SLIPKNOT's CLOWN On Decision To Fire JAY WEINBERG: 'There's No Hard Feelings; There Never Was'

In a new interview with Knotfest Australia, SLIPKNOT co-founder and percussionist M. Shawn Crahan (a.k.a. Clown) touched upon the band's decision to fire drummer Jay Weinberg after a 10-year run with the masked metallers.

"I'm very excited about this idea of a new drummer," Crahan said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "There's many reasons for it. It's not to be confused. It doesn't matter what the situation may seem like. Unless you're in the band and understand — there's no hard feelings; there never was. We just went our way. There was really no bad things. That's as much as I can say.

"What I can say is SLIPKNOT decided to move on, and that's what we've done," he continued. "And I'm very excited for what we have done. And we're really working hard. And there'll be new music, there'll be new masks, there'll be new people, there'll be new ideas, celebrating a 25-year anniversary. I would imagine there'd be some shows. It can be 200 people, 500 people, 700 people, 2,000 people."

Regarding how SLIPKNOT plans to release new music, Crahan said: "I wouldn't look at it like new music like album and stuff like this. I think we're gonna have some fun. I don't know exactly what we're trying to do. I know that we just wanna do what we wanna do. So however it happens, it happens. We're not gonna push it and we're not gonna mold it into something it doesn't need to be, but I will tell you, we're having a really good time right now. There's some real magical stuff that's happening.

"Everything in SLIPKNOT is meant to be," he added. "So, when it does happen and you shed a tear and you have a little smile, it feels good, man. It feels good to have good feelings in this reality. So we always want everybody to have good feelings."

Earlier this week, SLIPKNOT revealed that it has commenced rehearsals with a new drummer following Weinberg's departure.

Although SLIPKNOT has offered no hints about the new drummer's identity, the new man behind the kit is widely believed to be former SEPULTURA drummer Eloy Casagrande.

SLIPKNOT's first concert of 2024 is scheduled to take place on April 27 at the Sick New World Festival in Las Vegas, to be followed by appearances at Welcome To Rockville in Daytona Beach, Florida on May 12 and Sonic Temple in Columbus, Ohio on May 19.

Last month, SEPULTURA announced that Casagrande had left the band to join "another project", with some fans speculating that he will be the new drummer of SLIPKNOT.

The news of Eloy's exit from SEPULTURA came just two months after the band announced it would celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2024 by embarking on a "farewell tour" which will cover the entire globe.

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 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.