Greg "Cuddles" Welts

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Gregory Sean "Cuddles" Welts was a former drummer for the band Slipknot. Also known as "Butch", Welts was born on August 17, 1965 and is originally from West Covina, California. He graduated in 1983 from Edgewood High School and was a varsity letterman in football, wrestling and baseball. Greg got his start with singing with the "Trojanaires" for the Edgewood Music Department after initially playing drums for the group.

He started drumming at the age of 13 and played in a punk band throughout high school with guitarist Joey Kelly, currently of Mad Parade - [1]. Greg was also known to drum for Black Flag in the early '80's. Prior to joining Slipknot, Greg played drums for The Have Nots (a local Iowa band). Then after appearing on the inside cover of "Mate Feed Kill Repeat," Greg joined Slipknot, but was later forced out of the band before their self-titled debut album, "Slipknot." Greg reportedly appears (without credit) on a couple of the "B" tracks of the European release of "Slipknot," which were recorded prior to their signing with Roadrunner Records. He is known as the ex-Percussionist, who also sang back up vocals for the band, performing in the same capacity as Chris Fehn - his current replacement. During shows, he smashed drum kits and threw them into the crowd.

His mask is available at almost any mask shop and is called "Baby Face". For the time he was in the band, "Cuddles", also known as "Giggles", was the one who tattooed the tribal "S" on Anders Colsefini's leg as well as the inked outline for Anders' backpiece.

Cuddles was forced out of the band right after they signed the record deal with Roadrunner Records due to personal conflicts with drummer Joey Jordison, which stemmed from Greg dating Joey's sister. Greg was said to have later filed a lawsuit which was settled for an undisclosed sum of money. He reportedly is no longer affiliated with the tattoo shop in South Dakota called "The Ultimate Prick" and is said to be working on another tattoo shop venture. He played his last show in April 1998.

[edit] Trivia

Greg's first tattoo was of a bulldog on his right leg with a bone beneath it that says "Batch Packaging". "Batch Packaging" was his nickname in a brotherhood of good friends called "Batch Boyz" in West Covina. Most of the surviving members of this brotherhood now are in Trinidad and Tobago.