“PAUL GRAY WAS THEW ESSENCE OF SLIPKNOT”
“Yesterday we lost our brother, and the world seems a little smaller because of it,” began Corey Taylor. “He had the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known, and he had the greatest soul I’ve ever had the privilege to know. He was everything that was wonderful about this band and about this group of people. The only way I can sum up Paul Gray is love. Everything he did, he did for everyone around him. Whether he knew you or not. And that’s what he’s left behind for us, is absolute love.”
On May 25, 2010, the members of Slipknot filed into a room to face the press, on one of the bleakest days of their lives. Unmasked, heads bowed and choked with emotion, they paid tribute to their friend and bandmate, Paul Gray. The previous day he’d passed away from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, at just 38 years old.
It was hard to comprehend. Slipknot had always seemed combustible yet invincible – nine individual, larger-than-life characters who came together as a unit onstage. Barely a year before, they had played their career-best show as first-time headliners at Download. Bassist Paul, aka The Pig, aka #2, appeared in a black uniform, steadily headbanging and riffing while chaos erupted around him. To the outside world, everything was fine.
Sadly, those close to Paul knew he’d been battling demons for a while. There had been a headline-generating arrest for drugs and drink-driving in 2003, sobriety, relapses and recent treatment for addiction. When his pregnant wife, Brenna, and their family had tried to stage an intervention to prevent Paul from harming himself, he checked into a hotel. He never returned home.
Although fans knew Paul as part of the nine, he had a low public profile, rarely speaking to the media. During the press conference, percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan, who co-founded Slipknot with Paul, wanted the world to know how devastating his death was.
“It’s very important that everybody on the outside of
