Joey Jordison

Early life

Jordison was born at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa on April 26, 1975 to Steve and Jackie Jordison. He is the oldest and only boy of 3 children. He grew up in a rural area outside of Waukee where he used to play basketball on the street in front of his house. He embraced music at an early age, which he attributes to the influence of his parents: "they always sat me down in front of the radio, rather than the TV." He played guitar until receiving his first drum kit as a gift from his parents at age eight, and started his first band while in elementary school. At a young age, Jordison's parents divorced; he and his two younger sisters stayed with their mother. His mother remarried and set up a funeral parlor where Jordison would occasionally help. Jordison has stated that he felt a sudden responsibility to be the man of the house. It was during this time that he formed the band Modifidious, in which he played drums. He later described them as "total speed-metal thrash". The band helped Jordison break new ground, playing for live crowds in support of local bands including Atomic Opera, which featured Jim Root, and Heads on the Wall, which featured Shawn Crahan. He also used to play at a bowling center his family owned, on a night called "Rock and Roll Bowl". After a multitude of line-up changes including the presence of Craig Jones and Josh Brainard – who would later appear in Slipknot – The band released two demos in 1993: Visceral and Mud Fuchia. He cites Keith Moon, John Bonham, Peter Criss, Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich as his main influences.

After leaving school, Jordison was hired by a local music store called Musicland. In March 1994, after a recommendation from his new friend, he got a job at a Sinclair garage in Urbandale. Jordison worked the night shift, which he preferred, as it left his weekends free and allowed him to spend time with his friends and listen to music while working. In early 1995, Modifidious disbanded because of a shift in interest from thrash metal to death metal in America. Following this Jordison joined a local band called The Rejects as a guitarist, with whom he only played a couple of shows. Jordison was also involved in a band with Paul Gray and vocalist Don Decker, named Anal Blast. Gray also attempted to recruit him for another band, Body Pit, but he declined the invitation to remain in The Rejects. During the forming period of Slipknot, Paul recruited Joey to join a punk band called the Have Nots in the Spring of 1996. Joey would leave the Have Nots in February 1997 to "focus on Slipknot" but instead reformed the Rejects which would play Des Moines up until Slipknot left to record Slipknot's self-titled album which Paul played in after the Have Nots broke up.

On June 13, 2016, Jordison revealed that he suffers from transverse myelitis, a neurological disease which temporarily cost him the use of his legs and caused him to be unable to play the drums before rehabilitation.

Slipknot

On November 28, 1995, Mark Anthony Cadavos approached Jordison while he was working, offering him a position in a new project called The Pale Ones. Intrigued and at a point where he was "lost", Jordison attended rehearsals at Anders Colsefini's basement and immediately wanted to be part of this new band. Speaking of this moment he said, "I remember trying so hard not to smile, so I didn't look like I wanted to join, I remained poker-faced, but I thought they ruled." A lot of Slipknot's early development was discussed by band members while Jordison worked night shifts at Sinclair's garage. Of the eventual nine members, Joey was the third to join the band. Slipknot would become pioneers to the New Wave of American Heavy Metal. Jordison is accompanied by two custom percussionists, giving their music a feel that Rolling Stone touted as "suffocating".

Each member of Slipknot is assigned a number; Joey was assigned "#1" because drums are recorded first. Joey has produced one album with Slipknot: 2005 live album 9.0: Live. In August 2008, Jordison broke his ankle and Slipknot had to cancel some of its English tour dates. On August 22, 2009, Jordison was taken to the emergency room for a burst appendix, less than an hour before he was to take the stage for Auburn, Washington's KISW Pain in the Grass concert. As a result, Slipknot canceled following shows in August and September, to give Jordison time to recover.

In August 2010 Jordison was voted the best drummer of the previous 25 years by readers of Rhythm magazine, ahead of drummers such as Mike Portnoy, Neil Peart, Phil Collins, and Dave Grohl. When asked to comment he stated "I'm at a loss for words. This is beyond unbelievable. Something like this reminds me every day why I continue to do this."

On December 12, 2013, Slipknot announced through their official website that Jordison had left the band, citing personal reasons for his departure. In response, Jordison released a statement insisting that he had in fact been fired from the band and stated that Slipknot "has been my life for the last 18 years, and I would never abandon it, or my fans".

After years of both sides being silent and evasive as to the reasons for his leaving the band, Jordison revealed in June 2016 that he suffered from transverse myelitis, a neurological disease which cost him the ability to play the drums toward the end of his time with Slipknot.

