Slipknot announced that they are parting ways with keyboardist Craig Jones, who has been with the band since 1996. The masked metal band gave no reason for their breakup in a social media post, which was almost immediately deleted, but soon after their European tour kicked off Wednesday night (June 7) at the Nova Rock festival in Austria. begin.
A post on Slipknot’s social media pages on Wednesday, June 7 (before it was deleted) read, “To our fans, Slipknot announces that we have parted ways with Craig Jones. We wish Jones all the best for the future.”
Shortly after sharing news of Jones’ exit, the band took the stage in Austria with a new mystery member, who they shared a masked photo of on their social pages. On Thursday morning (June 8), the band also shared an eerie video featuring “Slipknot” in the background.
Jones (also known as #5, after his hellscreamer-like spiked mask) originally joined as guitarist to replace original member Donnie Steele, but quickly moved to keyboards and sampling.Although Jones wasn’t technically a founding member of the band, he entered Slipknot a year after its inception, appearing on all of their studio albums, save for an early full-length demo companion. feed. kill. repeat.
The Iowa band’s lineup has changed multiple times over the past decade or so. Paul Gray passed away in 2010 and Alessandro Venturella eventually took over bass duties. Drummer Joey Jordison (died 2021) was ousted from the band in 2013 and replaced by Jay Weinberg. Percussionist Chris Fehn was fired in 2019 and replaced by Michael Pfaff.
The news of Jones’ apparent departure comes shortly after percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan announced he would be absent from upcoming shows at Slipknot to stay home to care for his ailing wife.
Slipknot will return to the US with festival dates in July (Rock Fest and Inkcarceration) and September (Blue Ridge Rock Festival). Tickets for the Slipknot show now on sale here for US shows and here International date.
Below is a screenshot of Slipknot’s tweet announcing Jones’ departure, along with photos of the new members and footage of Wednesday night’s show in Austria.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with news that Slipknot unveiled a mysterious new band member at the start of Wednesday night’s tour.
