WRIF Virtual Rock Room with Slipknot's Corey Taylor
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00:00Thank you so much for watching Riff TV.
00:02Now, this interview is obviously with video, but I don't interview everybody on Zoom.
00:07That's why I put it on my Talkin' Rock with Meltdown podcast.
00:10We talk to rock artists from all over the genre.
00:13So check out Talkin' Rock with Meltdown wherever you get your podcasts.
00:16And now to today's video interview.
00:20Well, good to see you there, Corey.
00:22It's been a minute.
00:23I think the last time I saw you was here at the Astronomicon last year.
00:25That was cool.
00:27Yeah, I think that was it.
00:29Yeah, that was a good time, right?
00:30Yeah, that was fun, yeah.
00:31I've been seeing some wrestling shows here and there.
00:34I just talked to Billy Corgan last week.
00:35Of course, have you been keeping up on all the wrestling stuff?
00:38Yeah, as much as I can, man.
00:40Dude, my level of free time tends to dwindle once my brain gets going.
00:48And I start booking crap out of nowhere.
00:50I'm just like, what am I doing?
00:51I'm not going to watch any shows.
00:53I'm not going to read any books.
00:54Like, what in the hell is going on, you know?
00:57So, yeah, I just try to keep up with as much as I can, you know?
01:05Yeah.
01:05Yeah, I just went to AEW here in Detroit, and it was actually really good.
01:09They had a steel cage match at the end with Moxley and Kenny Omega.
01:12And Omega, right, right.
01:14Yeah, I heard it was pretty decent.
01:16I had some friends there in the audience.
01:18No, it was great.
01:19So, anyways, you're coming to town September 5th at the Fillmore.
01:22And CMF 2 comes out on September 15th.
01:26I'm going to read a quote here, and we're going to dissect this.
01:29This is from my friend Jay Rustin, who you know.
01:31Okay, you ready for this?
01:32Oh, boy.
01:32Oh, boy.
01:33Here we go.
01:34Okay.
01:34The album is much darker and heavier.
01:36A good combo of Stone Sour, Slipknot, and solo record styles.
01:39We spent more time with this one.
01:40Really made sure it was stellar.
01:41The band Kills, new bass player Elliot, is from Dorothy's band.
01:45And he's amazing.
01:46And here's the part I really want to ask you about.
01:47I said, Corey is a two-take guy on vocals, just insane ability.
01:51Let's start on the last part there.
01:53Are you one of these guys that goes into the studio, like, super prepared?
01:57I try to be.
01:58Yeah.
01:58Yeah.
01:59I mean, especially when it comes to my main performance, I like to know.
02:04I like to dial in what I'm doing, you know?
02:07Because, I mean, let's face it.
02:09I'm the main songwriter.
02:11So, I'm already hearing it in my head.
02:14Yeah.
02:14You know what I'm saying?
02:14And so, I don't lock myself in because that's a great way to, you know, kind of, you know, ignore or avoid great ideas.
02:24But as far as, like, the core of, like, my performance, that's 100%.
02:29When I walk in, I, like, I know what's going on and I know what I want to do.
02:33But then, there's that 5% where there are, like, alternative melodies for certain things, harmonies.
02:42Like, I try to keep the ear candy as fresh as possible, you know?
02:46So, I, and I, especially when it comes to the music, backup vocals, like, anything like that, I try to keep an open mind.
02:54But when it comes to my vocals and stuff, the more prepared I am, the more, the easier it is for the guys to know where they can go musically, what we can do sonically.
03:04It's just, uh, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's better to, to know what you're doing than to, to go in blind, you know?
03:19Yeah, he said that a lot of the stuff that you do is pretty much your first take.
03:23Do you use a lot of your first takes?
03:26Yeah, for the most part, yeah.
03:28Because, I mean, why, I've, I've, I've never, stop!
03:35Animals.
03:36Yeah, they're killing me.
03:38Um, yeah, man.
03:40I mean, as far as, like, first takes go, to me, I've worked with producers that try to exhaust you.
03:47Um, and get you to do 10 or 12 takes.
03:49And I'm like, I'm not doing that.
03:51Because by the time you get to take 12, your voice sounds like crap.
03:55And those are usually ones that try to use.
03:58And I'm like, no, we're not doing that.
04:00Like, my voice sounds fresher in these four, 6,000 takes than they do on those last.
