In an interview with Spain’s The Metal Circus Weinberg’s reveals seeing Slipknot at 10 years old. Some 13 years later, he would be drumming for the band.
In an interview with Spain’s The Metal Circus Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg recounted the weeks just prior to the world hitting pause amid the pandemic. As the Coronavirus began to spread throughout Europe, Slipknot was wrapping a tour. That reality would become apparent when Slipknot would be forced to cancel more tour dates while staying home as closures began to take place throughout the world.
Weinberg spent a healthy portion of the discussion articulating how serious he takes the current pandemic. His perspective as both a touring musician and a concert-goer himself provided some honest insight about how he misses the experience of live music from both on and off the stage.
Weinberg recalled his first live experience with Bruce Springsteen. The drummer would jump in for the timeless anthem, “Born to Run” during a performance at Giants’ Stadium. The nerve-racking prospect might’ve rattled most but for Weinberg, the pressure only adds to the adrenaline of the moment.
Weinberg would also recount is very first metal experience in the 2001 Ozzfest tour. Among the performers on the bill, Ozzy, Slayer, and a then emerging outfit of nine-masked madmen from Iowa, Slipknot. Weinberg explained that seeing the band for the first time, coinciding with it being his first metal experience ever was something that blew his mind. Weinberg confided that the experience was frightening in how drawn he was to it.
Skip forward years later, at 23 years old, Weinberg would be sitting in a studio with all of 20 minutes to prepare for an audition with the band that proved so formative in his musical identity. Weinberg expressed how honored he felt to be in such a position and took the opportunity to play songs with the band that he was a fan of like, “Skin Ticket” and “Get This.” Weinberg never looked beyond the audition and approached the session as his chance to jam with a band that he was genuinely a fan of.
The next day, the band would begin work on .5: The Gray Chapter with Weinberg helming the drums.
Weinberg’s approach to his role within the core of Slipknot is equally reverent and receptive. He started his experience with Slipknot as a fan and continues to be and because of that, he understands that he needs to contribute his everything to the creative process. He compared Slipknot to a moving freight train and understands that the expectation is to keep pace.
Watch the complete interview with The Metal Circus and Jay Weinberg below.
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