Mystery as noughties rock legend quits band who made him famous and they release cryptic statement
SLIPKNOT’S drummer Jay Weinberg has left the heavy metal band after 10 years.
Jay, 33, was named Metal Drummer of the Year for the second time in a row in September.
The band said that they made a “creative decision” to part ways with Jay – suggesting they asked him to step down.
In a cryptic statement, they said: “We would like to thank Jay Weinberg for his dedication and passion over the past ten years.”
“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. The band has decided to make a creative decision, and to part ways with Jay. We wish Jay all the best and are very excited for what the future holds.”
Jay joined the band just weeks after their original drummer Joey Jordison quit due to “personal reasons”.
In 2016 he revealed that he had a neurological disease that was the reason for leaving the band.
“I got really, really sick with a horrible disease called transverse myelitis. I couldn’t play anymore. It was a form of multiple sclerosis, which I don’t wish on my worst enemy,” he said at the time.
He passed away “peacefully in his sleep” in 2021 aged 46.
Jay played his final show with the band on Friday at the Hell & Heaven festival in Toluca, Mexico.
He is the son of Bruce Springsteen’s drummer Max Weinberg.
He performed on three albums with Slipknot – .5: The Gray Chapter, We Are Not Your Kind and The End, So Far.
There were rumours that the band is “cursed” after the band was hit by a series of tragic deaths.
Paul Gray, the band’s bassist, left millions of fans in mourning after he was found dead in a hotel room in 2010.
The musician, 38, had a mixture of fentanyl, Xanax and morphine in his system when he was found unresponsive.
Backing vocalist Shawn Crahan, known as “Clown”, lost his 22-year-old daughter Gabrielle Crahan after a “drug overdose” in 2019.
And the same year, fan Richard Valadez, 62, died at a Slipknot gig in Illinois shortly after he was hurt in a massive most pit.
He is one of three of the band’s followers to have passed away at shows – which were known to feature wild stunts.
Crahan, 51, almost lost his own life after diving headfirst into a bin filled with water during a festival and struggled to breathe for 35 seconds.
And Slipknot guitarist Mick Thompson, 47, was rushed to hospital with stab wounds after a wild knife fight with his brother in 2015.
Meanwhile, singer Corey Taylor, 47, has spoken of his drug abuse – and once said he was dumped in a bin while shirtless after a suspected drug overdose as a youngster.
US cops tried to link the band’s music to a murder in 2003 carried out by two metal fans who told detectives of their love of Slipknot.
Tragic Terry Ray Taylor, 22, was found with more than 20 stab wounds in San Bernardino, California, after killers said they knifed him after listening to a Slipknot CD.
And Ross Robinson, who produced the band’s breakout 2001 album Iowa, was confined to a wheelchair for much of the recording after breaking his back in a dirt bike accident.