SLIPKNOT co-founder and original drummer Joey Jordison has passed away at 46. According to his family, he died “peacefully in his sleep”.
Joey Jordison’s family stated “We are heartbroken to share the news that Joey Jordison, prolific drummer, musician and artist passed away peacefully in his sleep on July 26, 2021. He was 46. Joey’s death has left us with empty hearts and feelings of indescribable sorrow. To those that knew Joey, understood his quick wit, his gentle personality, giant heart and his love for all things family and music. The family of Joey have asked that friends, fans and media understandably respect our need for privacy and peace at this incredibly difficult time. The family will hold a private funeral service and asks the media and public to respect their wishes.”
Former Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison has spoken out over his departure from the band, insisting he did not leave of his own choice.
And although he stops short of saying he was fired, he admits he was “blindsided” by the move.
Fans were stunned last month when it was announced co-founder Jordison had “parted ways” with the band for “personal reasons.” Frontman Corey Taylor later admitted to frustration over the situation, saying: “Legally and respectfully, I can’t say a lot about it. We’re trying to protect him, protect us – just making sure we do everything right. It’s difficult.”
Now Jordison, who recently toured the UK with side-project Scar The Martyr, says: “I would like to start the New Year by addressing the recent rumours and speculation regarding my departure from Slipknot.
“I want to make it very clear that I did not quit Slipknot. This band has been my life for the last 18 years, and I would never abandon it, or my fans.
“This news has shocked and blindsided me as much as it has all of you. While there is much I would like to say, I must remain silent to further details at this time. I would like to thank you all for your unwavering love and support.”
Slipknot are preparing to record their first album since the death of co-founding bassist Paul Gray in 2010. Jordison had previously reported he’d written around 40 songs for the package, but Taylor recently confirmed none of them would appear – and warned those who thought the band was collapsing that they were “greatly and sadly mistaken.”
SLIPKNOT recently announced that they have parted ways with drummer Joey Jordison for personal reasons. Frontman Corey Taylor has taken to Twitter crushing rumors that the band is crumbling with the following statement:
“For those who think the Knot are falling apart, you are greatly and sadly mistaken. Bring on 2014. Great things are coming. Stay tuned…”
The band revealed Jordison’s departure via the following update:
“To our Maggots and fans around the world,
It is with great pain but quiet respect, that for personal reasons Joey Jordison and Slipknot are parting ways. We all wish Joey the best in whatever his future holds. We understand that many of you will want to know how and why this has come to be, and we will do our best to respond to these questions in the near future. It is our love for all of you, as well as for the music we create, that spurs us to continue on and move forward with our plans for releasing new material in the next year. We hope that all of you will come to understand this, and we appreciate your continued support while we plan the next phase of the future of Slipknot.
Thank you,
The ‘Knot
A video report from Artisan News is streaming below:
Harry of the Minneapolis radio station 93X spoke to SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR singer Corey Taylor earlier today (Friday, December 13). You can now listen to the chat using the SondCloud widget below. A few excerpts from the chat follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).
On SLIPKNOT‘s split with drummer Joey Jordison, one of the band’s founding members and key songwriters:
Corey: “Honestly, I can’t really talk about it right now. It’s still so fresh and there’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes that people don’t know about. So, legally and respectfully, I can’t say a lot about it. I can confirm that — obviously, we put something up on the web site but I can confirm that we have parted ways with Joey, and as soon as we can say something, we will. I mean, we’re trying to protect him, trying to protect us, just making sure that we do everything right, because that’s what we would expect from ourselves and that’s what we would expect from the fans. And I know the fans are chomping at the bit; it’s just we can’t really say anything right now. It sucks for them and it sucks for us, because, I mean, we have always really prided ourselves on being able to come out and be honest with everybody. But there’s really nothing we can say right now. And until we can, it’s just kind of… It’s difficult, but if people can bear with us, we’ll cross that bridge when we can.”
On the progress of the songwriting sessions for the next SLIPKNOT album:
Corey: “We’re working on new material right now and getting some stuff together. I’ve been writing some stuff, Jim [Root, guitar] has got a ton of stuff. The guys are actually together right now jamming and putting stuff together. It’s sounding really, really good. In light of yesterday’s news, I know it’s weird, but if anything positive can come out of this, it’s just that I hope the fans know that we’re really working towards putting out an album next year. So we’re deep in it right now.”
On whether Joey has been involved in the songwriting process for the next SLIPKNOT album:
Corey: “No, no. He’s been doing SCAR THE MARTYR. So this is all fresh material that just a handful of us have been putting together.”
On SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root sitting out STONE SOUR‘s next tour so he can concentrate on writing material for the next SLIPKNOT album:
Corey: “We wanted to go back out with STONE SOUR and do one more tour — just kind of wrap things up, because we were pretty smoked by the time we got done with the European run, especially with doing both bands, that we all just kind of needed some time off. But we wanted to go out and kind of do one more cool, quick run through the States, especially, and play some stuff off ‘House Of Gold And Bones Part 2’ that we never got a chance to, and just kind of make it fun for the fans. So we talked to Jim — Jim was in SLIPKNOT mode — so we talked to him about bringing a friend of ours, Christian Martucci, out to play, and he was fine with it, everybody was cool with it. So this is just kind of a way for us to kind of wrap everything up before I have to jump off the ship and start working on SLIPKNOT stuff as well.”
On when he will start getting more involved in the songwriting process for the next SLIPKNOT album:
Corey: “I’m letting them kind of work stuff out right now. I’ve got a handful of things that I’m doing… Obviously, I’m doing a tornado relief show in Peoria tomorrow, and I’m also filming a movie, which is pretty sweet. My schedule is pretty crazy, but I didn’t wanna hold them back from really jumping in and getting started on the writing process. So they’re sendinig me stuff, I’m kind of jotting down notes and everything. And I’ve been writing down a lot of lyrics and ideas for about a year and a half now, so I’m well ahead of the game. And just with the stuff that they’re coming up with, I’m working on arrangements and trying to kind of get as much pre-production done as I can while they’re doing rough demos and stuff, so once we do go into the studio next year, we’ll be just well rehearsed and ready to make this as live and heavy as possible.”
On the next SLIPKNOT album being the band’s first without bassist Paul Gray (who passed away in 2010) and Joey Jordison:
Corey: “Everybody’s kind of stepping up. I think that was one of the reasons why we took so long to kind of start breaking ground on something like this. Everybody was in really weird places in their lives. so we wanted to make sure that not only we were getting out to the fans and letting them kind of pay their respects and celebrate the music, but also giving us a chance to kind of come back to this band with a more positive attitude and be able to get our heads around the fact that we are gonna have to step it up and really and come in creatively ready to fill in those holes. In the last couple of months, it’s really started to feel like it’s time. Like I said, I’ve been writing stuff, Jim’s been writing stuff. Everybody’s really kind of coming up with these great ideas that sound very different, but they’re very SLIPKNOT. It’s just getting to the point where we’re getting very serious about it. And without getting too much into the Joey situation, it really felt like everybody in the band was on the sme page when it came to everything that was going on.”
SLIPKNOT announced its split with Jordison in a statement on the band’s web site late on Thursday (December 12) which read, “It is with great pain but quiet respect that, for personal reasons, Joey Jordison and SLIPKNOT are parting ways. We all wish Joey the best in whatever his future holds. We understand that many of you will want to know how and why this has come to be, and we will do our best to respond to these questions in the near future.”
The statement added, “It is our love for all of you, as well as for the music we create, that spurs us to continue on and move forward with our plans for releasing new material in the next year. We hope that all of you will come to understand this, and we appreciate your continued support while we plan the next phase of the future of SLIPKNOT.”
Jordison told The Pulse Of Radio not long ago that he expected great things out of the next SLIPKNOT record. “I think it’s gonna be really, really cool,” he said. “I think it’s gonna be a really, really great record because, I mean, everyone’s being really involved in the process and I think it should be, definitely for me it’s gonna be, I think it’s gonna be a healing process for all of us.”
Jordison has spent the past few months touring with his new project SCAR THE MARTYR, whose self-titled debut album came out in October.
Jordison joined SLIPKNOT in 1995 when the band was called THE PALE ONES. He was the third of the band’s eventual nine members to become part of the lineup.
Jordison has also been the lead guitarist for the group MURDERDOLLS, and has performed as a touring drummer for ROB ZOMBIE, KORN and MINISTRY. He even played for METALLICA one time when Lars Ulrich fell ill.
“It is with great pain but quiet respect that, for personal reasons, Joey Jordison and SLIPKNOT are parting ways. We all wish Joey the best in whatever his future holds.
“We understand that many of you will want to know how and why this has come to be, and we will do our best to respond to these questions in the near future.
“It is our love for all of you, as well as for the music we create, that spurs us to continue on and move forward with our plans for releasing new material in the next year. We hope that all of you will come to understand this, and we appreciate your continued support while we plan the next phase of the future of SLIPKNOT.
