When former Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison unexpectedly passed away back in July, one of his most memorable career moments that fans and fellow artists fondly recalled was the night he performed with Metallica.
When drummer Lars Ulrich had a last-minute conflict the day of their headlining set at 2004's Download Festival, the band ended up drafting Jordison and Slayer's Dave Lombardo to fill in for the set. Jordison played eight songs with Metallica that night and killed it, but as Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor recalled in a recent interview, his then-bandmate's nerves were a wreck.
"We were back there with [Joey], watching it. . .It was so surreal to watch Joey playing with [Metallica], because we all grew up listening to them," Taylor told Knotfest.com, as transcribed by Blabbermouth, in an interview that aired September 13th.
"And Joey was shitting bricks," Taylor recalled. "I mean, he [had] his mask on, but every time he'd come back and he would pull his mask off, he would just be, like, 'How am I doing? How am I doing?' I'm, like, 'You're fucking killing it.'"
He continued, "Me, Paul [Gray, then-Slipknot bassist], Clown [Slipknot percussionist], we were all standing there fucking cheering him on. And they ended up throwing different songs at him that they hadn't rehearsed. They threw all the Misfits shit at him, and he fucking knew it. They would have probably kept him up there all night if they could have. He played the majority of the set."
"That, to me, was such a fucking amazing moment for him that it was cool to be back there sharing that with him," Taylor continued. "It was a special little fucking — almost like that's the moment you know you've made it. You're seeing this reflection of respect from arguably your biggest influence, your biggest peer. Them signing off on you like that had to have been fucking massive for him. And I remember him telling me it was such a blur that he didn't really remember anything until he watched the video back."
"I don't know if they expected it, but he fucking went in there and he showed not only the band but all of their fans — not only the level of respect that we have for them and the music but that we can hold our own," Taylor added. "And I think that was a big moment. It was a big part of that."
See the full interview segment above via YouTube and revisit a clip of Jordison's performance with Metallica below.
