Vimic Open Your Omen

Former Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison has been relatively quiet following his dismissal from the band. Scar the Martyr served as his next musical venture outside of Slipknot and the band released one album in 2013 before their singer exited. Now, the iconic drummer has returned with a new band, Vimic, along with a new song off their Open Your Omen debut.

The announcement came earlier today on SiriusXM‘s Liquid Metal station where Jordison called in to discuss his new project and share the first offering of music with “Simple Skeletons.” Vimic consists of Jordison’s Scar the Martyr bandmates Jed Simon (guitar / vocals), Kyle Konkiel (bass / vocals) and Matt Tarach (keyboard). Kalen Chase will be behind the mic. The singer had previously been linked to Jordison last year when it was revealed the drummer was working on a new album, presumed to be the sophomore effort of Scar the Martyr.

“I decided I wanted to start fresh,” Jordison told Liquid Metal host Jose Mangin about the new project. “I did not want to keep rehashing old ideas. If I am going to keep going, I really just wanted to break loose and wipe the slate clean. So I renamed the band, and I got a new singer and a new keyboard player [plus] three other members from the Scar the Martyr lineup. We went down into the basement and started demoing material and everything started clicking.”

Discussing expectations, the drum legend went on, “We didn’t have too many big goals. There wasn’t too much pressure from the label. We just went in, like let’s just go back to getting into the studio, jamming as a band, getting together with our instruments and not having anything too formulated and just creating from the ground up. And that was one of the coolest things about creating this record was it was really old-school style. We’re totally proud of it, man.”

The album, due on Roadrunner, does not have a release date scheduled yet, but Jordison insists rushing the album out is not the way to go, stating, “You can rush stuff, and just get out there to get out there, but I’d rather take the time and make sure everything is just perfectly lined up. We just want to make sure that we’re doing the right thing at the right time.” Recorded at Sound Farm Studios in Jamaica, Iowa, Open Your Omen was produced mixed and mastered by Kato Khandwala (My Chemical Romance, Breaking Benjamin, the Pretty Reckless and more)

The song “Simple Skeletons” can be heard below. Slightly reminiscent of Scar the Martyr’s bottom-heavy riffing, with gritty vocals hinging on the extreme depending on the delivery. The chorus ups the intensity with its bouncy rhythm and anthemic hook.

A few inconsistencies of note: SiriusXM lists former Scar the Martyr guitarist Kris Norris as a member, but Jordison’s cover photo on Facebook does not show him as a member. As seen at the top of the page, six members are in the shot. Also, Simon, Konkiel and Tarach were all previously in Scar the Martyr as well as Norris, which would make for four former members, not three as Jordison had stated. It is unclear where Scar the Martyr ended and Vimic began, which may explain the inconsistencies.

So remember how Joey Jordison announced an announcement for today? Well, that announcement has been announced: Jordison is launching a new band… sort of.

See, the band, Vimic, is basically just a rebrand of Scar the Martyr — it has the same exact line-up save for vocalist Kalen Chase, who replaces Henry Derek, who is now in Act of Defiance. (Chase has no previous credits of note, despite rumors that he’s actually just Johnny Winter.)

Jordison says the name change is meant to enable “a fresh start”… but does the name change really make a difference? Do you think Vimic are better, worse, or equal to Scar the Martyr? Well, why not listen to Vimic’s “first” single, “Simple Skeletons,” and find out? You can stream it below, courtesy of SiriusXM Liquid Metal by way of Metal Injection. Then go mouth off in the comments section. Vimic’s “debut” album, Open Your Omen, should be out later this year.

Former SLIPKNOT drummer Joey Jordison has launched a new band called VIMIC. He is joined in the group by singer Kalen Chase Musmecci, who has toured with KORN as a backing vocalist and percussionist, and Joey's former SCAR THE MARTYR bandmates Jed Simon (guitar), Kyle Konkiel (bass) and Matthew Tarach (keyboards).

VIMIC recently completed work on its debut album, "Open Your Omen", with producer Kato Khandwala, who has previously worked with THE PRETTY RECKLESS and WE ARE THE HARLOT. The CD will be released later this year via Roadrunner Records.

