SLIPKNOT Drummer Says Playing This Summer's Shows Will Be 'The Ultimate Triumph'

SLIPKNOT drummer Joey Jordison has told Kerrang! magazine that fans will get an unforgettable show when the band returns to the stage this summer to play its first concerts since the passing of SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray.

"[These shows] will be the ultimate triumph," he promised. "I have fucking piss and venom in my fucking veins right now. I'm already just thinking about... when we step onto that fucking stage, the eight of us... I don't even know if we're gonna make it through one song. We might destroy everything.

"It's going to be bizarre. I think, honestly, Paul's with us in spirit... It's going to be a really, really explosive show. It's gonna be good for all of us... I think Sonisphere [festival in the U.K.] is going to be an exorcism.

"I think the best thing is to put Paul finally to rest, he wants to see us fucking rock. Once we do that, we'll be at peace and everything can continue from there."

Paul Gray was found dead in a hotel room in a Des Moines, Iowa suburb last May at the age of 38 from an overdose of morphine.

SLIPKNOT will make a number festival appearances this summer, including the U.K.'s Sonisphere, Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting and Brazil's Rock In Rio.

Speaking to the Artisan News Service, SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor admitted that he is still unsure going back out and performing live without Gray is the right thing to do. "It was a big decision," he said. "There's still a part of me that's kind of on the fence about it. It all comes down to the band at the end of the day and how we handle it. And if we can come together as men and handle it the right way and do it for the right reasons — do it for the fans, do it for the family — it could be the first of baby steps to see what happens in the future." He added, "The wonderful thing and the worst thing about this band is that there's no other band like SLIPKNOT, so we handle things the way we handle it."

If the band sticks to the plan revealed to The Pulse Of Radio by Joey Jordison, SLIPKNOT will use a touring bassist for live work but will remain an eight-piece onstage. "We're not gonna have anyone on stage right now," Jordison said. "The bass player, he'll be behind me, you know, when I'm playing to lock in with me, but there's no one right now to go onstage. There's no replacement for Paul right now."

Jordison said late last year that he and other members of the eight-piece band were already separately recording demos of new material, which he hoped to begin recording sometime in early 2011.

But Taylor disputed that, saying he has "no plans" to make a new album with the band anytime soon.

Following the announcement of the Sonisphere show, Taylor tweeted, "Honestly, I don't know how to feel about the tour. But it's for the fans, and for the family. We'll see. I don't know WHEN I'll be ready to make an album. Might not be for years. But we will definitely play shows. We'll see what happens."

Taylor and SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root have been on the road with their other band, STONE SOUR, since early summer.