Steel Notes Magazine May 2014 | Page 14

The UndergrounD by Stormy Boz

Can Slipknot Survive ? Life after Paul Gray and Joey Jordison .

Slipknot has been a part of the metal scene since they made their first appearance in 1998 .

They were the band that scared your parents and spoke to you through their music . Out of what appeared to be mass chaos on stage , came a show that left the audience wanting more . The critics said a band with 9 members that included 3 percussionist , a DJ , two loud guitars , gritty bass lines , a sampler and a vocalist that is undeniably one of the best in the business would never make it . They proved their critics wrong and have fans or “ Maggots ” who would follow them to the ends of the earth . Question is , can Slipknot survive the loss of two of their founding members ?

The loss of Paul Gray on May 24 , 2010 was devastating , not only to the band but also to their loyal fans across the world . When the news hit , everyone wondered if Slipknot would continue on . Members of the band were busy doing his own side project and there was concern if the band would continue after the loss of Paul . No one was more vocal about continuing than Corey Taylor . He stated several times , “ I ’ m very conflicted about whether or not I want to do anything with Slipknot , because to me , Paul was such an integral part of the band1 ”.

Eventually , they did come back together and had three extremely successful summers of touring that included the headlining slot of Rockstar Mayhem Music Festival 2012 and Download Festival 2013 as well as the inaugural Knotfest in 2012 . To cover Paul ’ s bass parts for all of the live shows , they turned to a former member , Donnie Steele . Donnie has played Paul ’ s bass parts from behind the curtains since 2011 . The musicianship is still there but the mass chaos is not what it used to be . Something is missing and that is Paul Gray on the bass .

With the loss of Paul , the fans were actually excited to hear in late 2013 that Slipknot would be entering the studio in early 2014 to start work on a new album . It was stated that an estimated release date would be sometime in 2015 . Granted , all of the members had been working on personal side projects , but the impression was that all members were on board with this new album . The album that was going to be a tribute to fallen member Paul Gray . That is until , December 12 , 2013 .

The headlines said it all , “ Slipknot Parts Ways with Drummer2 ”. I , like most of the fans was devastated , confused and a bit angry . Why were they parting ways ? What is going on ? All that was being said is , “ I can confirm that we have parted ways with Joey and as soon as we can say something , we will , but we ’ re trying to protect him , trying to protect us , just making sure that we do everything right because that ’ s what we would expect from ourselves and what we would expect from the fans . 3 ” per Corey .

14 | Steel Notes Magazine www . steelnotesmagazine . com | May 2014