Drummer Jay Weinberg — three-time Modern Drummer "Metal Drummer Of The Year," and a veteran of SLIPKNOT, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and Bruce Springsteen's touring band — has released "Drown Fountain," the latest instalment in an expanding run of collaborative singles. The new track features Canadian grunge-gaze duo SOFTCULT.
Speaking to Loyal To The Craft, Weinberg was asked whether these releases let him flex muscles that earlier situations did not. His answer was blunt.
"'Drown Fountain,' I've had that song kicking around since 2013," he said. "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."
Writing without the ability to release, he added, took a toll: "I would create things and even collaborate with people in private, but then knowing in the back of my head, like, 'Oh, well, nobody will hear this'… 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."
The backlog is substantial. "I've got easily a hundred of these demos," Weinberg said, adding that he selected roughly seven favourites that "played nicely together" despite stretching a long way stylistically — far enough that George Clarke of DEAFHEAVEN screams across "Sandstone" a couple of songs away from Mercedes Arn-Horn of SOFTCULT and her "voice of an angel" on "Drown Fountain."
Those two sit alongside "Drone Operator," featuring NOWHERE2RUN, the project from members of CODE ORANGE. Art direction across the whole run comes from Paul Romano, whose work is familiar to anyone who has held a MASTODON, TRIVIUM or THE RED CHORD sleeve.
Asked whether he is still hunting for one all-consuming gig, Weinberg said yes — "finding that tribe that you can really sink your teeth into something creatively" — while making clear he refuses to sit still waiting for it: "It's not about waiting around for those things to knock on your door. There's plenty of art to be made."
He can also be heard behind the kit on FUMING MOUTH's "The Ringing Bell," recorded with Kurt Ballou and released July 17 via Triple B Records. Weinberg exited SUICIDAL TENDENCIES in January 2026 after nearly two years, having been dismissed by SLIPKNOT in November 2023 — news he has said left him "heartbroken and blindsided."