Former Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg opened up about his firing from the band. He addressed whether he still feels he needs an explanation for it.
Weinberg was asked directly whether he still feels he needs a reason for his dismissal, given that he never received one from the band. He reflected on how difficult it was to process the situation without closure, and explained how he has since found his own way to move past it.
“No. Sure, there’s no easy way to, like, compartmentalize that in your life,” Weinberg said. “You know, at the time, it was a third of my life, you know, spent in one band. So certainly there are, like, difficult ways of, like, navigating that, especially if you don’t, like— if you don’t have any answers or any kind of closure.”
He went on to explain how he arrived at that sense of closure on his own terms, and offered a pointed remark about the band’s current state.
“Like, you have to, in a lot of ways, provide your own sense of closure,” he continued. “And that doesn’t come easy. You know, that comes with, like, a good therapist, which, you know, which I’m fortunate to have, and a great friend group and people who understand stuff on that level. And then, you know, it’s like, ultimately, it’s like what kind of comments do I have to say about, you know, this clown show that just is does what it does?”
Weinberg was also asked whether, at 23 years old, he was still discovering who he was while simultaneously becoming one of the most visible drummers in the world. He traced his path through earlier bands before landing the Slipknot gig.
“Sure. I mean, you remember what it’s like being 23,” Weinberg said. “Like, you’re putting together so many aspects of your life, your passion for what it is that you’ve found in music, and that’s community, identity, expression, some sort of discovery of self, and, you know, wanting to prove yourself in some way. You know, to that point, it’s like I’d done some stuff on, like, on levels that challenged me for sure.”
He continued by describing the experiences that led him toward the opportunity with Slipknot.
“Like, you know, playing with Brisbane was a significant challenge at 18 years old,” he said. “You know? And then obviously, with that coming to a natural conclusion that it did, I wanted to pursue, like, okay, so what’s going to come after that, and how do I push myself? And, you know, that led to me having experiences with, like, Madball and Against Me and stuff, and learning, again, like, as a teenager, what it is that I want to do in music.”
Weinberg then described how he approached the call to join Slipknot despite the pressure that came with it.
“So then, sure, like all of that said, then receiving a phone call to take this step that I knew would likely be the largest challenge that I had faced so far, but not wanting to shy away from that,” he said. “Like, I’ve always kind of viewed these opportunities as, like, you know, for whatever reason that I can’t define because I’m the person being asked, but for whatever reason the things that I’ve done have led me to a place where somebody’s calling me to be a part of something. I have to follow and honestly kind of step out of my own way of, like, well, why are they calling me? You know, like, I can’t answer that sort of question, but I know that the only way to approach it, especially something like that, is with ferocity and intent and love for it, really, you know, and depth.”
Weinberg’s remarks come more than two years after his abrupt exit from Slipknot, a departure that unfolded with little warning and even less explanation from the band.
Slipknot announced on November 5, 2023, that it had made a “creative decision” to part ways with Weinberg, ending his decade-long run as the band’s drummer. The announcement came just days after he had performed with the band at the Hell & Heaven festival in Mexico, catching fans and Weinberg himself off guard.
“I was heartbroken and blindsided to receive the phone call that I did on the morning of November 5th; the news of which, most of you learned shortly after,” Weinberg said in a statement released shortly after his exit was made public.
In the years since leaving Slipknot, Weinberg has stayed active across the metal and hardcore scenes, lending his drumming to a string of different projects. He joined Suicidal Tendencies, recorded with Fuming Mouth, played with Softcult, and continued work with his own band, Portraits of an Apparition.
His run with Suicidal Tendencies proved to be another chapter rather than a permanent home. Weinberg stepped away from that band in early 2026, as he prepared for the birth of his first child. The departure marked another turning point in a career defined by constant reinvention since his split from Slipknot.
Source: Metal Injection
