Slipknot is a heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. The band started in 1995 by vocalist and percussionist Anders Colsefini, guitarists Donnie Steele and Josh "Gnar" Brainard, bassist Paul Gray, drummer Joey Jordison,and percussionist Shawn Crahan. Before the band released its first album in 1999, Slipknot has gone through many line-up changes. After their first album, the line-up has stayed the same. The band is known for having a lot of members. The current members include a lead singer, two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, two percussionists, a sampler, and a turntablist.

In 1996, when the band finished recording their demo album Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., Slipknot saw its first line-up change when guitarist Donnie Steele left the band and was replaced by Craig Jones. Shortly after, drummer Jordison said they needed a full-time sampler and Jones took the position as "he liked doing that anyway." Mick Thomson then joined the band to be the new guitarist. After Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. was released, the band were working on new songs which needed more singing melody and the then-lead singer Colsefini had a hard time with this. In 1997, Corey Taylor was asked to join the band and after practicing with Slipknot "everything just clicked." Because of that, Colsefini was moved to backing vocals and percussion. However Colsefini was unhappy with his new role and left the band a month later.

Since the band wanted to keep their percussive sound, Greg Welts joined the band to replace Colsefini. Towards the end of 1997, each band member picked an a number to identify themselves. In 1998, Welts became the only member to be kicked out of the band and he was replaced by Chris Fehn. Slipknot wanted to have a DJ in the band, but had a hard time finding one because "the people [they] 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; Wilson was considered "Slipknot material" and his hiring brought the band's line-up to nine members. The final change in the band's line-up came at the latter stages of the recording process of the band's debut album, Slipknot, in 1999. While the band took a break from recording the album, Brainard decided to leave the band and was replaced by Jim Root.

Two more lineup changes took place over the years. The first was after the departure of Joey Jordison in December 2013. In early 2014, the late Paul Gray was replaced by Alessandro Venturella, and Jordison was replaced by Jay Weinberg, leaving Crahan as the only remaining original member. The second change occurred in mid 2019, after Chris Fehn was fired from the band. He was replaced by a mysterious new member.

Current members
Corey Taylor (#8)
Active: 1997–present
Plays: lead vocals
Performed in: all Slipknot albums from Slipknot (1999) to present
Taylor was asked to join the band in 1997. Slipknot's music needed more melodic singing which vocalist Anders Colsefini had a hard time doing. At first both Taylor and Colsefini sang lead vocals. However the band decided that Taylor would sing lead vocals alone and Colsefini was moved to backing vocals.
Mick Thomson (#7)
Active: 1996–present
Plays: guitar
Performed in: all Slipknot albums from Slipknot (1999) to present
Just after Craig Jones joined the band as a guitarist, the band decided that he would move to samples. Thomson then joined the band to be the new guitarist and has always played guitar.
Jim Root (#4)
Active: 1999–present
Plays: guitar
Performed in: all Slipknot albums from Slipknot (1999) to present
Jim Root joined the band in 1999 during the end of recording their first album, Slipknot. He was brought in to replace Josh Brainard on guitar and is the last member of the band's current line-up to have joined.
Alessandro Venturella
Active: 2014–present
Plays: bass, backing vocals 
Performed in: .5 the Gray Chapter, We Are Not Your Kind
Venturella Joined the band in 2014, replacing the late Paul Gray on bass guitar.

Jay Weinberg
Active: 2014-present
Plays: Drums
Performed in: .5 the Gray Chapter, We Are Not Your Kind
The son of famous drummer Max Weinberg, Jay joined Slipknot at the same time as Venturella, replacing original drummer Joey Jordison. Currently, he is the youngest member of the lineup.

Shawn Crahan (#6)
Active: 1995–present
Plays: custom percussion, backing vocals 
Performed in: all Slipknot albums
Shawn Crahan was a member of the original band formed in 1995 and was originally the only drummer for a short time.

Craig Jones (#5)
Active: 1996–present
Plays: samples, media, guitars
Performed in: all Slipknot releases from Slipknot (1999) to present
Craig Jones originally joined the band to replace Donnie Steele on guitar after he had left. Later Joey Jordison said that they were using a lot of samples in their music and could not perform them live. Jones became their full-time sampler and had Mick Thompson be the new guitarist.
Sid Wilson (#0)
Active: 1998–present
Plays: turntables
Performed in: all Slipknot releases from Slipknot (1999) to present
The band wanted to add a DJ to their line-up but decided not to because they didn't know anyone they thought was good enough. After seeing Slipknot perform live, Sid Wilson said "I knew I was born to be in this band." Wilson later met with the band to ask joining the band. After going to rehearsals and head-butting all the band members before a show, he was called "Slipknot material" and has stayed in the line-up since.

New member
Active: 2019-present
Plays: Custom percussion
Performed in: We Are Not Your Kind
Introduced after percussionist Chris Fehn left in early 2019, he is best known as "the tortilla man" due to the appearance of his mask. Evidence points to his identity being Michael Pfaff, a skilled pianist and percussionist, but as of yet, Slipknot have not publicly revealed his identity, despite being seen with Pfaff.

Slipknot band members performing in 2008.

Former members

Donnie Steele
Active: 1995–1996| 2012-2014
Played: guitar | bass
Performed in: Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. (1996)
Donnie Steele was a member of the original band formed in 1995. In February 1996, during the mixing process of Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., Steele decided to leave the band. Steele said he was a "devout Christian" and realized that the band was no longer something he could be a part of.
Anders Colsefini
Active: 1995–1997
Played: lead vocals, custom percussion, backing vocals
Performed in: Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. (1996)
Anders Colsefini was a member of the original band formed in 1995. In 1997, Corey Taylor joined the band to share the lead vocals. Later the band decided that Taylor would sing lead vocals alone and Colsefini was moved to backing vocals. Unhappy with his new role in the band Colsefini left the band.
Greg Welts (#3)
Active: 1997–1998
Played: custom percussion, backing vocals
Performed in: Slipknot Demo
After Colsefini left the band, Greg Welts was brought in to replace him on percussion and backing vocals. In 1998, before the band was signed on to Roadrunner Records, Welts was kicked out from Slipknot.
Josh Brainard (#4)
Active: 1995–1999
Played: guitar
Performed in: Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. (1996), Slipknot (1999)
Josh Brainard was a member of the original band formed in 1995. Brainard left the band while they were recording Slipknot in 1999. No one knows why Brainard really left, it was widely thought to have been because of family problems. However Brainard denies these rumours, saying that; "some decisions were made that I wasn't particularly happy with."
Paul Gray (#2)
Active: 1995-2010
Played: Bass
Performed in: Every Slipknot record up until .5 the Gray Chapter
Gray was the original bass player, as well as a founding member of Slipknot. He died in 2010, and was temporarily replaced by Donnie Steele on tour, until the band found a permanent replacement.
Joey Jordison (#1)
Active: 1995-2013
Played: Drums
Performed in: Every Slipknot record up until .5 the Gray Chapter
Joey was the first drummer and one of the founders of the band, and was kicked from the band in December 2013, later revealed to be complications due to transverse myelitis, which cost him the ability to play the drums for a while. He died in July 2021. He was replaced for .5, by Jay Weinberg.
Chris Fehn (#3)
Active: 1998-2019
Played: Custom percussion
Performed in: Every Slipknot record up until We Are Not Your Kind
Chris was the percussionist of Slipknot for over 20 years. After suing Shawn Crahan and Corey Taylor over unpaid royalties, he was fired from the band, being replaced by an enigmatic new member.

Timeline

Related pages

References

Notes

Band members
Lists of musicians