Jay Weinberg has never played “without hearing protection” after a scare early in his career.
The Slipknot drummer – who first started teaching himself to play in his mid-teens – got a “very quick lesson” in the importance of protection and hearing loss prevention after starting to play live with other musicians.
In a video for the Hearing Health Foundation, he said: “We had a great day jamming, but then the next morning I had no high-end frequencies in my hearing.
“I thought I honestly lost my hearing altogether, and I was really frightened ’cause I didn’t know how to deal with that.
“And especially when you’re recovering from major hearing loss or a hearing loss event like that, the one thing you wanna do to kind of pass the time is listen to music, and you can’t even do that ’cause it’s too painful.”
The ‘Chapeltown Rag’ musician – who joined Slipknot in 2014 – pointed out that hearing protection is a necessity for anyone wanting “longevity and sustainability in playing music”.
He added: “So ever since that day, I’ve never sat down at a kit and played the way I play without hearing protection – not even once. It’s not an option.”
Jay revealed he takes plenty of measures on stage, and he explained the risks if he didn’t.
He continued: “For me personally, I don’t go to a single show without wearing earplugs; I don’t go on stage without wearing earplugs or in-ear monitors where I can hear myself and my bandmates.
“It’s incredibly important, and if I had not worn earplugs and in-ear monitors from a young age, I might have done a tremendous amount of damage to my hearing.
“So I strongly encourage you, wear earplugs, do it the right way, do it intelligently. You can still rock out, you can still play the way you want to, and you’ll be able to play for the rest of your life.”