100 Drum Heroes 2015 - Joey Jordison
Rhythm Magazine
The metal drum superstar was voted Greatest Drummer Of The Last 25 Years in a 2010 Rhythm poll. Joey’s a busy man, too, playing not only with masked metal madmen Slipknot but his own band Murderdolls and Rob Zombie, sometimes on the same gig...
Q: Joey, is it odd to find yourself considered as influential a player as the guys you grew up listening to?
JOEY: It is, totally. It’s weird to realise that when I put something out - with any band I play with - the fans study it, just like I did with Black Sabbath or Mott The Hoople or Iron Maiden or Slayer. They’re totally into it and it’s a great feeling.
Q: You have said that you're obsessed with music.
JOEY: It’s an addiction man. Music really does fuel me, it’s my lifeblood. I wake up and it’s there - I’ll have a random song running through my head first thing in the morning, like something from the 1970s or ’80s that I haven’t even heard for years. And I have dreams about music, about songs that got me started when I was a kid. Recently, when we were working on the Murderdolls record. I’d open my eyes and realise that I had guitar parts for ‘Blood Stained Valentine’ or ‘Bored ’Til Death’ running round my brain. It never leaves me.
Q: Sounds like it might drive you insane.
JOEY: It’s cool with me, but it’s caused issues with other people. Ex-girlfriends would see me when I sleep - and I’m a deep sleeper, nothing wakes me up - and I would be playing drums and singing in my sleep. I don’t remember it, but I do. And people ask me why I won’t go out, go to an amusement park, do stuff, have fun. But I can’t, music is the only thing. It’s kind of like a problem, but it sustains me. And it’s been the same for me for as long as I can remember. There’s never been a time that I haven’t been completely surrounded by music and music-making. It stems right back to even before I was born, I think! My parents were blasting music all the time, so it was ingrained in me from as early as I can remember. I learned to use a record player at three years old, before I could speak. I was fascinated by rhythms and the sounds on my parents records, but it came naturally to me. It wasn’t a case of getting to an age when my friends were listening to music and starting to hear stuff I loved. I’d grown up with it.
Q: The guitar has always played a key role in your career too. How do drums and guitar marry up for you?
JOEY: Well, I write on guitar, of course, and it’s a very ‘freeing’ instrument to me. I guess because I’ve done it for so long I don’t struggle with it. When I play drums I am very focused and it’s an aggressive thing for me. I’m in a very specific zone when I play drums. Hand on heart, I love drums more than anything. I live and breathe them and I’m lucky because I get to do both, to satisfy both sides of my musical character. When I’m writing on guitar, I always know what the drums are going to be doing. I can hear parts in my head very quickly as I’m coming up with riffs. So when I get going I can end up with a finished song pretty quick I guess. It’s a nice benefit of playing both instruments.”
Q: You've always been a driving force in Slipknot as far as writing is concerned, and Murderdolls as well. Do you have to be in the right headspace to allow you to create material?
JOEY: Dude, I’m always in the right headspace! I live pretty much in isolation, so there are really no distractions. That’s not a manufactured thing, it’s just the way I live. I don’t use a computer for anything other than recording, so there’s no MySpace, email or surfing to take up my time. And I don’t use the phone a lot. And I hate texting, so my head’s pretty free to be creative as and when. At my house I don’t have clocks and everything’s blacked out, so I never really know what time it is. Enough light comes in for me to have a clue as to whether it’s morning or evening by where the sun is, but I don’t live by a clock. I’m a night owl, so I tend to stay up all night when I’m at home and that’s when the good stuff happens. Just jamming around real freely and seeing what comes out. I’ll go to bed at around 5am, I guess - that’s a pretty typical routine for me when I’m not on tour or rehearsing.
Q: You're also a producer, having taken the helm for Roadrunner United and Inches Of Blood's "Fire Up The Blades". . .
JOEY: I love being involved in the whole creative process, and that has always extended to how things are recorded and mixed and the decisions it takes to bring an album together in the studio. I’ve always been the first one in the studio in the morning and the last one to leave in the evening. I just want to learn everything, so that has led to me working hands-on with engineers and producers all the way along. I can work Pro-Tools really well, even though I suck at the computer. Using it to record music just connects to my brain, where it doesn’t with any other application. Understanding how the technology works gives you so much more control over the material and opens up creative opportunities that you’re cut off from otherwise. And I really enjoy it.
Q: You've also been playing with Rob Zombie, with Murderdolls supporting - meaning you're doing double duty each night.
JOEY: Playing with Rob Zombie is a great experience and it’s a killer band. It shows another side of my playing which is more straight ahead than with Slipknot, obviously. It’s real fun. As far as playing guitar with Murderdolls and drums with Zombie on the same night, people are like, ‘Man how do you do all this without taking a break?" But it’s just how I live my life. I want to fit all this stuff in and not turn down opportunities. It’s just another challenge. I know I can do it and I look forward to these kinds of situations. They’re the kind of things that improve you as a musician and take things to another level, so you have to say yes where you can. It’s only 35 minutes that I’ll be playing with Murderdolls on guitar, then a break, then up with Rob, it’ll be fine. The thing is, I don’t know what else I’d be doing. If I take a break I get bored - I like things to push me.
Q: Are there points in your career where you got that push and stepped up your game?
JOEY: I have to say that with all of the Slipknot stuff, when I’m away from it for a while and then listen to one of the records it always amazes me how we pulled it off. From the writing to getting nine members working together to recording and making decisions in the studio to getting a finished product, it’s a huge deal. And I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved in that band.
Q: Slipknot bass player Paul Gray's untimely death must have been devastating. . .
JOEY: The first thing I want to say is to thank you to the fans around the world for their support and for the love of Paul Gray. He was my best friend in the world. And there will be another Slipknot record, because if there wasn’t it would be the most disrespectful thing we could do to our friend. That guy would never want us to stop. Me and Paul were a songwriting team. Not to take anything away from the other guys at all, but it was a partnership between the two of us. So working on the next record will be very emotional and very strange for me, because he’s not around. We all miss him, and that will be a time when those feelings are real strong. We have such great support from fans around the world and it’s times like this when it really shows. It’s an amazing thing for our band to have touched so many, really. If I didn’t have the fans, the music, the bands I’m involved with, I don’t know where I’d be. The fans really push us to challenge ourselves, and me as a player, all the time and it’s what keeps me alive. So I have to say a huge thanks to them, and to Rhythm readers for treating me and my band so well. The UK has always been great to us and it’s important for me to acknowledge that here.
WORDS: JORDAN MCLACHLAN
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