SLIPKNOT plays first concert with new unidentified member
08-06-2023
SLIPKNOT played its first show with a new mystery member yesterday (Wednesday, June 7) at the Nova Rock festival in Austria. The concert took place just a short time after the band announced it had parted ways with longtime keyboardist Craig Jones.
A short time after SLIPKNOT revealed Jones‘s exit from the group, the band’s original post announcing his departure was deleted and a photo was shared of the band’s apparent new member. The same unidentified person apparently appeared onstage behind the keyboards at the Nova Rock show.
During the Nova Rock concert, SLIPKNOT played two songs — “The Blister Exists” and “Purity” — for the first time in eight years. The band also performed “Liberate” for the first time since 2016 and “Yen”, a song from last year’s “The End, So Far” album, was aired for the very first time.
No reason was given for Jones‘s departure from SLIPKNOT.
Jones joined SLIPKNOT in early 1996, shortly after the band had finished the recording of its demo album “Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.” He was initially brought in to replace Donnie Steele, one of the two original guitarists, though he quickly moved on to the role of sampling and keyboards.
Earlier SLIPKNOT announced that percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan would sit out some of the band’s upcoming tour dates so that he can stay home to support his wife “through some health issues”.
SLIPKNOT is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, “The End, So Far”, which was released on September 30 via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to “We Are Not Your Kind”, it is the band’s final record with Roadrunner after first signing with the rock and metal label in 1998.
Five months ago, SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor once again shot down the rumor that the band would break up after the release of “The End, So Far”.
Ever since SLIPKNOT announced the title of its new LP in July, speculation had been rife that the name is a reference to the fact that the LP will mark the end of the band’s recording career.
Taylor, who turned 49 in December, addressed the rumor during an appearance on an episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. He said: “People have been talking about the end of SLIPKNOT since 2003, so it doesn’t really matter. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve had to straighten fans out, I’d have a shit-ton of nickels, let’s put it that way.
“Nothing sells albums like drama, let’s put it that way, and even drama that doesn’t even come from us; it just comes from the fans,” he continued. “But at the same time, I kind of started saying onstage… explaining what the title is. It’s the fact that it’s… It’s the end so far, which just means it’s the end of one era and the start of the next.
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