• Slipknot bass player Paul Gray was found dead in a hotel room in Urbandale, Iowa yesterday morning (May 24th), according to the Des Moines Register. The 38-year-old musician's body was discovered at 10:50 a.m. local time by an employee of the TownePlace Suites. Local police are investigating, although there is said to be no evidence of foul play. An autopsy, including toxicology tests, will be performed today by the Polk County Medical Examiner's Office.
• Witnesses reported that items from the hotel room were carried out of the hotel around 2:00 p.m., according to the website of local television station KCCI.
• Gray was born in Los Angeles and later moved to Des Moines, where he joined Slipknot in 1995. The hardcore metal band, famous for their masks and stage gear, have released four million-selling studio albums since 1999.
• He got married two years ago to Brenna Paul, with the couple expecting their first child later this year.
• With Slipknot taking a two-year break following the end of the touring cycle last year for its most recent album, All Hope Is Gone, Gray had joined a new side group called Hail!, featuring current and former members of Judas Priest and Sepultura.
• At the West Des Moines branch of Guitar Center, employee Harold Waits had nothing but praise for Gray as a member of the local music community, saying, "Never had an attitude or a rock star attitude at all. He will be missed like you won't. You won't believe how much he'll be missed."
SIDE NOTES
• Gray was arrested on June 1st, 2003, after being involved in a minor car accident in Des Moines. He later admitted to being on drugs at the time of the incident.
• In a November 2008 interview with Revolver magazine, the bassist spoke openly about his struggle with drug addiction over the years, which came to a head during the recording of the band's 2004 album, Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses).
• Gray said in the interview, "I would spend half the time in the bathroom (shooting up). I'd be trying to play, and I'd fall out of my chair a couple times and fall asleep in the middle of tracking a song . . . Halfway through the record, the band had an intervention on me and I ended up going to rehab."
• But after rehab, Gray began taking drugs again on tour, saying, "I had some near-death experiences -- nothing I'm gonna go into any detail about -- but I definitely pushed it to the very end and I'm still here." It was meeting his wife, however, that finally made Gray turn a corner, as he explained: "I moved back to Iowa (from Los Angeles) with her and went to my doctor and got straightened out. And it's been a good couple years now that I've been clean." (Pulse)
. RIP
