Ex-Slipknot percussionist Chris Fehn has looked back on the “intimidating” talent of late founding drummer Joey Jordison in a new interview.
Talking to Meltdown, the 53-year-old, who joined the nu metal nine-piece in 1998 and departed in 2019, remembers trying to fit his parts in between Jordison’s “madness” while writing and recording music.
“It’s very intimidating to be a percussionist with Joey Jordison,” he says (via Blabbermouth). “I’m in the studio watching this guy, like, ‘What am I gonna do? This guy can cover everything. He’s just a phenomenon!’”
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He adds: “But yeah, it’s cool, ’cause he realises that the percussion was a big part of it also. So he’d work up some parts or somebody would come up with some parts and we’d just fit it in there within his madness. And it was cool to do. Really cool. I miss that dude a ton.”
Elaborating on Jordison’s technique, Fehn calls it “unbelievable”.
“[It was] unbelievable how hard he hit, but yet how smooth he could be and technical,” he continues. “In soundcheck, he’d just whip out some jazz and you’re just like,’Well, is there anything you can’t do?’ He was amazing.”
Jordison co-founded Slipknot with percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan in 1995 and, alongside late bassist Paul Gray, was one of the band’s key songwriters for their first four studio albums. He had a composer credit on such successful singles as the Platinum-selling Wait And Bleed, the Grammy Award-winning Before I Forget, and Duality, the band’s most-streamed song with more than a billion Spotify listens.
Jordison was let go from Slipknot in 2013, three years after Gray died of an overdose, aged 38. The drummer revealed in 2016 that towards the end of his Slipknot tenure he had been struggling with transverse myelitis: a rare neurological disorder which greatly affected his ability to play.
After Slipknot, Jordison played drums with the metal bands Scar The Martyr, Sinsaenum and Vimic. He died in his sleep on July 26, 2021, aged 46. His cause of death has never been disclosed.
Meanwhile, Fehn and Slipknot parted ways shortly after the percussionist filed a lawsuit against the band in spring 2019. The suit alleged that Fehn was receiving less money than his bandmates, due to the existence of other Slipknot-related business entities of which he was unaware. The case was voluntarily discontinued in October 2020.
In 2014, Slipknot replaced Jordison with Jay Weinberg, who was himself replaced by ex-Sepultura member Eloy Casagrande in April 2024. Fehn was replaced by Michael Pfaff, who, due to his longtime anonymity and the potato-crisp-like design of his mask, was nicknamed ‘Tortilla Man’ by fans.