“Thank you, The ‘KNOT”
Jordison has spent the past few months touring with his new project SCAR THE MARTYR, whose self-titled debut album sold around 3,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 129 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was made available on October 1 via Roadrunner Records.
In addition to Jordison and lead vocalist Henry Derek Bonner (BLOOD PROMISE), SCAR THE MARTYR‘s current touring lineup features guitarists Jed Simon (STRAPPING YOUNG LAD) and Kris Norris (DARKEST HOUR), keyboardist Joey Blush and bassist Kyle Konkiel (IN THIS MOMENT).
In a recent interview with Australia’s Loud magazine, Jordison stated about the future of SLIPKNOT: “I can only speak for myself on the SLIPKNOT angle.
”
I spoke a long time ago in numerous interviews about the material that I had. I still have a lot of material.
“The future is bright with SLIPKNOT; we’re not going anywhere.
“You know, there’s nine eccentric guys in the band and some of us like to be more active than others.
“I have so much material, I like to be busy all the time. It’s like the seize-the-day type aspect on music and life.
“I want to get out as much art as I can while I’m here and I seem to get better the more that I do it.
“Right now my work is SCAR THE MARTYR, but SLIPKNOT isn’t going anywhere. You can mark my words on that.”
Guitarist Jim Root revealed earlier in the month that he will sit out STONE SOUR‘s early 2014 tour so that he can concentrate on writing music for the next SLIPKNOT record. A post at STONE SOUR‘s Facebook page stated, “With an impending SLIPKNOT album on the horizon, Jim will not be touring with STONE SOUR this winter . . . It was a difficult decision, but as the fans have wanted another STONE SOUR tour and Jim had responsibilities to the writing process with SLIPKNOT, we feel this is the best decision where everyone wins.”
SLIPKNOT‘s long-awaited fifth album will be its first since 2008’s “All Hope Is Gone” and first since the 2010 death of bassist Paul Gray.
Root and SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor spent the better part of the last year on the road with STONE SOUR behind that band’s two-album set, “House Of Gold And Bones”.
SLIPKNOT drummer Joey Jordison’s new band SCAR THE MARTYR is currently opening for ROB ZOMBIE and KORN across The United States on the Night of the Living Dreads Tour. “It’s amazing,” states a very enthusiastic Jordison. “We’re super-psyched to be part of the tour. I have a good history with those guys; it’s kind of like a reunion.” The history being referred to dates back to 2007 when Korn recruited Joey to join them on tour during David Silveria’s hiatus; he also appeared in their ‘Evolution’ video. Shortly thereafter, Jordison began touring with Rob Zombie after Tommy Clufetos left the band.
Having released their self-titled debut album in September via Roadrunner Records, Scar The Martyr features Jordison behind the kit, as well as Jed Simon of STRAPPING YOUNG LAD and Kris Norris of DARKEST HOUR on guitar, along with Chris Vrenna from NINE INCH NAILS on keyboards. Standing tall behind the microphone is the relatively unknown, until now, Henry Derek. It was actually King Ov Hell from GORGOROTH who recommended Henry to Joey. “Absolutely, Henry came in like a breath of fresh air. He was completely on fire; he had a whole bunch of lyrics. I wanted to get a vocalist who was virtually unknown. Sometimes when you get a singer, people already think they know exactly where this guy’s coming from and what it’s going to sound like. I wanted someone who was hungry and basically brand new. I didn’t want a singer who would bring something from another band that people might already judge. I had full confidence in Henry. I wanted a guy that I could trust, and had his own identity.”
According to Jordison, the name Scar The Martyr “is a really touchy subject. When you hear the word martyr, people jump to conclusions – it’s definitely got religious content.” Martyr is defined as one put to death for their beliefs, or one who endures great suffering on behalf of their beliefs. Yet “it absolutely never came from anything like that,” insists Joey. “There’s different types of martyrs. Anyone that will suffer for art, or die for a belief… it’s the same thing a lot of musicians do. They live, breathe, sleep, and die for their art. I think it’s almost the same as a true belief. We’re not a religious band by any means. It’s a play on words, very tongue-in-cheek, and I like the way it sounds. It’s so powerful – the word martyr makes people stop, then you put a couple other things on top of it. It’s so open-ended… I just leave it to the music. Listen and get your own meaning. It’s just a moniker, and the name actually doesn’t mean anything. It establishes the ideal of the music and where the heart is coming from. After that, it just becomes, it just is.” PANTERA is a prime example. “Exactly, you don’t think of the stupid car.”
