slipknot
16:53 Saturday, 1 July 2023
Slipknot parted ways with longtime keyboardist Craig Jones on June 7. The announcement was then taken down a few hours later and replaced by the above photo of what was clearly a brand new member. Though some believed that Jones may not have left the band and only received a new mask.
Then in an interview a few weeks later, vocalist Corey Taylor said Slipknot took "a little more time" to figure out their situation with the new guy and that "it took him a second to kind of find his way."
"Obviously, any time you have a change like that, it makes you have to kind of lean into adversity a little bit. We took a little more time to kind of figure things out. Obviously, [him being a] new guy." He later added: "[He's] good — really good. He's a total musician. But it took him a second to kind of find his way. But now he's killing it; now he's really, really good."
So who the hell is this guy? Well, according to a now-deleted Instagram story by percussionist Michael Pffaf, it's Zac Baird. Baird was one of the keyboardists that fans believed could've replaced Jones, and it sure looks like the name "Zac" is right next to all Mick Thomson's stuff in the photo below.
Of course Slipknot hasn't confirmed this, but when have they ever? Baird certainly has the experience too, as he played for Korn between 2006 and 2016, and then for Ghost live between 2017 and 2018.