystery member on June 7 at the Nova Rock festival in Austria. The concert took place hours after the band announced in a social media post that it had parted ways with Jones.

A short time after SLIPKNOT revealed Jones's exit from the group, the band's original post announcing his departure was deleted and a photo was shared of SLIPKNOT's apparent new member. The same unidentified person appeared onstage behind the keyboards at the Nova Rock show and all subsequent SLIPKNOT tour dates.

No reason was given for Jones's departure from SLIPKNOT.

Jones joined SLIPKNOT in early 1996, shortly after the band had finished the recording of its demo album "Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat." He was initially brought in to replace Donnie Steele, one of the two original guitarists, though he quickly moved on to the role of sampling and keyboards. Following the departure of drummer Joey Jordison in 2013, Jones was the second-longest-serving member in the band.

Two days ago, it was announced that SLIPKNOT co-founder and percussionist M. Shawn Crahan (a.k.a. Clown) would once again sit out some of the band's upcoming shows in order to stay home with his wife, who is suffering from undisclosed health issues.

SLIPKNOT is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, "The End, So Far", which was released last September via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to "We Are Not Your Kind", it is the band's final record with Roadrunner after first signing with the rock and metal label in 1998.

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