SLIPKNOT's SID WILSON Praises Late Drummer JOEY JORDISON: 'He Was The Best That Ever Did It. Hands Down.'

In a new interview with Get On The Bus, Sid Wilson, turntablist for the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning metal icons SLIPKNOT, reflected on the July 2021 passing of the band's founding drummer Joey Jordison. Sid said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "He wasn't in the band anymore at that time… [But] I was still friends with Joey. I always maintained a friendship with Joey, man. I love that guy.

"Yeah, people just choose different lifestyles sometimes, and sometimes that lifestyle's more important than hanging out with your buds," Wilson continued. "It sucks. Did it stop us from hanging out? No."

Circling back to Joey's death, Sid added: "Yeah, there's nothing easy about it, dude. Life's tough, man. And you either got nerves of steel or you don't. And sometimes even the guys that got nerves of steel, that shit gets beat down after a while, man. No one can understand it. You can't understand anything about anybody. You're not inside anyone else's skin. If we could get a skin ticket to anybody's life, then maybe we would understand, but it's not for me to understand or try to figure it out or whatever. I just have to accept it and know that he was my buddy."

Wilson went on to praise Jordison's skills as a drummer, saying: "I'll say this: Joey was the best that ever did it. Hands down. The greatest drummers would come to our shows to watch this guy play. [THE POLICE drummer] Stewart Copeland came and saw us play and said, 'He's the one.' And he was. He was. That dude would hear anybody's music once and could play it. [METALLICA drummer] Lars [Ulrich] didn't make it to a [METALLICA] show once [at a 2004 festival in the U.K.]. We were playing with METALLICA. Joey got up there and played the set for him. He could hear anyone's music once and know how to play it without playing it. He was like that. He was amazing. And he was such a little dude. All that power. It's 'cause he was so little. He was, like, 'I'm gonna fucking show you, man. Don't think I ain't got it. Don't think I'm just some little dude, 'cause I'll fucking tear your face off.' He was like that. He had something to prove, man. Yeah, he was the best. And then I'll say [current SLIPKNOT drummer] Eloy [Casagrande] is a fresh breath of air for us. It hasn't felt like the beginning until he came along. And I'll leave it at that."

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.

Several years prior to his death, Jordison overcame the neurological condition acute transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord which damages nerve fibers, which ultimately led to the drummer temporarily losing the use of his legs.

Jordison and the members of SLIPKNOT had been silent and evasive about the reasons for his dismissal from the band, but Joey finally spoke about it in 2016 while accepting an award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in London, England.

Back in 2014, SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor told Metal Hammer that firing Jordison after 18 years was "one of the hardest decisions" the group ever made, adding that Joey is "in a place in his life" which is "not where we are."

Taylor said he could not get into specifics for legal reasons, but admitted, "It's when a relationship hits that T-section and one person's going one way and you're going the other. And try as you might to either get them to go your way or try and go their way, at some point you've got to go in the direction that works for you. This is me speaking in the broadest terms, with respect to Joey. I guess to sum it up, it was one of the hardest decisions we ever made."

Sid Wilson press photo courtesy of Big Hassle Media / Vomit Face Records