04:06So I don't understand why they do that because it doesn't make any sense.
04:10Um, I like it to feel fresh because then it feels alive.
04:14Then it feels better, man.
04:16It just feels like a good time.
04:18You know, that's when, that's when you want to hear it, when it feels like there's more energy to it.
04:22So, you know, the, the, the better, and I'm a stickler for the notes, man.
04:28Like, I really try to, to nail it and, and get it going and make it feel really, like, vibrant.
04:34So, I, uh, you know, the quicker we can get it going, grab that, then we can do all the, the, the harmonies.
04:41We can play around with all the, the, the backing vocals and stuff.
04:45And then, then after that is when I go in and I do like the heavy stuff.
04:48And the heavy stuff for me is so easy.
04:50It's just ridiculous.
04:51And he said this, uh, records darker and heavier.
04:53You agree?
04:54Oh, yeah.
04:55When I, there are definitely some darker, heavier moments on it, you know, uh, uh, post-traumatic blues, um, kind of sets the tone for that.
05:04It kind of makes it, uh, you know, you're able to lean into that, that kind of heavy side of everything.
05:08Um, it's a great opener, uh, you know, especially combined with, uh, the intro track, the box.
05:16Um, but then there's just, there are great, uh, heavier elements to, to, you know, some of the songs on this.
05:22And then, you know, as far as like the darker spots, man, uh, there's an amazing acoustic song called Sorry Me on there that I think people are going to flip out on.
05:30Like, it's really, really good.
05:32Well, I, uh, I was talking about this on the radio yesterday that I love pretty much everything that you do.
05:36That's for sure.
05:37And, you know, of course, like this record here, like just, I had this on the turntable today.
05:41It's so good.
05:42And then, and then I, I got this one too.
05:44I, I had to get this one on vinyl as well.
05:46So far, uh, the end so far, right.
05:51What happened there?
05:53What?
05:54Oh, let's not even talk about that.
05:56You know, it's the record label dropping balls all over.
06:03I had to bust your chops on that a little bit, no doubt.
06:05But yeah, I can't wait.
06:07So September 15th, they're going to be going out on tour.
06:09Uh, the band sounds killer, eh?
06:12Yeah, man.
06:13Yeah.
06:13We're, we're, we're killing it right now, man.
06:15We just, we did a quick little, uh, like mini run, uh, through, uh, you know, the, the, the upper East, upper Eastern part of that kind of down into the Midwest.
06:25Um, and, uh, it really kind of got us like excited to go out and, and start crushing it on this fall run.
06:32So it's, we're really stoked.
06:34Yeah.
06:35Now, um, uh, switching gears just a little bit, uh, you're, you're turning 50 later on this year.
06:39I already passed that milestone.
06:40You think about that at all?
06:41Um, I think about it constantly.
06:44I think about it when my, when I get up out of bed, I think about it every time I step on stage and I like break my back.
06:51I'm just like, what am I doing?
06:52What?
06:52It's just, but then I have to remember I'm a mental person.
06:57So I just, there's, this is all I want to do, you know, um, and, and obviously it's, it's, it's a different kind of set than I'm that, than, you know, the, what I used to do when I was, when I was younger, when I was a kid.
07:09But at the same time, I still love to play.
07:12I still love performing and I still love to get out there and try to do it as hard as I can, you know?
07:19So until I break my neck again, I think I'll just keep going, you know?
07:23So, yeah, one of the things I have hanging on my wall that I really love is one of your old masks and stuff like that.
07:29Uh, when you're out touring on your solo stuff, is it like kind of a relief that you don't have the mask on or do you kind of miss that hiding behind that or, or how does that, what's that work?
07:37Hell no, no, I, it's either, both of them have like their, you know, their, their rad qualities, you know, with the mask, with Slipknot, it's not even about hiding.
07:47It's about showing, like being able to reveal that other person, you know, like that, that guy that's kind of inside of me, um, that who's just waiting to get out and to kind of lean into that, that Slipknot music.
08:00Whereas when I'm not, you know, not wearing it, I mean, this, it was like this with Stone Sour and it's like this with CMFT.
08:06You know, it's just, it's more of just my all around personality, you know, like when you can see me laughing at stuff, you can see me messing with the band.
08:15And I mean, it's just a lot of fun to, uh, to, you know, to kind of be able to share that all of those different sides with people, because there are different fans for different sides.
