Former Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg opened up about the future of his career and his search for a musical home.
Weinberg was asked directly whether he was still searching for that ultimate gig, one he could dedicate the majority of his time to and take back out on the road. He responded openly about his priorities and aspirations.
“Sure, yeah. In a word, yes,” Weinberg said. “I think all of us aspire to find the playing scenarios that we can plug in and feel alive and really go the distance of channeling something that takes that focus and time in the ways that it packs your schedule and packs your life and you’re able to dig deep.”
He went on to reflect on his personal life and what drives him creatively.
“Yeah, I think much in the way that I’ve enjoyed being on the flip side and taking some time to focus on starting my family with my wife and really just being focused on that, yeah, at a certain point, I think while it is so fun to be doing many disparate things, I think my favorite part of being a musician is finding that tribe that you can really sink your teeth into something creatively,” he continued.
Weinberg also spoke about the unpredictable nature of a creative career and the importance of taking initiative.
“And that takes many different shapes and forms, and who knows what those things are? And the life of a creative person is, hopefully, long and meandering and interesting and full of collaborations that are unexpected,” he said. “All of the things I’ve ever done in my life have been unexpected to some degree. And I’ve always felt within myself a complete inability to say no to a thing that is just, like… I find many creative opportunities just impossible to shy away from, and seeing how I can sink my teeth into.”
He further emphasized the importance of proactivity and inspiring others in today’s music landscape.
“The music world has always been very much the Wild Wild West, and it’s more so that today than it ever has been,” Weinberg said. “So to take those tips of doing things that feel right, that feel like they’re based in expression and community and stuff, you then get to share that, and maybe that expresses to a younger artist out there that, like, ‘Oh, that thing’s possible. I just have to do it myself.’ If the thing that you want to exist in the world doesn’t exist, it’s on you to create that thing.”
He concluded by describing his overall philosophy toward his many ongoing projects.
“That’s kind of how I look at all these projects, and to know that my time spent in music and in art and just being at events and showing up and always wanting to be proactive in my life… I’ve never been comfortable being someone who just kind of sits around and lets life happen to them,” he said. “I’ve always been inspired by people who go out and do their thing. And it just seems like the right thing to do. So, yeah, that’s where a lot of these things are based in. And though it is very disparate and I have my attention on many kind of spinning plates in the air at the moment, there is something really exciting about that, that I enjoy.”
Weinberg’s remarks about wanting a musical home come against the backdrop of a series of significant moves he has made over the past several months.
Weinberg stepped away from Suicidal Tendencies earlier this year after roughly two years behind the kit for the veteran crossover thrash outfit. His wife is expecting their first child. He also pointed to a growing list of music projects as reasons for the departure. This reinforces the sense that he is deliberately narrowing his focus toward fatherhood and the creative ventures that matter most to him.
Weinberg has stepped back from a full-time band commitment. Even so, he has kept himself busy launching new music under his own name. He released his debut solo single, “Sandstone,” featuring Deafheaven vocalist George Clarke. Weinberg called it a personal milestone, the first song he has ever released under his own name and the opening entry in a planned series of collaborations he hopes to build into a full EP, showcasing facets of his artistry outside the bands he has played in throughout his career.
Weinberg has also continued developing passion projects beyond his solo output, projects that reflect his restless creative energy. He has been involved with Portraits of an Apparition. He has also teased additional in-the-works projects that he has not yet been able to announce publicly. This underscores just how many creative plates he currently has spinning.
Taken together, these moves paint a picture of a musician who is far from done chasing new creative outlets, even as he weighs what it would mean to commit fully to one project again.
