Former Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison sadly passed away in 2021 of an unspecified cause at just 46 years old. The drummer had split with the group 8 years earlier in 2013, but he did experience the thrill of a lifetime in 2004 when he filled in for Metallica’s Lars Ulrich during the band’s appearance at Download festival in England.
Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett recently talked about Jordison’s appearance with the band in an interview with The Guardian.
The experience proved to be an emotional event for everyone involved, brought on by Ulrich needing a break shortly following the split of his seven-year marriage.
“I couldn’t do anything for the next three hours except talk to drummers,” Hammett said. “I remember seeing Dimebag (Darrell) wave at me from a distance backstage. I looked at him and mouthed, ‘We are completely f*cked.’ He came over laughing and just said, ‘You guys have got this.’ And that was the last time I saw Dime. I still regret not taking the time to have a full conversation with him.” Dime tragically was shot and killed on stage just six months later.
Hammett continued: “Joey could play all sorts of things. I remember saying to him, ‘Bro, you’re gonna have to play a bunch of these tunes tonight.’ He was beside himself, he was so happy. At the end of the set, I turned to Joey onstage, and I asked him if he could play ‘Enter Sandman’. And I saw through his mask that he had tears in both of his eyes. He was crying because it meant so much for him to be playing ‘Sandman’ with us at Download. I’ll never forget that.”
Jordison spoke about the concert years later: “As cool as it was playing that show, what was cooler was playing in Metallicas practice room. It was just me and those three guys, just warming up. What a dream come true, man. I’ll have dreams about it every once in a while. It was one of the best gigs of my life.”
Slipknot’s Corey Taylor commented on the gig: “That, to me, was such a f*cking amazing moment for him that it was cool to be back there sharing that with him. It was a special little f*cking — 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 f*cking massive for him.”
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