Slipknot Frontman “Not Happy” About New Members Reveal

When fans are given a mystery they really want the answer to, they could be better detectives than those at your police department.

When Slipknot announced that there were two new members in the band filling the two vacancies that the band had, fans were a little less than thrilled with the fact that frontman Corey Taylor had been mum about the real life identities of them.

Instead of waiting for Taylor to make an official announcement which he kind of hinted at, the fans went ahead and started to investigate and once the music video for “The Devil in I,” was released, it only confirmed the identity of at least one new member thanks to a distinct tattoo on the masked band member’s hand.

It just looked like the months of being discreet backfired in one simple scene.

“I was, like, ‘Why didn’t we make him wear gloves?’ I was so upset. I was, like, we thought of all this stuff. We put the hood on him and then the mask, and it was, like, ‘It’s really hot, guys,’ And then there is his tattoos for everybody [to see]. I was, like, ‘Well, we missed the mark on that one.’”

The new bassist was confirmed to be Alessandro “Vman” Venturella, guitar tech for bands like Mastodan and Coheed & Cambria.

And then the identity of the drummer was released soon after and was somewhat confirmed when Against Me! frontwoman Laura Jane Grace sent Slipknot a cryptic tweet about their choice in drummers. The news then surfaced that former Against Me! drummer Jay Weinberg, who quit via Twitter, was Slipknot’s new drummer.

When asked about the new members in a recent interview, Taylor revealed that they are not “official” members of Slipknot yet and that only time will tell if they get that position.

“They’re not official band members yet, but they are people who play with the band,” Taylor said.  “Time will tell whether or not they’re, like, full members. “With this band, you earn everything. You’re not just given that shot; you have to earn it. And so far, they’re doing really well. And we’re really enjoying jamming with them.”

Guess that explains why Weinberg and Venturella are wearing matching masks.

Slipknot Reveal New Masks in “The Devil in I”

Earlier this week, Corey Taylor revealed that the new members of Slipknot would be getting masks to fit the band’s image, but the new mask would be identical.

His reasoning behind the decision was to include them in the band, but at the same time,  not be disrespectful to the memories of the former members, late bassist, Paul Gray and recently released drummer, Joey Jordison).

But like with most of their albums, the other members of the group would receiving new mask and now, fans of the Iowa-based band are getting the change to see the new masks in the band’s newly released music video, “The Devil in I.”

“The Devil in I” is the band’s second music video and single from their upcoming album, .5: The Gray Chapter. The first single off of the upcoming record was “The Negative One” which sealed the confirmation that the new record was on its way when they streamed the song on their website a few months back. .

.5: The Gray Chapter is due out on Oct. 21 through Roadrunner Records. Though there has been no official confirmation on who will be filling the void left by Gray and Jordison, we are expecting that to be revealed soon since the album is almost here.

There’s also that little issue of their North American, “Prepare for Hell” tour with Korn and King 810.

Slipknot Frontman Talks New Masks, New Album

Slipknot is probably more well-known for their crazy and outrageous masks and how they tend to change the designs of them depending on their albums. With two important members of the group gone from the line-up and no current replacements known, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor was recently asked about those iconic masks that distinguish each individual member.

In the interview, Taylor revealed that one design had been created for the incoming bassist and drummer. Though that sounds like they are trying to not include them in the group, Taylor reveals why they decided to take that path.

“We wanted to make something that still looked unified but still stayed with the spirit of what the band is all about. Instead of trying to find something that was individualistic, we designed — well, Clown designed a mask that the drummer and the bass player will both wear. On one hand they get a mask but at the same time, it’s not the individual mask that we in the band use.

We knew that any attempt to do anything like that might be taken as disrespectful, but at the same time it’s part of the way of moving, getting past the hardest steps, which is just moving on. So, we decided that we would come up with a mask that works for both the bassist and the drummer and that’s what they’ll wear on stage.”

