SLIPKNOT drummer Joey Jordison tells Kyle Munson of DesMoinesRegister.com that he still mourns the passing of SLIPKNOT bassist Paul Gray, who was found dead May 24 in an Urbandale, Iowa hotel room. "He was my best friend and still is," Jordison said. "And he was my musical soul mate."
Jordison also reveals that there were times when he could have been the casualty of rock-star excess and substance abuse in place of his late bandmate.
"I've been done with that stuff for three years," he says. "I thought it was all fun and games, but it's not. ... After I got done with my (2007) tour with KORN, I really went for it after that. ... It caught up with me, and that's it — I just stopped."
"Life is definitely a lot more precious now," he adds. "Music right now, really, when I play it, it's like I'm playing it for all the people that I've lost. I think about them all the time."
On the topic of whether SLIPKNOT will continue, Jordison says, "There will be another SLIPKNOT record, of course.
"But, you know — there aren't any replacements. Everyone in the band plays bass and can play guitar. We'll get to that point when we get there. But I want everyone to know — and all my SLIPKNOT fans and all my Iowa fans to know — that no matter what I'm doing right now with [ROB] ZOMBIE and MURDERDOLLS, that SLIPKNOT will return.
"But we're still dealing with the passing of Paul, God rest his soul. ... Paul would never want us to not make another SLIPKNOT record."