Travis Smith, who’s done artwork for AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ICED EARTH, and NEVERMORE to name but a few, created the cover for Scar The Martyr. “I’m a big fan of everything Travis has done; he’s a really amazing artist. First thing I did was I sent him the tracks. In this day and age, if you even take something out of the studio, it’s going to end up online. But I knew I could trust him not to play it for anyone. This is how much faith I had in Travis. His artwork is insane! I told him to do something he hasn’t done before. Really listen to the music and take it… I like seeing people’s reactions, whether it’s good or bad. When you’re putting something out that’s from your heart, as long as it invokes an emotion, that’s all you can really ask for as an artist. So when another artist is doing something visually to the music I’ve written, I obviously have a big connection in his ideas and where he’s coming from. We talked about the imagery and what we wanted to go for over a few conversations; then I gave him the freedom. I told him what I was looking for, but I didn’t tell him how to do anything. He had that free reign and came back with all these images. He kept sending them, one after another. That’s how inspired he was; this guy totally gets it. I couldn’t have found anyone to do better artwork on that first record, and I’d love to work with him again.”
The deluxe version of Scar The Martyr contains a cover of ‘Complications’ by KILLING JOKE, which appeared on their self-titled debut in 1980. “It’s a super, super catchy song. It’s got four chords to it, including the chorus. It’s one of the simplest songs from one of the most important bands of the post-punk era; I like everything about that song! It’s so hypnotic. Of course I brought up the tempo; the Killing Joke version is a lot different. It’s more flow-y, and this is more of a charge. I metalled the fuck out of it! But at the same time it almost doesn’t sound like a metal track; there’s no lead guitar solo, nothing complicated about it. It’s ironic me saying complicated, but I just love the words to that song. Killing Joke is one of my favourite bands, ever. I’ve wanted to cover that song for 15 years. I’m not really into covers, but something about that spoke to me. So when I was in the studio, I did two takes of it. It’s not a hard song, but I was so into it. I made it heavy as shit, but still kept the natural feeling and I think it turned out cool. It was fun to do.”
Album producer Rhys Fulber is essentially the fifth member of FEAR FACTORY, and that certainly comes across in Scar The Martyr’s sound, as he steers the band wide and clear of Slipknot territory. “Right,” agrees Joey. “I’ve wanted to work with Rhys for so long. With the material I was writing… I love what he’s done with MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE, and of course Fear Factory. I wanted to make sure that if I wanted something tight, punchy, super fucking clear… I really wanted a precise production. But at the same time, where me and him are different, and where this band is different, I wanted to do my album raw and he wants to show off his production skills. We met in the middle and totally worked off each other. We worked more on sounds instead of… we need to make (METALLICA’s) Black Album part two. Once we had our goal, we just concentrated on getting great tones. One of the biggest challenges was with the 8-string tunes. That’s why you see bands like MESHUGGAH with notes poking out. We still used everything tube, straight-up. We didn’t use any processors, nothing like that. Getting that clarity and sound out of an actual tube amp with the 8-stings, that was a cool challenge.”
Joey definitely had home field advantage over Rhys (who’s from Vancouver, BC) as the album was recorded at Sound Farm Studios in Des Moines, IA where Slipknot did All Hope Is Gone. “Yeah, but he researched it online and I talked to him about it, and he totally loved it,” reveals Jordison. “Rhys did not want to leave. I’m used to working there, the studio’s just amazing. But in a way, it becomes your house so it’s not like a first impression anymore. I know it inside and out, but Rhys is out there – he was so blown away by just Iowa period. He was flipping out ‘cause the people were so nice. I’m like, ok L.A. guy – he’s from big cities. I went to his studio – and this is not a knock at all – but he’s got this really tight professional studio that’s the size of a bedroom; that’s the way he works. So when he was at Sound Farm, he was taking pictures everyday ‘cause it’s literally in the middle of nothing. There’s nothing for miles and miles. It’s nothing but beautiful landscape with a fucking professional studio; Rhys just had a fucking blast man. He’d go out with his coffee in the morning, and it really helped his work ethic because he really enjoyed his time here; it wasn’t like a job.”
The final track on the regular edition of Scar The Martyr is ‘Last Night On Earth’. What would you do if that was actually the scenario? If you knew you weren’t going to wake up in the morning because the planet would be blown to pieces. “That’s a good question. If we really knew that, we’d be so fucking terrified. You know you’re going to die, everything’s over with; this is really it. You’d be so stunned. You’d be fucking frozen within your own shell. You probably would not know what to do. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh man, I’m going to throw this great party.’ You’d be scared shitless. The whole world would go into chaos. The whole world would literally shut down; it would be complete fucking destruction if it was really the last night on Earth.”
