Slipknot have undergone quite a few lineup changes throughout their career, and every time someone new joins the band, they keep their identity hidden for as long as possible. Well, the fans have now given the new mystery member, who replaced longtime keyboardist Craig Jones, a nickname.
Hidden identities have been part of Slipknot's shtick since the late '90s, with some of the members first showing their unmasked faces publicly in the early 2000s. As members came and went, they repeated the process, especially with Alessandro "V-Man" Venturella and Jay Weinberg, who both joined the Iowa group in 2014.
When Chris Fehn parted ways with the 'Knot in 2019, they recruited a new member by the time they released the video for "Unsainted," which was the first track they shared from the album We Are Not Your Kind. The internet quickly nicknamed the new member "Tortilla Man," as his first mask actually kind of resembled a crispy tortilla. Now, the games have started all over again.
Slipknot announced the departure of Jones in early June, and shortly after, they shared an image of the new mystery member on their social media without any further context. The new keyboardist has played a bunch of shows with the band since then, and Slipknot fans have come up with a couple of theories as to who they think the unidentified musician may be.
It took Slipknot almost three years to formally reveal the identity of Tortilla Man as Michael Pfaff, though fans had been speculating he was behind the mask for a while. Regardless, even if fans are able to uncover the identity of this new member, if they stick to their old ways, we won't have an official confirmation for a while. So, fans came up with a nickname for the new guy in the meantime, just like they did with Pfaff.
Greg. Greg Bones.
The Gimp, Leatherface, Zipper Dude and Hoodie Guy were among the popular contenders for the musician's nickname, but the comment on a Reddit post that received the most upvotes said "Greg Bones," likely because of how similar it sounds to Craig Jones.
"Be careful here maggots, what we say will stick. Tortilla Man was named and identified thanks to this sub," someone commented on the initial post.
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A bunch of other fans just commented "Greg" in return, so it stuck, and now nearly every post on the Slipknot Reddit page about the new member has referred to him as Greg. Coincidentally, there actually was a Greg in Slipknot at one point — Greg Welts, whose nickname was Cuddles. He was in the band for about a year after Anders Colsefni's departure in 1997, and he was known for wearing a baby mask onstage.
Cuddles was replaced by Brandon Darner, who was eventually succeeded by Fehn, though Darner wore the original mask with the Pinocchio-like nose. They really do have quite a history.
Welcome to our neighborhood, Greg Bones.
