Percussionist Tortilla Man joined Slipknot in May of 2019 and was first featured in the video for “Unsainted.” Since then there’s been a great deal of speculation about his identity. On Wednesday, the band released a photo of Tortilla Man promoting his upcoming Reddit AMA. His identity? Multi-instrumentalist Michael Pfaff, who previously played keyboards with Slipknot’s Shawn “Clown” Crahan in the band Dirty Little Rabbits. He’s also a member of the Iowa-based duo The Snacks.
Fans had speculated that Tortilla Man was Pfaff starting with an interview in 2019 with Slipknot guitarist Jim Root. He called the mystery man a “world-class pianist” and a “great percussionist” who is “schooled in music.” Pfaff met Crahan years prior through Slipknot DJ Sid Wilson. Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor previously spoke of Tortilla Man and his joining the band saying, “First of all, you’ve got to wear the tortilla on your face. And the audience has to figure out who you are. With Tortilla Man, it’s kinda cool. It’s brought this whole new energy to everybody as well, so it’s a lot of fun to watch him as well.”
Taylor also told Beats 1 that Tortilla Man had won the respect of the band and fans. “He’s doing great and is a great dude,” he said. “He’s killing it, man.” Legendary comedian Gilbert Gottfried had previously joked with fans via Cameo saying “I’d just like to finally tell you, I’m Tortilla Man from the band Slipknot.” Fans also theorized that Tortilla Man was Orange Amplifiers rep Daniel Darby. Fan-filmed footage of Slipknot arriving in Mexico for Knotfest also clued in fans to Tortilla Man’s real identity, though it wasn’t confirmed until Wednesday. Tortilla Man replaced former percussionist Chris Fehn after he filed a lawsuit against the band for pay discrepancies. Taylor blasted the lawsuit as a wrongful accusation, and part of the case has been reportedly dismissed, but the remainder of the suit is ongoing.
