Jay Weinberg discusses past contractual restrictions and current artistic freedom

Renowned drummer Jay Weinberg (Slipknot, Suicidal Tendencies, Bruce Springsteen) discussed his most recent collaborative work, “Drown Fountain,” with renowned Canadian grunge-gaze combo Softcult in a recent interview with Loyal To The Craft, as per Blabbermouth. The song, which is currently available, is the latest in Weinberg‘s ongoing series of artist collaborations and features the three-time Modern Drummer “Metal Drummer Of The Year” in yet another surprising creative path. When asked if songs like “Drown Fountain” provide him the chance to express his creativity in ways he wasn’t able to in some earlier circumstances, Jay responded as follows.

Oh, 100%, yeah. ‘Drown Fountain’, I’ve had that song kicking around since 2013. And much of this material is stuff that I’ve been honing for years and years. But without giving too much attention to any kind of one situation, not having the legal ability to play music with other people was definitely difficult ’cause I look at music, at least the creation and the sharing of it, it’s that twofold thing. The end of the creative process for me is the sharing of the thing. And at that point, I can’t go back and change it. I can’t make any more adjustments. It’s out in the world living its own life, and I get to kind of move on.

So not having the ability to do that, I would create things and even collaborate with people in private, but then knowing in the back of my head, like, ‘Oh, well, you know, nobody will hear this,’ it’s kind of like a… Although I was super intensely focused on one aspect of my creative life, and happy to do so, a little part of my creative self, it was dying, for sure, because this is stuff that means a lot to me. These are songs that, still even 13 years later after initially coming up with a song, I feel passionate to put the effort into getting it across the finish line and is emotionally gratifying for me to put out there. So to be operating within a framework that doesn’t allow for any kind of outside collaboration — not to mention, I think that’s the best way for musicians to develop and improve.

I love the idea of a singular kind of focused expression — like, this is a thing that I do and I’m committed, obviously. But with other things on the side, that can’t help but positively reinforce those other efforts, and you return to that table improved in some capacity and more dynamic in your expression ’cause you were channeling other things elsewhere. And I just find that that activity just, it’s all part of feeding a greater body of work. So I’ve always considered that a healthy thing, to be able to play and create with people of all sorts of disciplines, all sorts of backgrounds, and that’s certainly what I’m leaning into with this project, this music that it’s like I’m kind of primary songwriter of all this stuff and playing all the instruments for the most part, but then approaching other friends to bring it across the finish line.

So, yeah, it definitely is a mass kind of purging of all that stuff, I’ve got easily a hundred of these demos. Without giving away too much about what it is that I’ve been working on, I chose kind of the seven favorite songs that played nicely together. Though they stretch around stylistically and it’s quite eclectic in nature, it is still focused, where you can have a song where you have George Clarke [of Deafheaven] screaming his ass off on ‘Sandstone’, a couple songs away from Mercedes [Arn-Horn] from SOFTCULTwith her voice of an angel on ‘Drown Fountain’, and they exist on the same album

The music world has always been very much the Wild Wild West, and it’s more so that today than it ever has been. So to take those tips of doing things that feel right, that feel like they’re based in expression and community and stuff, you then get to share that, and maybe that expresses to a younger artist out there that, like, ‘Oh, that thing’s possible. I just have to do it myself.’ If the thing that you want to exist in the world doesn’t exist, it’s on you to create that thing.

That’s kind of how I look at all these projects, and to know that my time spent in music and in art and just being at events and showing up and always wanting to be proactive in my life… I’ve never been comfortable being someone who just kind of sits around and lets life happen to them. I’ve always been inspired by people who go out and do their thing. And it just seems like the right thing to do. So, yeah, that’s where a lot of these things are based in. And though it is very disparate and I have my attention on many kind of spinning plates in the air at the moment, there is something really exciting about that, that I enjoy.

When asked if he is “still looking for the ultimate gig, that gig that [he] can focus, say, 75, 90, 95% of [his] time on and get back out on the road at that level,” Jay offered this response.

Sure, yeah. In a word, yes. I think all of us aspire to find the playing scenarios that we can plug in and feel alive and really go the distance of channeling something that takes that focus and time in the ways that it packs your schedule and packs your life and you’re able to dig deep. Yeah, I think much in the way that I’ve enjoyed being on the flip side and taking some time to focus on starting my family with my wife and really just being focused on that, yeah, at a certain point, I think while it is so fun to be doing many disparate things, I think my favorite part of being a musician is finding that tribe that you can really sink your teeth into something creatively. And that takes many different shapes and forms, and who knows what those things are? And the life of a creative person is, hopefully, long and meandering and interesting and full of collaborations that are unexpected. All of the things I’ve ever done in my life have been unexpected to some degree. And I’ve always felt within myself a complete inability to say no to a thing that is just, like… I find many creative opportunities just impossible to shy away from, and seeing how I can sink my teeth into.

So, yeah, while many of the things I’ve been doing now are kind of like, one foot over here and one foot over here, definitely there’s space in life to be, like, I’m passionately focused on this singular thing, and have auxiliary things happen that keep my skills sharp and my time occupied in other regards and whatever. But it’s not about waiting around for those things to knock on your door. There’s plenty of art to be made, plenty of music to be made in the meantime. And I feel like through these collaborations that I’ve taken on, I’ve met and I’ve met so many new people. I’ve deepened existing friendships that were already, pretty meaningful in my life. But just to be able to show up in a studio and have George Clarke sing one take on my song that I wrote and we share that now, it’s an incredibly artistically gratifying experience. So, yeah, I think, being open to all those sorts of things. It’s the path that we all find ourselves on, of searching for the meaningful things or projects that you can really sink your teeth into. From where I’m standing, I appreciate and really like those substantial — like I said — you-can-sink-your-teeth-into kind of moments rather than snacks here and there, which is sure fun. But, yeah, it’s always kind of just working towards the whole ‘we’ll see what’s out there’ sort of nature of being a musician. But to answer your question, yeah, of course, I’m open to all sorts of stuff like that.