Former Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg has discussed his time in the band in a new interview with Suicide Silence guitarist Chris Garza. Across a sprawling two-hours-40-minutes conversation, the pair discuss everything from Weinberg's early influences and passions to the various bands he's played in over the years, from Bruce Springsteen to Madball and Against Me!
He also reveals how he did a blind audition to play with the members of Slipknot in December 2013 - 24 hours before the group announced they had parted ways with Joey Jordison.
"It was the day after our first jam session together," Weinberg explains when Garza asks when he first heard Jordison was leaving the group. "The next day [Joey's departure] was announced."
Garza goes on to ask if "the rumours are true", that Weinberg had no idea who he was actually auditioning for and Weinberg confirms.
"I got a phone call that was cryptic in nature, but obviously it was a big change," he says. "The stakes around that information [about Joey leaving] are high, so someone in my position receiving an invitation based on that change… there’s a lot of trust with no information. You have to be willing to jump down a rabbit hole where it’s like, ‘We can’t tell you what this is about but can you join us for a thing?’ Thats it: that's all the information I had."
Weinberg officially joined Slipknot in 2014, making his debut on the single The Negative One, taken from that year's .5: The Gray Chapter, which was released on October 21, 2014. He spent almost a decade with the band, recording two more albums in 2019's We Are Not Your Kind and 2022's The End, So Far before being dismissed in November 2023, just two days after the band's The End So Far finished in Mexico.
But although his dismissal came as a shock, Weinberg admits to Garza that he has no regrets, citing a friend who told him "the only constant in life is impermanence".
Post-Slipknot, Weinberg became the live drummer for crossover thrashers Suicidal Tendencies, touring with the band for almost 18 months before departing earlier this year.
In terms of upcoming projects, Weinberg has been working on a solo album with a number of guest musicians, releasing the singles Sandstone (with Deafheaven's George Clarke) in November 2025 and Drone Operator (with former Code Orange vocalist Jami Morgan and guitarist Shade Balderose) in March 2026.
He also confirmed he has been working with Mark Whelan, vocalist of death metal group Fuming Mouth after being spotted in the studio in May 2025. Weinberg will release the debut album by his new band Portraits Of An Apparition - a collab with Whelan and noise artist Conner Sullivan, also known as Argus - later this year. Their official website suggests a summer release date with live shows in the UK and Europe lined up for September.
Watch the full interview with Jay Weinberg below.