Considering that this was the first album that was recorded without founding members, Paul Gray who died of an accidental overdose in 2010 and Joey Jordison who “left” the band earlier this year, Taylor had also been asked what it was like recording without them.

“I don’t know if it was uncomfortable, but the big difference was that it was the first album that we were doing without Paul, without Joe, and you know when you find yourself in a situation like that you either fall back on your heels or you rise to the occasion and you ask yourself how can we kind of fill in those blanks and still make the kind of music we want to listen to?

So I think that the biggest thing for us was to just fill in some really big shoes. Luckily we really rose to the occasion and really kind of went above and beyond as far as musically. I’m loving this new album. I mean just as not only as a person who’s in Slipknot but just as a fan of music like this. I really love what we’ve done on this album.”

Slipknot’s fifth studio album .5: The Gray Chapter is set to be released on Oct. 21 through Roadrunner. In support of the new record, Slipknot will be hitting the road on their “Prepare for Hell” tour alongside Korn and King 810.

In case you missed it, check out the trailer below.

Slipknot “Prepare” Fans for Hell and the “Gray Chapter”

This past weekend was a great one for fans of Slipknot because the metal band has revealed a lot of information about their upcoming album.

Things first started with a stream of a new song, “The Devil in I” which made its debut yesterday afternoon as well as a confirmation that the new album is set for an October release date. Today, the Iowa-based band not only revealed the name of their new studio album, but that they will be hitting the road beginning in late-October.

Slipknot’s new record will be titled .5: The Gray Chapter and is set to be released on October 21 through Roadrunner Records. In support of the album, the band will be heading out on the “Prepare for Hell” Tour with Korn and King 810.

The tour will begin its trek across North America (and some random days in Japan) with two days at Knotfest, their own music festival on October 25 and 26 in San Bernardino, CA. Then, the official tour will begin on October 29 in El Paso at El Paso Community college and will wrap up on December 7 in Boston at the Tsongas Arena.

Tickets for the tour will go on sale beginning September 5, but we’re going to assume that’s for general sales and special pre-sale option may be coming soon.

PREPARE FOR HELL TOUR with SLIPKNOT, KORN and KING 810

10/25/14 San Bernardino, CA Knotfest

10/26/14 San Bernardino, CA Knotfest

10/29/14 El Paso, TX El Paso Community College

10/31/14 Dallas, TX Gexa Pavillion

11/1/14 Corpus Christi, TX American Bank

11/2/14 San Antonia, TX AT&T Arena

11/4/14 Little Rock, AR Verizon Arena

11/5/14 Oklahoma City, OK Chesapeake Arena

11/6/14 Omoha, NE CenturyLink Center

11/8/14 Madison, WI Alliant Energy Center

11/9/14 Sioux Falls, SD Denny Sanford Centre

11/11/14 Denver, CO Denver Coliseum

11/15/14 Tokyo, Japan Knotfest

11/16/14 Tokyo, Japan Knotfest

11/19/14 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena

11/21/14 Nashville, TN Bridgeston Arena

11/22/14 Lexignton, KY Rupp Arena

11/23/14 Ft. Wayne, IN Memorial Coliseum

11/25/14 Moline, IL iWireless Center

11/26/14 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center

11/28/14 Chicago, IL Rosemont Arena

11/29/14 Detroit, MI Palace of Auburn Hills

11/30/14 Toronto, ON Air Candada Center

12/2/14 Reading, PA Santander Arena

12/3/14 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center

12/5/14 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun

12/6/14 East Rutherfort, NJ Izod Center

12/7/14 Boston, MA Tsongas Arena

.5: The Gray Chapter Tracklisting:
1.   XIX
2.   Sarcastrophe
3.   AOV
4.   The Devil In I
5.   Killpop
6.   Skeptic
7.   Lech
8.   Goodbye
9.   Nomadic
10. The One That Kills The Least
11. Custer
12. Be Prepared For Hell
13. The Negative One
14. If Rain Is What You Want
15. Override (Bonus Track)
16. The Burden (Bonus Track)