SINSAENUM Has Secured A Replacement For JOEY JORDISON

In a new interview with Pierre Gutiérrez of Rock Talks, SINSAENUM vocalist Sean Zatorsky was asked about the progress of the writing and recording sessions for the band's third album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We have already written [a lot of the new record]. We still need to work on lyrics and we need to kind of piece the rest of the songs together. So we're kind of still in that halfway point of having a tangible product and taking it to be mixed and then still needing to write a little bit and put the polishing touches on stuff."

As for whether SINSAENUM has secured a replacement for drummer Joey Jordison, who passed away last year, Sean said: "We do have a drummer. I can't really say who — I'm not really allowed, unfortunately — but it is someone that we know… The guy we got's great… He knows the band and [he's] a friend, and it'll just be a perfect combination, from what it sounds like. He's known Fred [guitarist/bassist Frédéric Leclercq] for a long time, but I know him too. We became friends through mutual people. [He's] not [in] a super-famous band, but he does in some [other] bands [as well].

"It's more about just finding someone who will vibe," Sean explained. "You're never gonna replace Joey, so looking for the next superstar isn't necessarily the answer, I think, sometimes. But this guy, he definitely can do the job. I think it'll be really cool."

Regarding a possible release date for SINSAENUM's next LP, Sean said: "Fred's in KREATOR right now, so he's busy just doing a lot of that. I think they just dropped an album. I'm sure they'll tour. It'll be, I think, next… We talked about next summer maybe getting together and me flying over to France and kind of staying there, maybe doing some vocals and finalizing parts… It'll be next year — a year from now. 'Cause he's gotta finish his touring cycle and whatnot. That's just kind of what we were roughly speaking, that I would fly there next summer maybe, or maybe April or May or March — sometime next year, early in the year, middle of the year — and I would go over and we'd finish lyrics and we'd finish vocals and put the finishing touches on stuff."

Asked if Joey recorded the drums for SINSAENUM's third album before his death, Sean said: "No. He started to piece together what would be what. We were messaging him July 14th [of 2021] about the drumming and we started sending him songs literally right then. I think the last time I spoke with Joey was the 20th [of July]. 'Cause I was talking about some VENTED stuff and how I needed to hire him for an engineer gig. And he was, like, 'I wanna do the SINSAENUM stuff first.' So VENTED went to the backburner. And then it was only just a few days later he died. Unfortunately, he didn't have a chance to do anything. But he did get to hear some of [the songs], so that kind of feels good. He liked what he heard. And it's so cliché to say, but he definitely is one of those guys that would have been, like, 'You guys should continue on.' He bled, shit and slept metal. So if anybody understood, it was him."

Sean went on to say that "it goes without saying" that the third SINSAENUM album will be dedicated to Jordison. "He touched us all, man — especially me," he explained. "Him and I got really close those last few months before he passed. So it was sad."

Last August, Leclercq spoke to the Impact metal channel about Jordison's passing. Asked if he knew what caused Joey's death, Leclercq said: "That's not my place to discuss. Of course I know. I'm just saying it's not my position. The family asked for privacy at that time, and I respect that. It's just very sad."

Asked how he would summarize Jordison's legacy, Frédéric, a former member of DRAGONFORCE who now plays bass in KREATOR, said: "To me, he was more than a musician. To me, he was first and foremost a friend. So I lost a friend that was only 46 years old, and it hurts. He was an amazing musician, not only on drums but also he wrote amazing songs. And we were lucky enough to play together. It was great.

"I created SINSAENUM," he continued. "He contacted me. We were looking for a drummer. Everything just fell into place. He came up with the name [a combination of the words 'sin' and 'insane'). The last shows he played were with us; that's the last thing that he played.

"I have a column in a Japanese magazine called Young Guitar, and I was doing yesterday, typing, and I just remembered the last song that he played ever was [SINSAENUM's] 'My Swan Song', and I guess the title is… And that's a song that he really loved. I remember he was just, like, 'Yeah.' He felt something about it. So it's a little strange to think about it now. So I've been listening to the song again and again.

"I'm still processing the fact that he's gone."

Joey's family confirmed that he died "peacefully in his sleep" on July 26, 2021 of an unspecified cause.

A few days after Jordison's passing, Leclercq blasted TMZ for sharing the audio of the 911 call placed by the former SLIPKNOT drummer's ex-girlfriend after she found him dead. On July 29, the tabloid site posted the two-and-a-half-minute phone call in which the ex-girlfriend — who continued taking care of Joey's bills and maintaining his house in Iowa even after their split — could be heard getting very emotional when she went to his home to check on him after he hadn't returned her messages. During the call, she indicated that Joey was "a really bad alcoholic" with "health issues," and she revealed that the motion sensors on the house hadn't detected any activity in days.

SLIPKNOT announced its split with Jordison in December 2013 but did not disclose the reasons for his exit. The drummer subsequently issued a statement saying that he did not quit the group.

Last September, SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor called Jordison's death "a damn tragedy. "He was way too young, and he was way too talented to lose him like this," Corey added in an interview with SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". "I know a lot of people wonder about the circumstances that led to him not being in the band anymore, and it's, like, we're not gonna talk about that, because I'd rather talk about his legacy, which is that he helped create this band that we all have fought to keep out there and keep going. Just the fact that he's not here now, it's still — I still can't believe it," Corey said.

The same year that he exited SLIPKNOT, Jordison launched the band SCAR THE MARTYR and later, VIMIC.