SLIPKNOT's COREY TAYLOR: “maybe I've got another five years left of physically touring like this”
03-07-2023
In a new interview with Germany’s Rock Antenne, Corey Taylor spoke about how long he thinks SLIPKNOT can go on, given the intense physical demands of the band’s live performances. The SLIPKNOT singer, who will turn 50 in December, said in part: “As long as I can physically do it, and as long as there are people there to see it, man, I’ll continue to do it. Now, if the quality starts to fail, then I’ll know it’s time to hand it in. And I’ve already thought about it — I’ve already thought about, maybe I’ve got another five years left of physically touring like this. I try to take care of myself. I work out when I can. The travel out here in Europe is exhausting; the food is horrible; so it makes it hard to do that. But as long as I can keep at it, that’s at least what I wanna do. So, yeah, it is what it is.”
Asked if his bandmates feel the same way about the end of SLIPKNOT as he does, Corey said: “If they wanted to continue and I wanted to retire, I would help them find somebody, to be honest. This band has always been bigger than the sum of its own parts. And it was hard moving on without Paul (Gray, late SLIPKNOT bassist). It was hard moving on when we had to part ways with Joe (late SLIPKNOT drummer Joey Jordison). It’s always been hard when the original nine ceases to be the original nine, but at the same time, the ones who are here are here because we love it, and we’ve always gotten something out of it.
“I’ve said it since day one — if I didn’t want to do SLIPKNOT, I wouldn’t do it,” he continued. “And I think I’ve proved that. The reason I stick around is because I want to do it. There’s still something in my heart and my soul that needs it. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Obviously, psychotherapy will help me out with that shit. But at the same time, it’s… it’s once in a lifetime, man.”
Asked if he feels a responsibility to the SLIPKNOT fans to be there with his bandmates, Corey said: “I do. But at the same time, I don’t expect them to be there. I mean, there are songs that they love; there are songs they don’t love. There are times I love this band; there are times I don’t love this band. But I still wanna be here. And when I physically can’t do it anymore, that’s when I’ll hang it up. I might not retire from performing period; maybe that’s when I go and I do my acoustic thing. But when I can’t go out there and give it at least my one hundred percent, that’s when I’ll hang it up. And me and Clown (SLIPKNOT percussionist and visual mastermind Shawn Crahan) have talked about this, man. He’s older than all of us, and he’s broken just as much crap as I have. I mean, Christ, he hit the keg with a baseball batand ripped his bicep clean off the bone, and then went, got surgery and came back.
“We’re psychos, dude,” Taylor added. “I went out three weeks after my fucking spinal surgery — ’cause I’m a psycho. It’s just we don’t know our limitations until they catch up with us. So that’s what I say. I mean, yes, there’s a responsibility to the fans, but there’s also a responsibility to me and my family. And I don’t wanna be the one trying to pick up my grandkids and my legs don’t work. I just don’t wanna do that — I refuse to. I want my quality of life to be better than that — at the end.”
Last month, SLIPKNOT surprise-released a new EP called “Adderall”. The six-song effort contains alternate versions (no intro, rough demo and instrumental) of the title track, which originally appeared on last year’s “The End, So Far” album, along with the 2023 standalone single “Bone Church”, as well as non-album songs “Death March”, “Red Or Redder” and “Hard To Be Here”. Also newly released are music videos for “Memories (Adderall – Rough Demo)” and “Death March”, both directed by SLIPKNOT‘s founding member, percussionist and visual mastermind M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan.
“Adderall” track listing:
01. Death March
02. Adderall(No Intro)
03. Adderall (Rough Demo)
04. Red Or Redder
05. Adderall (Instrumental)
06. Hard To Be Here
Last year, SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor told Rolling Stone about his inspiration for “Adderall”: “Everybody’s comparing it to RADIOHEAD and stuff like that, and I’m like, ‘All right, I don’t listen to RADIOHEAD, so that’s interesting.’ To me, I was kind of leaning into my inner David Gahan. I’m a massive DEPECHE MODE fan. That was just me kind of doing my impression of that, but I’ll take RADIOHEAD as well.”
“Bone Church” was surprise-released in February, along with a video piece titled “Yen – Director’s Cut (Bone Church)”, which found Crahan refreshing footage from the band’s “Yen” music video.
On Wednesday (June 7), SLIPKNOT announced that it had parted ways with longtime keyboardist Craig Jones. However, the post announcing Jones‘s exit from the group was quickly deleted and a photo was shared of the band’s apparent new member. The same unidentified person apparently appeared onstage behind the keyboards at during SLIPKNOT‘s performance at Austria’s Nova Rock festival.
During the Nova Rock concert, SLIPKNOT played two songs — “The Blister Exists” and “Purity” — for the first time in eight years. The band also performed “Liberate” for the first time since 2016 and “Yen”, a song from last year’s “The End, So Far” album, was aired for the very first time.
No reason was given for Jones‘s departure from SLIPKNOT.
Jones joined SLIPKNOT in early 1996, shortly after the band had finished the recording of its demo album “Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.” He was initially brought in to replace Donnie Steele, one of the two original guitarists, though he quickly moved on to the role of sampling and keyboards.
On Wednesday, SLIPKNOT also announced that percussionist Crahan would sit out some of the band’s upcoming tour dates so that he can stay home to support his wife “through some health issues”.
The “Death March” visual features nine dummy humans lined up against a wall before they get their heads get blown off one by one.
SLIPKNOT played their first shows with a mystery new member last week.
SLIPKNOT is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, “The End, So Far”, which was released on September 30 via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to “We Are Not Your Kind”, it is the band’s final record with Roadrunner after first signing with the rock and metal label in 1998.
Five months ago, SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor once again shot down the rumor that the band would break up after the release of “The End, So Far”.
Ever since SLIPKNOT announced the title of its new LP in July, speculation had been rife that the name is a reference to the fact that the LP will mark the end of the band’s recording career.
Taylor, who turned 49 in December, addressed the rumor during an appearance on an episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. He said: “People have been talking about the end of SLIPKNOT since 2003, so it doesn’t really matter. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve had to straighten fans out, I’d have a shit-ton of nickels, let’s put it that way.
“Nothing sells albums like drama, let’s put it that way, and even drama that doesn’t even come from us; it just comes from the fans,” he continued. “But at the same time, I kind of started saying onstage… explaining what the title is. It’s the fact that it’s… It’s the end so far, which just means it’s the end of one era and the start of the next.
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