A VIMIC song called "Simple Skeletons" was premiered on SiriusXM Liquid Metal earlier today and can be streamed below.

VIMIC, Jordison explained, was born from the blueprint of his previous band SCAR THE MARTYR, which he worked on during his off time from SLIPKNOT. After his exit from SLIPKNOT, he took some time to think about what he wanted to do with his music career going forward.

"Basically, [after] my departure from SLIPKNOT, [I was] readjusting what I wanted to do musically with the rest of my career, and just kind of reforming my thoughts on what I wanted to do, I decided that I really wanted to start fresh, man," he told SiriusXM's Jose Mangin. "I did not want to keep rehashing some old ideas and stuff like that. I'm, like, if I'm gonna keep going, I really wanna just break loose and I just wanna wipe the slate clean and start fresh. So I renamed the band and I got a new singer and I got a new keyboard player. There's three other members that still exist from the SCAR THE MARTYR lineup."

He continued: "We just went into the studio. Like, no stress — we went down to the basement and we just started demoing material, and everything really started clicking. And demoed probably about forty songs. So as soon as we got done with probably about a good twenty of 'em, of course, we shopped it to the label and all that stuff, and kind of got on page with them with what they liked, what we thought we could improve on, and kind of went back to the drawing board, as most bands do, and kind of kept going at it. So we went into the studio with Kato Khandwala and we just started hashing it out, man. [It was] kind of old school; we didn't have too much pressure from the label. We just went in, like, 'Let's just go back to just getting in the studio, jamming as a band, getting together with our instruments, and not having anything too formulated and just creating from the ground up."

Joey added: "One of the coolest things about creating this record was it was really old-school style, and that's one of the biggest results out of the final product, and we're totally proud of it, man. We're excited about it."

There is no set release date yet for VIMIC's debut album, according to Jordison, who is the only member of the band based in Des Moines, Iowa. "Right now we're juggling a couple of different release dates," he said. "We just wanna make sure, in this day and age, that everything lines up with other releases and also… We just got done with all the videos and everything, and all the production is pretty much finished. So we just wanna make sure that everything is lined up correctly, so the timeline absolutely strikes at the perfect time and everything lines up correctly. So it's a little bit of a strategy and it's a little bit of a puzzle, but it always works out, and I think we're just about there."

Asked if there are plans for VIMIC to hit the road in support of "Open Your Omen", Joey said: "Absolutely. You can rush stuff and just get out there to get out there, but I'd rather take the time and make sure everything is just perfectly lined up. We just wanna make sure that we're doing the right thing at the right time. And everything looks to be going good. So we're gonna be on tour here pretty soon. Everything is looking positive, man."

SLIPKNOT announced in December 2013 that it had parted ways with Jordison, one of the band's founding members and key songwriters. SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor told Metal Hammer that firing Jordison after 18 years was "one of the hardest decisions" the group ever made, adding that Jordison is "in a place in his life" which is "not where we are."

Taylor said he could not get into specifics for legal reasons, but admitted, "It's when a relationship hits that T-section and one person's going one way and you're going the other. And try as you might to either get them to go your way or try and go their way, at some point you've got to go in the direction that works for you. This is me speaking in the broadest terms, with respect to Joey. I guess to sum it up, it was one of the hardest decisions we ever made."

Taylor said that the band is "happy right now and we hope that he is . . . he's just in a place in his life, right now, that's not where we are."

The singer would not answer whether drug use played a role in Jordison's dismissal, and confessed that he had not been in touch with his former bandmate. Taylor said, "I haven't talked to Joey in a while, to be honest. That's how different we are. It's not because I don't love him and I don't miss him. And it is painful; we talk about him all the time, but at the same time, do we miss him or do we miss the old him? That's what it really comes down to."

SLIPKNOT's new drummer is Jay Weinberg, son of longtime Bruce Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg.

VIMIC is:

Joey Jordison - drums, percussion

Jed Simon - guitar, backing vocals

Kyle Konkiel - bass, backing vocals

Matthew Tarach - keyboards

Kalen Chase Musmecci - lead vocals