COREY TAYLOR On SLIPKNOT: At Some Point, The Music Will Have To Evolve And Become Something New

SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor was interviewed on the April 22-24 edition of Full Metal Jackie‘s nationally syndicated radio show. You can now listen to the chat using the Podbean widget below. A few excerpts follow.

Full Metal Jackie: How do you now envision the continuation of SLIPKNOT‘s evolution compared to what you imagined on tour supporting the first album?

Corey: “It’s funny you ask that, because it’s something that me and Clown [SLIPKNOT percussionist] and Jim [Root, SLIPKNOT guitarist] have kind of been talking about for a couple of months now. Like, where do we go? I mean, this band has always tried to find the path less traveled. We’ve always tried to expand the range of the music that we’re making and find new ways to speak our piece, find new ways to kind of push our agenda and our message. And it’s getting to the point where, at some point, the music will have to evolve. And 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 it’s gonna have to 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 gonna come around in my life and continue to piss me off, but, for me, I don’t wanna be considered the old guy who’s just bitching to hear himself bitch; I don’t ever wanna feel like that. So at some point, the message and the approach has to change. Now, 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. But 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 up or beat somebody else up if you’ve already done it. That old adage ‘flogging a dead horse’ comes to mind. And it’s true. But if you’d asked me that when I was 25, I would have told you [that] 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.”

Full Metal Jackie: 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.

Corey: “I’m doing rehearsals with STONE SOUR. We’re working on new material for another album. I’ve 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. Yeah, I’ve got a bunch of stuff on the horizon that I’m looking to do, especially on the times off between tours. So, my year is packed with a bunch of good stuff.”