Joey Jordison

Joey Jordison (born Nathan Jonas Jordison April 26, 1975 in Des Moines, Iowa), is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work as the drummer and co-songwriter for the metal band Slipknot. He grew up in Waukee, Iowa with his parents and two sisters, and was given his first drum kit at the age of 8. He performed in several bands until joining in the summer of 1995 the group The Pale Ones, which would later change their name to Slipknot. Of Slipknot's nine members, Joey was the third to join the band.
With Slipknot, Jordison has performed on four studio albums, and produced the live album 9.0: Live. He is also the lead guitarist for the horror punk band Murderdolls. Outside the majority of his projects, Jordison has performed with other heavy metal groups such as Rob Zombie, Metallica, Korn, Ministry, Otep and Satyricon. Jordison is also known for his session work which includes performances on many albums for many different artists. Jordison uses several drum brands including Pearl and ddrum.

Early life

 

Jordison was born at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa on April 26, 1975.^[1] 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."^[1] 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.^[2] At a young age, Jordison's parents divorced; he and his two younger sisters stayed with their mother.^[3] 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, and this responsibility turned him odious in which he played drums. He later described them as "total speed-metal thrash".^[4] 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.^[5] 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.^[5][6]
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.^[7] 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, namedAnal Blast.^[8] 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 of 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.^[9]