Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo has admitted that he had no idea what his new bandmate, ex-Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg, looked like without a mask until they started rehearsing together.
The bass player – who co-founded Infectious Grooves with Suicidal Tendencies singer Mike Muir in 1989, then joined Metallica in 2003 – made the revelation while talking to Wall Of Sound Australia.
“I was excited to finally meet [Weinberg],” Trujillo said (via Blabbermouth).
“And I was a big fan, or I am a big fan, of his dad’s playing [Max Weinberg of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band], so it was kind of a surreal thing for me. It’s like, ‘Wow, this drummer from Slipknot. I only ever see this dude in the mask.’ And it’s, like, ‘Who is he?’
Trujillo continued: “I didn’t know what he looked like even. And that was pretty funny, ’cause I almost didn’t wanna know what he looked like until we were in that room rehearsing together, and that’s how it was.”
Weinberg joined Slipknot in 2013, replacing the late Joey Jordison, who died in 2021. He drummed on three albums – .5: The Gray Chapter (2014), We Are Not Your Kind (2019) and The End, So Far (2022) – before being dismissed in November 2023. The band said in a now-deleted social media statement that the firing was a “creative decision”; Weinberg responded by saying that he was “heartbroken and blindsided” by the news.
Slipknot’s replacement for Weinberg has not yet been named, although many fans speculate that former Sepultura drummer Eloy Casagrande will take his spot, following his abrupt exit from his now-former band in February. Slipknot will return to the stage for their first show without Weinberg at the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas next month.
It was reported in February that Infectious Grooves were recording new material with Weinberg. Weinberg also officially joined Suicidal Tendencies, the main band of lead singer Muir, earlier this month.
