How hot does it get up there in the mask?

“F**king hot! Thankfully on this upcoming tour I’ve heard we’re getting rid of the pyro, whichat some points in our set it really pushes your limits physically as a human.

"You’ve got the coveralls, you’ve got the mask, you’ve got music that’s already challenging to play, you’ve got fire, you’ve got strobe lights – it’s complete human sensory overload!

"Which is partly I guess what this band is. I make sure that at the end of every show, at the last hit I want to make sure I couldn’t give another hit after that show!

"Every night I want to be completely drained. I like the athletic nature of drumming, more specifically drumming for Slipknot, it’s like a competition with myself. I like pushing myself and being like, ‘You can take more than that!’

"There are times I will leave myself and completely forget I’m playing a show."

"Our tour we did with Lamb Of God, we’re playing in late August in Las Vegas, which is already brutally hot in the desert, we’re the last band to play, we’ve been waiting around all day in a boiling hot parking lot so the asphalt has been baking in the sun, then you’ve got to get up and play with all this pyro and it’s so f**king insanely hot!

"There are times I will leave myself and completely forget I’m playing a show. It’s like driver’s amnesia, like you forget the drive home. All you know is you left work and you got home but you don’t know what happened between.

"During one of the shows Alex even passed out due to the extreme exhaustion and dehydration and we had to play a whole show without him. It’s super scary but it’s a real thing we have to be aware of.

"My whole day is focussed around that two hours I have to play. And I’m warming up backstage for two and a half hours before we hit the stage. Because I want to get up there already being warmed up, I want to be tasting blood before I even get out there, so I’m playing all day, I’m eating the best I can.

"I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t partake in any drug, all I do is play music and live the best life I can."

"I already lead a pretty healthy lifestyle, I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t partake in any drug, all I do is play music and live the best life I can. But man, even when you’re taking really good care of yourself, Slipknot’s show will destroy you!

"So it is hot, it hurts, but when you get to take that mask off and you say, ‘I just played a show at Wembley Arena tonight,’ that’s a special thing, it’s always worth it.”

Note Jay's blood on the drums and cymbals...

How crazy can it get up there on stage?

“Very, in a bunch of different aspects. Set-list wise we like to spice it up a bit, this upcoming tour in particular we’re throwing the book out, we’re playing a lot of material we haven’t played together before, some songs Slipknot’s never played before ever. And then once we’re onstage playing the songs, you’ve got unpredictable characters out there.

"A guy like Clown, you don’t know what he’s gonna do. I don’t know what he’s gonna do. He might be totally vibed out in the mood of a song and losing himself in the song as we all are, sometimes he’s getting ready to throw a baseball bat and it’s going to come over and hit you!

"A guy like Clown, you don’t know what he’s gonna do. I don’t know what he’s gonna do."

"Chris Fehn will just come and steal a cymbal, now I’ve got to figure out how to play the chorus without having any crashes, and you’ve just got to deal with it. We’ve got a saying in Slipknot: you’re not getting out of it. You’ve just got to deal with it! We keep it fun and it’s very unpredictable.

"None of what we do is scripted. I don’t play to a click track, I don’t use triggers. There’s no samples, there’s no backing tracks. For a band of this size and what it does, it’s a total tried and true punk band.

"The attitude is very much what I grew up with, playing punk rock and hardcore, you just give it your all and f**k all that pre-packaged, pre-recorded and staged rock’n’roll, Slipknot is the most unstaged rock’n’roll, and I think we’re very proud of it.”

Playing with two percussionists in the band must be a lot of fun, how do you approach the parts that involve all three of you?

“There is one thing that Clown had expressed to me early on in my playing for the band. What I create with Slipknot, it’s my mission to make it impossible for him to fit into a song. To make it impossible for Clown and Chris, as the percussionists of the band, to fit. Because they will find a way.

"These are Clown’s words because he was teaching me about the philosophy of Slipknot with that percussive thing in mind, that the music has to stand on its own and he and Chris will find their way into anything I throw at them.

"Once I was like, ‘Hey, if I’m doing this on the drums you guys can be doing this percussive thing,’ and he said, ‘That’s not what we do here. What you do is what you do, and you don’t have me in mind, you don’t keep me in consideration for coming up with drum parts. I will find my way, Chris will find his way, and we’ll all come together because we all need to be confident in ourselves to do what we do.’”

You must be able to choose any company to endorse, but you’ve stuck with custom drum company SJC?

"As long as they’re putting out drums I’m going to play SJC drums."

“I have a bunch of different kits from SJC – the Ciprari brothers, I love them, they’ve developed a lot of great stuff for me. Those guys were supportive of me when I was doing nothing, they are supportive of me in whatever I do.

"I like working with people I respect and are friends of mine, that’s always been important to me, so as long as they’re putting out drums I’m going to play SJC drums.

"I just kind of come up with a crazy idea like, ‘Hey I want a drumset that’s all stripped of any finish but spray-paint the Slipknot logo onit, and I want a 50-ply snare drum with two vents and we’ll mic the vents because I want it to be crazy stupid loud, and they’re like, ‘Got it,’ and they’ll have it to me the next morning.

"I don’t know any other company that would do that. I have an idea for a snare drum and it’s in my hands the next morning. Crazy. SJC goes above and beyond.

"My main kits with Slipknot, I have one maple kit and one bubinga kit, for our upcoming tour that will be the bubinga kit. I like having different woods. As much as I love the drums I play, as soon as I’m bored and in a comfort zone I like to switch it up, I like to play a different wood, play a different sized drum, maybe take drums away, add stuff, I just like keeping it fresh.

"So, I’ve got to have that quick response, sharp sound, like totally punch you in the face and demolish you and rip your ear drums out. That’s just what I want to do with my drums!”

How much advice has your dad Max given you about your drumming?

"He [Jay's dad] and I are very, very different drummers, but I believe he passed down his relentless work ethic to me."

“The relationship I have with my dad is incredibly special, and something I wouldn’t trade for the world. But when I think about it, we don’t speak about actual drumming much of the time.

"He’s given me invaluable advice from his 55-plus years of playing, in terms of maintaining my health and not damaging my body from my playing – something I do plenty of with Slipknot.

"We’re more keen on talking about our relationship to music in general, to the bands we play with, and to the people we surround ourselves with, as we lead similar creative paths in life.

"His best advice was just through his encouragement for me to give every ounce of myself to my passion. To play with every musician I could find, in any style of music.

"I’ve never taken a lesson in my life."

"He and I are very, very different drummers, but I believe he passed down his relentless work ethic to me, and that’s one of the common threads in our unique bond.”

Did you take lessons with him, or any notable teachers?

“He just told me to work my ass off! Truthfully, that was the extent of my musical training. I’ve never taken a lesson in my life.

"However, I’m constantly learning from those around me, and I always ask questions of the drummers with whom I’m on tour. But I’d prefer that my playing reflect my burning passion for the instrument and the music we create, as opposed to a formulaic, sterile way of approaching the art.

"There’s no right or wrong way to approaching the craft, and that’s one of the things I love about it.”