08:26And, uh, you know, it feels really good to be able to show all of those sides.
08:30Now with this new record, by the way, um, explain the, uh, the, the, the, the, the cover art.
08:36Oh, the cover art is, uh, it's my homage to, uh, a couple of different things.
08:41Actually, um, it's my homage to, uh, Sergeant Pepper.
08:46It's, uh, my homage to David Bowie and the purple is actually my tribute to Prince.
08:54Cause I was a massive Prince fan when I was, you know, I have been since I was young, very, very young.
09:00Um, it's just a way to kind of celebrate all of the different lives that I've had over the, the many years.
09:06You know, and every life had kind of had a different look, you know?
09:09And so, so you see a lot of, uh, you know, all of my different slipknot looks, you see a bunch of my stone sour looks.
09:16You see all the, the suits that I used to wear, uh, when I was hosting different, like, uh, uh, hard rock award shows and whatnot.
09:23You see some of the stuff, um, that I wore in some of the videos.
09:27Like, it's really kind of cool.
09:29Like anyone's who's, who's really followed my career.
09:32We'll see all the little Easter eggs and stuff in there.
09:35So it's just, you know, it's, it's me kind of, uh, trying to reinvent, um, excitement for getting into, uh, the cover art again, you know, make people want to like stare at that album again.
09:48Yeah, no, it's killer.
09:49All right.
09:50So the record comes out on September 15th.
09:52Like I said, you're going to be here on a September 5th.
09:54Uh, one final thing I want to talk to you about, uh, before I even knew I was talking to you a couple of weeks ago, I listened to the podcast with, uh, Jericho with the elder.
10:01I love it.
10:04You would, you would love the elder Jesus.
10:09The elders killer, man.
10:11Well, are you sure?
10:14Are you sure about that?
10:15I mean, I love that song.
10:17Uh, let's see.
10:17I, I love that.
10:19Um, I think it's like weird and quirky and different.
10:22And I don't know.
10:23I mean, you know, I mean, I, I will say this when you put it up against unmasked, it's a masterpiece.
10:28Like it's really, it's really good.
10:31Um, I think there are definitely some rad elements on it.
10:35Yeah.
10:35Um, uh, there are some interesting choices that they made.
10:38Uh, but I still have yet is for somebody to tell me what exactly the story was, you know, like where I was going, how'd they end up on the island?
10:49Like what the hell's happening?
10:51Like who's Blackwell?
10:52I don't know anything.
10:53Like no, nothing.
10:54Like it's just, yeah.
10:55Who?
10:56Yeah.
10:57I thought Blackwell was the, uh, wasn't he the, uh, fashion guy?
11:01That's all.
11:02Well, I mean, it could be.
11:04So what?
11:04I mean, so what?
11:05They're avoiding fashion week with Blackwell.
11:08They're trying not to be on his top 10 list or something.
11:11I, what, what, what is happening?
11:13I don't know.
11:14I don't know, dude.
11:15I was listening to it.
11:16Uh, I mean, you know, John five is a friend and he's like, uh, I was like, what do you think
11:20of, uh, the elder?
11:21I asked him last year.
11:22He's like, Oh, you know, John five loves everything.
11:25Kiss, you know?
11:25Yeah, exactly.
11:27Exactly.
11:27But John five, you would be hard pressed to get him to say a bad thing about anybody.
11:33He's one of the nicest people on the planet.
11:35So, you know, yeah, I, uh, I could see him, you know, being able to make the case for
11:40the elder, but at the same time, come on, we all come on.
11:44Yeah, I know.
11:45Well, I don't know.
11:46I kind of like it.
11:46And, uh, I don't know.
11:47I bought it on vinyl for like 30 bucks and I'm like, okay, I gotta have this.
11:52I gotta see what I mean, dude.
11:54I mean, I say that and yet I've got it memorized for God's sakes, you know?
11:57So who's the asshole here really, you know?
12:01Well, CMFT great to see and talk to you and, uh, we'll, uh, we'll do it again soon.
12:06Hopefully, uh, September 5th is when you're going to be here, uh, in Detroit rock city.
12:10Can't wait for the record.
12:11So all right, right on, man.
12:12Yeah.
12:13I'm looking forward to it.
12:14We'll have a good time.
12:15All right, dude.
12:15Thank you so much.
12:16No worries, buddy.
12:17No worries, buddy.
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