Slipknot guitarist Jim Root insists the band fought as hard as they could to save bassist Paul Gray’s life – despite his widow’s claims that they didn’t.

Brenna Gray told a court in April that she’d pleaded with them to help steer her husband away from drugs days before he died of an overdose in 2010, while she was pregnant with daughter October. She said: “One was playing golf two minutes away from our house but couldn’t come. Nobody else cared, nobody was involved. They told me it was my problem.”

But Root tells SwedenRock (via Blabbermouth): “There are a lot of circumstances and dynamics there and I’m sure she’s hurting very deeply and trying to find some way to maybe put the blame somewhere.

“Paul was our brother; Paul was very close to us. We tried putting him into treatment numerous times; we took him off of tours and we had interventions with him.

“At the end of the day, Paul was sick. What can you do? If you have a sickness, you’ve got to fix that sickness – but you can’t keep putting somebody into treatment over and over and over again. What are you supposed to do? Babysit someone and live with them?”

Asked to state whether he and the other members of Slipknot cared enough about Gray’s health, Root replies: “Absolutely. He’s our friend. He’s our brother. He’s always going to be part of our lives.

“Brenna’s always got brothers she can count on, and October will always have eight uncles that give a shit.”

Slipknot this week released long-awaited album .5: The Gray Chapter, dedicated to the memory of their late bandmate.