‘Last Night On Earth’ is also the longest song on the album at eight and a half minutes. “As slow and as powerful as that song is, live it’s so fucking heavy it makes you want to shit yourself. It’s the ultimate heaviest thing I’ve ever been a part of on stage. We just crush that, it’s ultimate sludge.”
Scar The Martyr is very nearly a true solo effort as Jordison wrote all of the music, played drums and bass throughout, as well as rhythm guitar on the majority of the album. I didn’t have rehearsals ‘cause I didn’t have a band together. I had session musicians, which has turned into the band. I was really, really particular about who I wanted to be involved with. So when I recorded, I did all the drums first. Then I did the guitars directly after, rhythm tracks first. With the low-tunings, I didn’t have to do bass yet. There’s four tunings on the record, so I used different amps and different guitars. It’s not like a band finds what they’re comfortable in and that’s their tuning. With this band, there’s almost a guitar change every other song. It’s not like that’s what we’re trying to do. Henry can sing in every damn range. I don’t compare Henry to Corey (Taylor, Slipknot vocalist) at all. They’re completely different singers, but these are the type of singers I like to work with, that are completely versatile.”
Henry really shows his versatility live, going from a death metal roar to a clean melodic voice, and then back to growling. “That’s one thing I don’t think Henry’s got credit for yet, which we’ll probably showcase on the next record. I like melody and I have to have that kind of singer. I can’t handle a one-dimensional singer. I’ve been in bands like that before, and eventually you’re hindered by your singer. I’ve got the best singer in the world – Corey Taylor. I wanted another singer who can do that shit as well. I don’t like writing music that’s one-dimensional.”
Hearing Joey talk about the second Scar The Martyr album so soon after the release of their debut is rather intriguing. Reason being, when a band such as this comes together with members from Slipknot, Nine Inch Nails, Strapping Young Lad, and Darkest Hour, people automatically assume it’s a short lived all-star side project; but that isn’t the case. “What’s cool is I wrote all the stuff on the first record, but now I’ve employed myself with guys – (guitarist) Kris Norris has sent me 12 to 13 songs already. That’s all he does ‘cause he’s so into the band. It’s cool to see that excitement come back to me. I almost don’t have to lift a finger on the next record if I don’t want to. These guys have really adapted to the fucking sound that I’m going for. They’ve ran with it and are churning out riffs every other day. Kyle Konkiel, our bass player is writing stuff. (Guitarist) Jed Simon sent me eight songs. Henry is already demoing seven new songs. I’m sitting back and watching these guys go nuts. I have to go directly into the studio. I write probably three or four riffs, sometimes up to ten riffs a day. I demo them on my phone, a Zoom, whatever. I’m constantly writing, so when I go in a studio, I don’t demo like people do now; I’m still old school. I book the rehearsal studio, I set everything up and I go crazy. Going into the second record is going to be amazing dude; we’re so excited! And we’re happy that the fans are being cool and fucking enjoying this record; they’re not picking it apart. We’ve had so many great reviews – and if you don’t like the album, I’m so cool with that too.”
‘Blood Host’ is the first video from Scar The Martyr. It was shot in the rehearsal room, partly to keep it low budget. “Absolutely; and here’s another thing, I wanted to show the band off. People fake shit and all that crap – that’s actually us. We counted off and did three or four jams of ‘Blood Host’ and put out a video; it was that quick. We didn’t play to a track, that’s us rehearsing like we’re touring. That’s not acting like, ‘hey man you’ve got to slam cause I’m going to have a fucking shot on you so fake head-bang and pretend that you’re into it,’ No, that’s us rehearsing; no playback. I was telling the director, you’re going to get in the way, there’s going to be sweat pouring. We were literally heading out on tour in the next couple of days, so we were getting our necks all fucking ready. Don’t step on this cable, don’t unplug this guitar. Dude, all videos used to be done like that. Watch an old ROD STEWART video from the early ‘80s, or THE ROLLING STONES – the videos were different than the actual recordings ‘cause they would track it live and showcase the song like that. We did it old school.”
Looking ahead, Joey shares his plans going forward. “We’ve got The UK in December, and then we’re touring all the way through probably the fall of next year. I’ve got Slipknot shows that we’re placing in to keep the fans happy. We’re working on so much Slipknot material right now; the future of Slipknot looks great, fucking amazing. At the end of next summer we’ll be in the studio doing the next Slipknot record, up until then, nothing but touring our ass off with Scar The Martyr.”
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