Griffin Taylor on Musical Influences + Getting Input From His Dad

Metal vocalist Griffin Taylor of the band Vended, who happens to be the son of Slipknot lead singer Corey Taylor, sat down for an interview last month with Chaoszine about his surprising musical influences and the positive input of his father.

Vended features Griffin along with another Slipknot offspring, Simon Crahan, son of Slipknot's Shawn "clown" Crahan. Vended have opened for their dads' group at various Knotfest dates and continue to play other gigs with Slipknot. Chaoszine caught up with Griffin after Vended played the Finnish festival Tuska Open Air 2023 on June 30.

Watch the video near the bottom of this post.

During the interview, Griffin revealed two main musical influences on his singing and lyrics from far outside the heavy metal world.

"It's a very weird question on my side," Griffin responds when asked about his influences, as transcribed by Loudwire.com. "Mainly just because I have a bunch of artists and musicians that I listen to that aren't in the job I do, like metal per se."

He adds, "Two that come to mind are Ani DiFranco and [The Dresden Dolls'] Amanda Palmer. They're great singers and great musicians. They don't do growls and stuff but they're still lyrically amazing."

Taylor and Taylor (Pamela Littky / Cosa Nostra PR)

As far as metal, "I'd have to say Polaris is a great fuckin' band that I listen to," Griffin says before being reminded about the June 19 death of Polaris guitarist Ryan Siew. "Dude, that actually did break my heart when I found out about that," Griffin replies. "Polaris is a great sounding fucking band."

Further, Griffin spoke about his Slipknot singer father and how his presence has encouraged Vended.

Griffin on Dad Corey's Positive Input

"He loves seeing the man that I've become and the fucking stride that we take to do the shit that we do," Griffin tells Chaoszine when asked about his dad's input. "He has seen us from back when it was just me and [Vended's] Cole [Espeland] in his basement, and we were just doing cover songs."

The Vended vocalist explains, "Growing from that to being a five-man band. … It's been a long five-year road. But it's been fucking interesting and fantastic. Not only have I learned about myself, but everyone else [in the band] has learned about themselves."

Plus, "It's been fucking great seeing my dad side-stage just nodding his head to the shit that we do, and just giggling his fuckin' ass off. I love it."

In an interview June 27, Corey enthused, "There's no better feeling to me than being able to sit on the side of the stage and watch [Griffin] play."

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