It's been almost a year since Slipknot officially parted ways with Joey Jordison and still, not much is known as to the reasoning for Jordison's departure. One thing we know for sure is that it was a dismissal. Jordison himself said that he never quit the band.
From the beginning, frontman Corey Taylor has said he didn't want to discuss the departure due to certain legalities, and has remained rather mum ever since.
On last week's Jasta Show, hosted by Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta, Taylor was asked again about dismissing Jordison and gave the most informative answer to date on Jordison's departure:
"There's legalities [that are involved which prevent me from talking about it], but at the same time — and people need to realize this — there's respect. I'm not gonna talk about Joey's life, because it's not my place, and people need to realize that. If Joey wants to talk about the situation, he can. I can only talk about how it pertains to this band, and the only way I've been able to sum it up — and this is the broadest term — is that sometimes you're on the same road, and you'll reach a T section, and sometimes you turn together, and sometimes you split. And this time we split. It was just that simple. We just weren't able to work anymore. And that's it."
After Jasta called his response "all class," Taylor continued:
"I'm not gonna sit here and dog somebody that I spent 15 years building something amazing with — I'm not gonna do that. And the fans need to understand that. And I think for the most part most of them do, but there's always gonna be those people who just want a little more so they can talk shit. And that's the only reason why they want the full story — so they can talk shit."
I admire Taylor taking the high road here. There is no reason for him to bash Jordison anymore. Sure, selfishly, I wish he would just for the shit it would stir and the resulting pageviews it would bring to our site, but I respect his decision. I feel like many bands can take a cue from Slipknot on how to deal with such a departure.
Jasta, being great at the followup, also asked Taylor if Jordison's presence was missed during the recording of the new album:
"You know… That's a great question, by the way. And I'd never really thought about it until you just brought it up. Because, at the time, you're just kind of trying to get through it. You've got this idea of what the album could sound like. Everybody's really positive, so you're not ignoring it, but you're just kind of charging through. There are definitely times where you miss his ability to, kind of, see. But me and [percussionist] Clown and [guitarist] Jim [Root]… It was kind of like the times where you miss [late SLIPKNOT bassist] Paul [Gray] and what he brought to it, and everybody, kind of, had to fill in those blanks."
"Me and Jim are the first ones to say that we learned so much from working with Paul that we've been able to take his, I don't wanna call it 'method,' but the way he used to do things, and we've applied it to what we did. And it was kind of like that with [Joey]. Joey, for the most part, was definitely a general in the studio, because he had such a great mind for it and knowing how to get the right kind of sonics and how to do certain thngs, and what the other potential for, like, ear candy or intros and stuff like that. So you kind of have to fill that blank in as well."
Jasta also asked if they "cracked the whip" on the new drummer. While neither mentioned Jay Weinberg by name, it's almost guaranteed at this point that he's the drummer:
"We were kicking his ass. Oh yeah. But he was loving it, man. Ah, dude, he was so into it. 'Cause he's a fan, you know?! There was a part of him that was kind of pinching himself that this was happening, but then the other part of it was just like, 'Let's fucking do it.' So it was really, really cool."
Again, I admire Taylor for taking the high road here. Slipknot also celebrated a #1 record last week, but most certainly will not get a #1 this week as pop star Taylor Swift is projected to sell over a million records of her new album, 1989, making it the first album released this year to go platnium.
Slipknot are currently on the road with Korn and King 810. Dates available here.
[Interview transcriptions via Blabbermouth]
