Jay Weinberg On Joining Slipknot: "I Had A Lot To Prove To Myself And To My New Bandmates"

After meeting Slipknot as a youngster and being a fan of the band from a young age, Jay Weinberg has revealed his mindset once he joined the metal titans back in 2014 – and how he had a lot to prove a lot to both himself and his new bandmates.

Speaking to The Metal Circus, the sticksman says that he didn't so much feel like he needed to prove himself to the ’Knot's fanbase after replacing departed founding drummer Joey Jordison; it was more important to him to show Corey Taylor and co. that they had "made the right decision" in picking him, and that he understood what his role would be "in the context of a band changing its dynamic so dramatically".

Read this: The 20 greatest Slipknot songs – ranked

"I had a lot to bring and a lot to prove – not to an audience," he says (via Blabbermouth). "I didn't concern myself with that, because I can't control that – I can't control how a listening audience is going to accept new Slipknot songs that are my first songs playing with the band or whatever; I can't control how anybody's gonna react to that. But I had a lot to prove to myself, I had a lot to prove to my new bandmates, that, for whatever reason, they were drawn to my playing and that I was asked to be a part of their band for a reason."

Jay explains that he still has this approach even six years and two studio albums later, continuing, "…That's something that I feel really strongly about to this day. I don't take my role within the band very lightly – I take it very seriously, ’cause it means a lot to me, and I understand it means a lot to other people. Because before I joined this band, this band meant a lot to me. So I understand how Slipknot's audience perceives the band and makes it a part of their lives as well."

He also suggests that he wanted to bring his own unique flavour to the mix after joining: "…And so whether that's working on new songs and giving my own kind of spin on what I can do within the framework of a Slipknot song, that was important to me, because I'm not gonna emulate anybody, I'm not gonna try to be anybody else, ’cause that's gonna come off as phoney, that's gonna come off as disingenuous. And I'm not interested in that, and my bandmates aren't interested in that.

"I think what we discovered was that there was a new, exciting sound that was existing in the dynamic between us, and that happened through working on songs that they had been working on before I came into the band, and then when we would work on things together as collaborations, that would bring about songs like The Negative One and Custer, stuff like that. That was exciting."

Watch the full interview below:

Read this: Freaks unleashed: The story behind Slipknot’s debut album