Now that Slipknot have revealed their new masks in their excellent new music video for "The Devil And I," the promo cycle for their new album is under way. And that means lots of interviews. Which is good for you, the Slipknot maggot, because maybe you'll be able to get some answers… like why did Slipknot fire Joey Jordison? You may recall that Jordison made it clear he did not quit the band, but rather was pushed out.
In a new interview with Metal Hammer, frontman Corey Taylor was asked just that and he seemed a bit evasive:
"I can't talk too much about it because we're going through the legalities of everything right now and settling everything, but it's when a relationship hits that T-section and one person's going one way and you're going the other. And try as you might to either get them to go your way or try and go their way, at some point you've got to go in the direction that works for you. This is me speaking in the broadest terms, with respect to Joey. I guess to sum it up, it was one of the hardest decisions we ever made."We're all happy right now and we hope that he is. I've known him since '91, and that was before we were in bands together, and he's incredibly talented; he's just in a place in his life, right now, that's not where we are… in the nicest terms."
If you think maybe Taylor is referring to possible substance abuse problems, you're not the only one. Metal Hammer asked Taylor directly if substance abuse was at all involved in their decision:
"There's only so far that I can give an explanation. For me, that has to be a sign of growing up, because before I would've just railed at whatever I thought the supposed evil was, but now it's like, how do you explain to the fans? And that's the hardest part, because no matter what explanation you give, it's not gonna make them happy. I'm sure there are fans out there who have their own theories about it.
Well, I guess that's fair. He's trying to be as noble as possible here. As for Taylor and Jordison's personal relationship, it's understandably nonexistent since the split:
"I haven't talked to Joey in a while, to be honest. That's how different we are. It's not because I don't love him and I don't miss him. And it is painful; we talk about him all the time, but at the same time, do we miss him or do we miss the old him? That's what it really comes down to. It's just a fucking shame."
Now why didn't Metal Hammer just ask Corey to confirm that Jay Weinberg is the new drummer in the band?
