Slipknot announce the departure of drummer Jay Weinberg | Who from the 1999 album lineup is left?

Fans of nu-metal pioneers Slipknot have been left polarized after the weekend, with the news that drummer Jay Weinberg is no longer a part of the band. The news comes only five months after the news that one of the original members of the Des Moine, Iowa group, Craig Jones, was announced as no longer part of the group in July 2023 - after having been a member of the group since 1996, three years before the release of their self-titled debut.

The brief announcement made on Slipknot’s website simply read “We would like to thank Jay Weinberg for his dedication and passion over the past ten years. No one can ever replace Joey Jordison’s original sound, style or energy, but Jay honoured Joey’s parts and contributed to the last three albums and we, the band, and the fans appreciate it. But as ever, Slipknot is intent on evolving. The band has decided to make a creative decision and to part ways with Jay. We wish Jay all the best and are very excited for what the future holds.”

Weinberg took up the role as Slipknot drummer in 2014, a year after the band’s original drummer, Joey Jordison, was confirmed as no longer a member of the group he helped form in 1995, including his image being used for Slipknot’s first release, ‘Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat’ with the group’s original lead singer, Anders Colsefni. Weinberg was one of two new members to join the group in 2014, with bassist Alessandro Venturella taking over the role after the death of Paul Gray in 2010.

There has been no word on whether a replacement has been considered, with a number of Slipknot fans on social media and Reddit under the belief that the latest two band members to leave the group (voluntarily or not is the cause celebre at this stage) might be an indication that the Grammy award-winning group might be looking at calling it a day. Though users of r/Slipknot have been more than eager to point a finger of blame towards lead singer Corey Taylor and more vehemently against percussionist and at times ‘visionary’ of the group, Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan.

Who is left from the original lineup involved with Slipknot’s debut album?

As opposed to, say, The Smashing Pumpkins or Queens of the Stone Age and their revolving door or musicians, it was only within the last fifteen years that major changes had occurred within the Slipknot camp. 

Of the original sixteen-legged beast that took over the world after the release of their self-titled album, ‘Slipknot,’ in 1999, Corey Taylor, Shawn Crahan, Mick Thomson, Sid Wilson and Jim Root remain in their original roles. Though Paul Gray died in 2010, it would be Joey Jordison who would be the first member of this version of Slipknot to leave the group in 2013, followed by Chris Fehn in 2019 after he brought a lawsuit against the group, with  Fehn specifically accusing Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan for what he felt was questionable business dealings.

Earlier this year, Craig Jones was announced to have left the band, however, some mystery surrounded that announcement after it was removed from Slipknot’s website the very same day.