List of Slipknot Band Members

List Of Slipknot Band Members

Slipknot band members

Slipknot is a heavy metal band formed by vocalist and percussionist Anders Colsefni, guitarists Donnie Steele and Josh "Gnar" Brainard, bassist Paul Gray, drummer Joey Jordison and percussionist Shawn Crahan, in Des Moines, Iowa. Since its inception in 1995, the band has gone through multiple lineup changes, many occurring before the release of its debut album Slipknot, in 1999. The band is known for its large lineup, which consists of nine members, including a vocalist, two guitarists, a bassist, a primary drummer and two additional percussionists, a sampler, and a turntablist.

In 1996, during the mixing stage of the band's demo album Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., Slipknot saw its first lineup change when guitarist Donnie Steele left the band and was replaced by Craig Jones. Shortly after, drummer Jordison suggested they would need a full-time sampler and Jones fit the position as "he liked doing that anyway." Mick Thomson was brought in to fill the open position on guitar. After the release of Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. the band members were working on new material which required more vocal melody and vocalist Colsefni struggled with this. In 1997, Corey Taylor was recruited from local band Stone Sour and after practicing with Slipknot "everything just clicked." As a result, Colsefni was moved to backing vocals and percussion. However, Colsefni became unhappy with his new role and left the band a month later.

Wanting to retain their percussive edge, the band chose Greg Welts as Colsefni's replacement. Towards the end of 1997, each member chose a number as his alias. Slipknot considered including a DJ in their lineup, but had difficulty finding one because "the people knew who were DJs all sucked!" Sid Wilson approached the band after seeing them live. He proceeded to impress the band with his ability and his antics, especially his crowd surfing skills.; Wilson was considered "Slipknot material" and his hiring brought the lineup to nine members. In 1998, Welts was asked to leave the band and was replaced by Brandon Darner, who, in turn, didn't stay for long and was replaced by Chris Fehn. The final change in the lineup came in the latter stages of the recording of the band's debut album, Slipknot, in 1999. During a break in recording, Brainard decided to leave the band and was replaced by Jim Root.

This lineup remained unchanged until May 2010, when bassist Paul Gray was discovered dead in a hotel room near his Iowa home. On June 21, the cause of his death was confirmed as an accidental overdose of morphine and fentanyl, a synthetic morphine substitute. The band toured in the summer of 2011 with former guitarist Donnie Steele filling in for Gray.