Paul Gray, the bassist for Grammy-winning metal band Slipknot, was found dead Monday in an Iowa hotel room but foul play wasn’t suspected, police said.
A hotel employee found Gray, 38, dead in a room at the TownePlace Suites in Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines, police said in a statement. An autopsy was planned for Tuesday.
Amy Sciarretto, a publicist at the band’s record company, Roadrunner Records, confirmed Gray’s death but declined further comment. Most of the band’s members grew up in the Des Moines area.
Known for its grotesque masks, trashing sound and aggressive, dark lyrics, Slipknot released its self-titled debut in 1999. It sold about 2 million copies.
Andy Hall, music director of Des Moines rock station Lazer 103.3, said he’d known Gray for 10 years. He described him as a talented bass player and one of the friendliest, most caring people he knew.
“This is a big blow, not only to the community of Des Moines but fans of metal at large, worldwide,” Hall said. “It’s a devastating loss. Paul was a wonderful human being.”
The station was planning to broadcast an hour-long tribute to Gray on Monday night.
Slipknot emerged in the mid-1990s with an aggressive mix of heavy metal and a vocal style that included growling, rapping and singing. The band has been known for extreme behavior during live performances, including urinating and vomiting on stage, according to biographies.
The band won a Grammy in 2006 for best metal performance for the song “Before I Forget.”
In 2003, Gray acknowledged that he was on drugs when his red 2001 Porsche collided with another car that year in Des Moines. No one was seriously injured. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped charges of possession of marijuana, cocaine and syringes.
Media reports at the time noted that court records included a handwritten note from Dr. Joe Takamine that described discussions with Gray that were “very frank and open about his sporadic use of various drugs and of the long periods of abstinence in between.”
Harold Waits, who works at the Guitar Center in West Des Moines, said he’d known Gray since 1995, and that Gray gave advice to other musicians.
“Never had an attitude or a rock star attitude at all,” Waits told KCCI-TV. “You won’t believe how much he’ll be missed.”
