Corey Taylor Talks Slipknot’s Evolution, Future Plans, Marilyn Manson Tour + More
Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor was the guest on Full Metal Jackie's weekend radio show. During his chat, the vocalist addressed the frenzy over his comments about moving on from Slipknot one day and the band's continued evolution. He also gave an update on his future plans and discussed Slipknot's upcoming tour with Marilyn Manson. Check out the chat below:
Thanks for being on the show once again.
It's always a pleasure.
Social media lit up recently with your statement about maybe stepping away from Slipknot someday. There have been some updates since then, obviously, but what first got you thinking about possibly even doing that?
I do it every two years. That's what people forget, is that I step away from Slipknot to do Stone Sour all the time. That's what I was kind of talking about. I was talking about time off and I was talking about giving myself a chance to catch my breath and letting Slipknot take a rest as well. The ironic thing is, is that, in that same interview that I was doing with Daniel P Carter, I talk about what I call "cut and paste journalism" and it happened to me in that interview. They took something so far out of context to the point where Metal Hammer said I was quitting! I was like, really? What are you doing? It was so stupid, I can't even describe the reaction. Finally, I had to get on Twitter and go I'm not quitting Slipknot. I was talking about time off, please read things in context. Listen to interviews in context. It was so ridiculous.
How do you now envision the continuation of Slipknot's evolution compared to what you imagined on tour supporting the first album?
Funny you ask that because it's something that me and Clown and Jim have kind of been talking about for a couple of months now. Like, where do we go? This band has always tried to find the path less traveled. We always tried to expand the range of the music that we're making and find new ways to speak our peace, find new ways to push our agenda or message. It's getting to the point where, at some point, the music will have to evolve. I think from day one until this album it has. We've done really great things to broaden our musical horizons. At the same time though, at some point it's gonna have to twist and change even more because when does the war end? When do you win the battle? When does that fight stop, as far as the internal fight, the internal war? That internal rage. When do you feel like you've said everything you need to say on that subject?
I'm not saying that things aren't going to come around in my life and continue to piss me off but for me, I don't want to be considered the old guy that's just bitching to hear himself bitch. I don't ever want to feel like that. So at some point the message and the approach has to change. Will it still feel like Slipknot? Absolutely. We write a certain type of music, even though that music may be very very eclectic and varied, we still write what I consider Slipknot music. At some point, that will have to evolve and become something new because our message will have to change. You can't keep trying to beat yourself or beat somebody else up if you've already done it. That old adage of flogging a dead horse comes to mind. It's true. If you'd ask me that when I was 25 I would have told you you were crazy. But now I'm 42 and looking down the road as far as what musically Slipknot is going to mean, it's interesting. There's a world of possibilities that we can look into.
The Slipknot / Marilyn Manson tour was recently announced and it's a pretty tremendous lineup, if I do say so.
That tour feels really really good. We were looking around and trying to figure out what we could do for the summer and Manson was kind of on the same page. We're just trying to find something incredible to be able to put out there. We were able to find something together and we're all really excited about it.
Culturally and musically, who's more subversive, Slipknot or Manson?
I'm not really sure to be honest. I would have to give props to Manson for coming before us to be honest. So I would say he's maybe flown the flag longer but I think we're both on the same page as far as, not necessarily being subversive but being unafraid to speak our minds -- being unafraid to create the type of music that we want to create and say the kind of things that we want to say, whether that is popular or not. I think that's where we're kind of on equal ground. We don't hold anything back when it comes to our message and what we try to share with our fans. I think that's why this band, this bill, will definitely work really well.
When people ask your opinion about politics, racism or any other hot topic issue, how much responsibility do you feel, rightly or wrongly, that your response will likely affect someone else's opinion based solely on the celebrity factor.
It's a slippery slope these days. [laughs] On one hand people genuinely want to know how you feel about certain things because maybe they're having trouble figuring it out for themselves and they respect your opinion, or they just want to ask you the question so they can react to it with their own opinion. So, really it is what it is. All you can do is just stand up for your opinions and what you believe and feel. That's really, it has to be the end of where your responsibility ends.
I'm not going out and campaigning for anybody. I just know who looks the most -- I don’t want to say politically correct, but I know who I support just based off of the vibe that I get and the things that these people say and the things that they try and fight for. I tend to go for the people that I feel have that moral high ground, I guess is the only way to put it. So that's who I tend to try and support. People can disagree with me all day, it doesn't mean I'm going to change my mind.
I have to imagine you always have one billion things going on in your life, so I have to know what you've got planned beyond this tour.
I'm doing rehearsals with Stone Sour working on new material for another album. I'm actually just started working on my fourth book called America 51, which my publisher is gagging for right now just because of the state of nation. It's almost too appropriate. I've got a handful of acting gigs that I'm gonna do. I can't tell you yet because it's kind of a surprise. It was a surprise for me when I got offered it, so let's put it that way. I got a bunch of stuff on the horizon that I'm looking to do, especially on the time's off between tours. So, my year is packed with a bunch of good stuff.
Sounds like it's all good. Thank you so much for taking the time.
Thank you, always good to talk to you.
Thanks to Corey Taylor for the interview. As stated, Slipknot will be touring with Marilyn Manson. Stay up to date on all the shows here. Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackie’s weekend show at this location.
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