Murderdolls

While touring Ozzfest in 2001 to support Slipknot's studio album Iowa, Jordison met Tripp Eisen, then of Static-X; the two discussed forming a side project. In 2002, Jordison revived his band The Rejects, renaming them the Murderdolls. Jordison became the Murderdoll's guitarist, and he recruited Wednesday 13 of Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13 to play bass. Wednesday eventually became a vocalist, while drummer Ben Graves and bassist Eric Griffin completed the band's lineup. Murderdolls signed with Roadrunner Records and released an EP entitled Right to Remain Violent in 2002. The band returned in August 2002 with their debut album Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls. The band uses horror films, including Friday the 13th and Night of the Living Dead, as an inspiration for their lyrics. On October 30, 2002, the Murderdolls made an appearance on an episode of Dawson's Creek entitled "Living Dead Girl". The band reunited in 2010 with only Jordison and Wednesday 13 remaining from the original line-up. The band release their second studio album Women & Children Last on August 31, 2010. The band embarked on the extensive Women & Children Last World Tour performing shows alongside many notable acts such as Guns N' Roses and performing around the world. The tour was sparked with many problems including the cancellation of many shows and repeated incidents of Jordison storming off stage, most notably in Bordeaux, France (attributed to extreme tinnitus) and Perth, Western Australia. The tour finished on April 24, 2011. This was considered to be the band's last outing as Wednesday 13 confirmed the band's split in an interview in March 2013.

Scar the Martyr

In April 2013 details emerged of a new band featuring Jordison, Jed Simon and Kris Norris. Little else was released except that Jordison had performed most instruments in this project and that Chris Vrenna and an unknown vocalist were to complete keyboard and vocal work, respectively. On June 21 the band was named Scar the Martyr and the vocalist named as Henry Derek. On May 5, 2016, Jordison announced that the project had been disbanded.

Vimic

On May 5, 2016 Joey Jordison announced in an interview on Sirius XM that he has launched a new band called Vimic.

Sinsaenum

On May 20, 2016 Joey Jordison announced a new extreme metal band duel fronted by Mayhem and Sunn O)))'s Attila Csihar along with Daath and former Chimaira keyboardist Sean Zatorsky. It also includes Jordison on drum duties, Dragonforce bassist Frederic Leclercq on guitar and Seth's Heimoth on bass. They announced the launch of their debut album 'Echoes Of The Tortured' on July 29, and released their first single 'Army Of Chaos' on earMUSIC's YouTube channel.

Equipment

Jordison endorses Pearl drums, hardware, pedals and percussion, Paiste cymbals, Remo drumheads, Promark drumsticks, Ddrum triggers and Roland electronics.

Remixing and performances

In 2001, Jordison worked on a remix of "The Fight Song" by Marilyn Manson. Jordison also appeared in the music video for Manson's cover of "Tainted Love." Later in the year, Manson revealed that Jordison had been working with him on his album The Golden Age of Grotesque. Jordison had in fact worked on guitars but the track did not appear on the album. In 2004, Jordison appeared on OTEP's album House of Secrets, drumming on six tracks for the album. In 2008, Jordison appeared on Puscifer's album "V" is for Viagra. The Remixes, with a remix of the track "Drunk With Power." In 2010, Jordison recorded four additional songs with Rob Zombie for the re-release of his latest album Hellbilly Deluxe 2.

On tour

Jordison has performed with other bands, solely as a touring member. While preparing for the Download Festival in 2004, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was hospitalized for an unknown illness. Metallica's vocalist James Hetfield searched amongst other bands performing at the festival to find a replacement for Ulrich; Jordison, Flemming Larsen (Ulrich's drum technician) and Dave Lombardo of Slayer volunteered. Jordison performed on 8 of the 13 songs that made up the set and was called the band's "hero of the day". In late 2004, Jordison performed with Satyricon on their tour of the United States when drummer Frost was refused entry into the country. The tour was cut short after guitarists Steinar Gundersen and Arnt Gronbech—who were also only touring members—were charged with sexually assaulting a fan in Toronto. In 2006, Jordison joined Ministry for their "MasterBaTour 2006" which consisted of sixty dates across the United States and Canada. He also appeared in the music video for their single "Lies Lies Lies". Korn recruited Jordison in 2007 to join them on tour when drummer David Silveria went on hiatus from the band. He also appeared in the music video for their single "Evolution". While touring with Korn, Jordison set a record by becoming the first musician ever to perform on five different occasions at the Download Festival in England. Jordison also began touring with Rob Zombie after Tommy Clufetos withdrew from the band. Although the position was initially only meant for a couple of months, Jordison stayed with the band for almost a year until the culmination of Zombie's Australian tour when he announced that he would be leaving to focus his time on the Murderdolls and Slipknot.

Producing

In August 2004, Jordison became involved in Roadrunner United, a celebration of Roadrunner Records' 25th anniversary. As one of four "team captains" who wrote and produced material for the album, Jordison said of the experience, "I thought it was a great idea and was really excited about it, because it was a chance to work with a lot of artists that I really respected while I was growing up." In 2007, 3 Inches of Blood recruited Jordison to produce their album Fire Up the Blades. Jordison is a fan of the band and when he heard that Roadrunner wanted to have some demos produced he said; "I was the first one to jump at it, I'm like; 'I want this fucking band'." From these demos the label commissioned a record. Vocalist Jamie Hopper said of Jordison, "he's an amazing producer".

Discography