An angry former Slipknot roadie has unmasked the band’s new drummer as Jay Weinberg and their bassist as Allessandro ‘Vman’ Venturella.
The band had said they might never confirm the identities of the men who were brought in to work on latest album .5: The Gray Chapter. The lineup changes followed the death of founding bassist Paul Gray 2010 and the dismissal of drummer Joey Jordison last year.
But drum tech Norm Costa, who’s worked with Slayer, Mastodon and others before being hired then fired by Slipknot recently, last night posted a picture of a tour itinerary on Instagram. It names Weinberg and Venturella as members of the band alongside Sid Wilson, Chris Fehn, Jim Root, Craig Jones, Shawn Crahan, Mick Thomson and Corey Taylor.
Costa tagged the image “#blowitup #fuckslipknot.” It followed the posting of Weinberg’s drumkit seen from backstage, which had been tagged “#jayweinberg #slipknot #newdrummer #fuckslipknot.”
Responding to a comment from a follower asking whether he was working with Weinberg, the roadie replied: “I was, no longer.” Responding to another follower, he wrote: “Should have stayed with Mastodon though – a real band!”
Weinberg, the son of Bruce Springsteen’s drummer Jay, had been named in September after former colleague Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! tweeted: “Dear Slipknot, good luck with that. #shitbag.”
Fans identified Venturello from his distinctive hand tattoos after seeing the video for The Devil In I. Frontman Taylor later laughed it off, saying: “I was like, ‘Why didn’t we make him wear gloves?’ I was so upset.”
Slipknot tour the UK next month with Korn and King 810:
Jan 14: Dublin 3Arena
Jan 16: Sheffield Motorpoint Arena
Jan 18: Glasgow SSE Hydro
Jan 19: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Jan 20: Manchester Arena
Jan 22: Liverpool Echo Arena
Jan 23: London Wembley SSE Arena
Jan 24: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
Jan 26: Nottingham Capital FM Arena
Jan 27: Birmingham Barclaycard Arena
