Alessandro Venturella

Alessandro Venturella
Also known as	Alex, V-Man,
Born	7 March 1978
Origin	United Kingdom
Genres	Thrash metal, punk rock, shock rock, heavy metal, nu metal, alternative metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, guitar tech
Instruments	Guitar, bass
Years active	2000s-present
Associated acts	Slipknot, Krokodil, Cry For Silence

Alessandro "Alex" "V-man" Venturella is a British metal musician who has served as a lead guitarist for Krokodil and Cry For Silence. He was previously the touring guitar tech for Mastodon‘s Brent Hinds, Coheed & Cambria, Architects, and Fightstar. He has since switched from being a lead guitarist to a bass player for the first time in a band when he joined Slipknot after being their guitar tech.

Slipknot

On October 7, 2014, frontman Corey Taylor of Slipknot was surprised by the fact that Venturella had been identified playing bass in a Slipknot video for the song "The Devil in I". Venturella's unique left-hand tattoo had been reported by Metal Chapel News, despite all the musicians wearing masks in the video. Taylor said of Venturella and the video's drummer, "They’re not official band members yet, but they are people who play with the band... Time will tell whether or not they’re, like, full members."^[1] On Oct, 25th and 26th, Venturella performed with the band live for the first time at Knotfest 2014.

On December 3, 2014, Slipknot's former drum tech posted a photograph of a personnel list of the band on tour, showing that bassist Venturella and drummer Jay Weinberg were touring with the band.^[2] Venturella was eventually officially revealed to be the bassist by Jim Root in an interview with Ultimate-Guitar on May 13, 2015.^[3]

On August 2, 2015, Venturella had an unknown medical emergency for which he was rushed to the hospital during a show in Hartford, Connecticut.^[4] The following day, it was revealed that Venturella had suffered from dehydration during the show the previous night, and will be returning to the stage on August 4, 2015, in Mansfield, Massachusetts, where he performed back stage. He was honored by the other 3 bands, (Lamb of God, Bullet for My Valentine and Motionless in White) that night.^[5]

Discography

With Cry For Silence

• Through The Precious Words (2001)^[6]
• The Longest Day (2004)^[7]
• The Glorious Dead (2008)^[8]

With Krokodil

• Shatter / Dead Man's Path Ltd. 7 (2014)
• Nachash (2014)

With Slipknot

• .5: The Gray Chapter (2014)^[9]

References

1. Hartmann, Graham (2014-10-08). "Slipknot’s Corey Taylor on New Bassist’s Identity Leak: ‘I Was So Upset’". Loudwire. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
2. "Slipknot's Itinerary previously fired, breaks out in a fit of rage, taking a picture of the official slipknot personnel list, exposing Weinberg as the drummer for Slipknot.". Metal Injection. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
3. http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/jim_root_seems_like_stone_sour_cant_even_write_a_new_record_they_lost_a_good_writer.html?no_takeover "So VMan and Jay both came to my house and we started rehearsing a couple weeks early before we went on the tour. I sat down with VMan and we really dissected all the songs from the set we were gonna play live and dissected not just the album versions but the live versions and how Paul would approach these songs."
4. http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/slipknot-bassist-rushed-to-hospital-during-hartford-concert-band-completes-set-as-eight-piece/
5. https://www.facebook.com/slipknot/photos/a.113128182671.101333.6478112671/10153146689982672/?type=1&theater
6. http://www.discogs.com/Cry-For-Silence-Through-The-Precious-Words/release/7066823
7. http://punktastic.com/reviews/cry-for-silence-the-longest-day-e-p/
8. https://www.facebook.com/notes/visible-noise/cry-for-silence-release-debut-album-10th-march/8372357489
9. This reference taken from an interview with Jim Root states that Alessandro played bass on 5 or 6 songs on the album http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/jim_root_seems_like_stone_sour_cant_even_write_a_new_record_they_lost_a_good_writer.html