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Slipknot bassist dies

By | Published on Tuesday 25 May 2010

Paul Gray, bassist with metallers Slipknot, has died aged 38. According to local media in Des Moines, police have confirmed Gray’s body was found at the city’s Town Plaza Hotel by a member of hotel staff.

The exact cause of death is as yet unknown, though foul play is not suspected. An autopsy is due to be conducted today. No official statement from either the band or their label Roadrunner Records has as yet been made, though visitors to Slipknot’s official website are met with a picture of Gray.

Gray was a founding member of Slipknot, one of just three still with the group (though the line-up has remained the same since the release of the band’s debut album in 1999), which originally formed in Des Moines in 1995. He was also known by his ‘band names’ of #2 and ‘The Pig’, and – like most of his bandmates – was normally only ever seen in public wearing one of Slipknot’s now iconic masks. So much so there was both excitement and anger in the Slipknot fanbase when a police mugshot surfaced online in 2003 after Gray was arrested on drugs charges following a car crash.

Gray played in a few other lesser known metal bands prior to joining Slipknot, and more recently filled in as bassist for fellow metallers Unida on a 2003 tour, appeared on some tracks by post-hardcore types Drop Dead Gorgeous, and took part in his label’s Roadrunner United project in 2005.

Paying tribute to Gray last night, the Music Director of Des Moines rock station Lazer 103.3, Andy Hall, who knew the bassist, told reporters: “This is a big blow, not only to the community of Des Moines but fans of metal at large, worldwide. It’s a devastating loss. Paul was a wonderful human being”.



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