Former Slipknot drummer and current member of Suicidal Tendencies, Jay Weinberg, is stepping into new creative territory with a solo project that has been over a decade in the making. In a recent interview with Matty Roberts on the Percussion Discussion podcast, Weinberg shared insights into this deeply personal endeavor, which he has been developing since his early twenties.
"I've been embarking on a recording project that's been really near and dear to my heart for a long time, music I've been writing and working on since my early twenties. So I've been putting considerable time into that. It's pretty much just me and also inviting friends who I've always wanted to collaborate with. It feels like there's a wide, diverse maybe sonic palette that I'm working with, but it all kind of comes from my background in music."
"It's all stuff that I feel is true to the music that I love, but it's kind of a little bit more varied than, I suppose, I've ever really dug into before. So working with different friends who I'm, like, 'Oh, you know what? So-and-so would be great to play with on this, or to sing on this,' and stuff. So I'm in the middle of that process right now and kind of figuring out how to integrate that in somewhat of a live setting where I know I'm not gonna be able to play the drums and the guitar and the bass and the keyboards all at the same time," he added.
Balancing his commitments with Suicidal Tendencies, Weinberg is also figuring out how to bring this music to a live audience. "Doing these solo performances [at some of my recent drum clinics], it's been a lot of fun personally. And finding the opportunity where, for example, we'll [Suicidal Tendencies] be on tour with Metallica [this spring and summer], having a show every like five days, so finding time in there to take advantage of some good downtime around America, why not try to do some independent, solo kind of clinic-style events and try to get this stuff that I've been working on forever somewhat integrated into that.
"So that's kind of a little peek into the logistics of making things happen. But that's very exciting. Figuring out all these kinds of solo, more independent pursuits is very, very exciting to be embarking on right now. But it's a whole lot of planning that goes into it."
Beyond his solo work, Weinberg reflected on his time with Slipknot, particularly the physical and artistic demands of performing with the band. When asked if wearing a jumpsuit and mask made performing more difficult, he explained that it was not something he saw as a problem.
"Not that I describe as a problem. Obviously, having been acquainted with the band since a really early age, I knew the lengths to which the art demands it of the band members, that commitment to that aspect of the band — the physicality, the fact that this is a specific part of this specific band that… Not only does the music demand everything of you, but the commitment to the art of everything that surrounds it, and as I learned, really, the music is just one component of the greater picture. And like many things, there's no way to really prepare for that other than doing it. And luckily, in a way, although I would later realize that it was kind of completely backward of, our live show really informed how we would write together and how we would record together,” he explained.
“Our second album together was a much more refined effort. We took three years of writing that from the ground up, and I had whatever it was — a hundred-something, 200 shows or something — behind me. That informed, 'Oh, that's what actually playing in this band is about.' But I had this whole year of being in the band, of making a record and stuff, before that first show, before any of those other artistic elements came into it. I was just focused on helping create new music, but knowing full well what was ahead of me, what was ahead of the effort of creating an album, which already was a tremendous endeavor. But to then know at the end of that, then the real work starts. And that was something that we discussed a lot," Weinberg continued.
Weinberg’s entry into Slipknot came at a pivotal moment, following the loss of bassist Paul Gray, who was a primary songwriter for the band. He reflected on how that period shaped his understanding of what it meant to be part of the group: "We took a huge amount of time between my first joining the band and then playing a show where, yes, making the record helped create a connection, especially in a very, very difficult transitional phase for the band with the loss of, of [Slipknot bassist] Paul Gray, the primary songwriter of the band. That was a huge thing to overcome. And I feel it was through the effort of making [.5:] The Gray Chapter that was like a huge rebirth element — lots of things to celebrate, but also mourn in between that.”
It’s easy to forget that, despite being a fan of the band before joining, Weinberg had to earn his place among musicians who had built a legacy long before him…
“So, while I'm kind of caught in the middle of this very turbulent transitional phase, at the age of 23 joining this band, all of these moments and learning about each other… And yes, we had been friends for a while, but not in this way. We weren't collaborating. That was really the only kind of flick-of-a-switch sort of moment, was that we went from being friends and these guys that I had admired from a distance to all of a sudden now we're working on stuff together and we've gotta see how this works and we've gotta feel each other out. I think anybody in that situation would be put through a necessary gauntlet of making sure 'this is our guy.'”
His time in Slipknot challenged him in ways he had never experienced before, but it also prepared him for the artistic journey he is now embarking on: “It was a difficult creative process in really pushing myself in ways that I had never pushed myself before but that I'm very grateful for because it allowed me to really open up to that process. And I think in being open for that to that process and the growth that I had to kind of embark on to meet the challenge head on, that made the transition into, like, 'Okay, yeah, now playing with a super-heavy piece of rubber on my face with fire enveloping all the oxygen on stage' and so on and so forth, that just became one in a sequence of incredible challenges.”
“And then you break through, as we'd call them, breaking through veils, which takes a long time, and you only do that when you put in the effort. And so there were periods where it's like breaking through this veil of writing a song together for the first time, and then writing two songs together for the first time, and having those be songs that we're gonna play a lot live. And then, 'Okay, now we've done our first show together.' 'Now we've done our first tour together,' blah, blah, blah, as life goes on. These were all incredible learning moments for myself," Weinberg elaborated.
Weinberg went on to explain how his role in Slipknot changed his perspective on the band: "Yeah, learning how to play with all the physical elements that I knew the art would demand, as a fan of the band, now I had to kind of approach it from, like, 'Okay, well, I'm no longer a fan. This has changed our relationship in a kind of a tangible way where I'm not just looking at this from the outside. Now I'm learning how to best contribute from the inside.'”
That shift – from admiring a band to being part of it – is something few musicians experience, especially at the scale of Slipknot. Weinberg embraced that challenge, constantly pushing himself to evolve within the role.
“I believe my proximity to the band preceding that, I think, allowed me to think deeper and deeper into that process of what would be expected of me, what I expect of myself, how I wanna push the boundaries of this element. How is my mask gonna define me? How are the artistic qualities that I can bring to the table going to shape this element in a way that I think serves my contribution well. So, that's kind of where all that stuff, over the course of 10 years, was just refining itself, re-evolving and finding out how to go deeper and deeper with it. It was definitely a creative process I enjoyed."
