Otep Remembers Slipknot Bassist Paul Gray

Band Photo: Slipknot (?)

Otep frontwoman, Otep Shamaya, has issued the following comments on the passing of 38 year old bassist Paul Gray of Slipknot:

“One of my earliest memories of Paul was our first tour of Ozzfest together - watching him mow down a 10 foot high fence in a 'borrowed' golf cart and that famous deviant, yet innocent grin of his as he scampered back to his bus. And then I witnessed his wonderful insanity on stage. It is painful to write about Paul in the past tense. But he was, as the inscription on Jim Morrison's headstone reads 'kata ton daimona eautou,' true to his own spirit. Part mystic, part madman, Paul was a savagely beautiful human being, an incredible writer, musician, & performer, and an amazing friend.

"For those of us he touched through friendship or by his incredible music, there is some anger and outrage at this loss, the senselessness of it, but most of all, it is the heavy drapes of sadness that devours us. Another candle fades into the night; another shadow ascends into the light. Rest in power, my friend. Shake the walls of paradise for us.”