Slipknot Drummer’s Degree From Stevens Institute Didn’t Come Easy

HOBOKEN, NJ — Even after being forced to choose between a chance at being a professional musician or finishing college, Jay Weinberg always knew he’d come back to Stevens Institute of Technology.

Metal-loving music aficionados will likely recognize Weinberg, an alumnus of the Hoboken university (class of 2014), as the Grammy Award-nominated percussionist for Slipknot. But it took a lot to pry Weinberg away from his pursuit of a business and technology degree.

Namely, a chance to fulfill his headbanging dream of becoming a pro musician.

In a recent interview with his old alma mater, Weinberg – the son of E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg – recalled how a chance gig covering for his father gave him his first taste of the life of a rock star. (Read the full article here)

The junior Weinberg later got his chance to shine in late 2010, when he joined Against Me!, a punk band gaining widespread national attention. But though this exposure eventually led to his gig as the drummer for Slipknot, Weinberg always knew that he’d come back to finish what he’d begun at Stevens.

Six years after starting at Stevens, Weinberg’s efforts paid off when he graduated with a business and technology degree.

“I grew up in a musical family and I knew I had to be professional and have my smarts and wits about me,” he said. “The general sense was that I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do because [music is] my passion, but I felt a higher education would allow me to refine my focus and figure out how to conduct myself in the creative world, how to develop a business sense, and how to marry that with art and music.”

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Photo: YouTube / SlipknotFCOriginal