In a new interview with U.K.’s Kerrang! magazine, Corey Taylor spoke about what it has been like not being able to tour with SLIPKNOT for the past few months while the coronavirus pandemic has been raging across the world.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “I was just saying this a couple of days ago: I never thought in a million years I would miss the curmudgeons in SLIPKNOT and being on the road with those growly pricks. [Laughs] But, man, it seems like a million years ago that we played those shows [in Europe earlier this year]. I can’t even remember that tour, that’s how long ago it was. I long for that, and I can’t wait to get back on the road with SLIPKNOT and finish off that tour cycle when the time comes. Obviously, we don’t really know when that is, but with the decent news that the vaccines are looking promising, we have a very good chance to turn things around next year. Even though the winter is a little darker, maybe there’s some light at the end of the tunnel — we just need to get through this time and hopefully get back to normal next year. And I’m no anti-vaxxer, trust me! As soon as it’s ready, I’m taking one, and I don’t care what anybody says: I don’t wear tin foil hats, and I certainly didn’t vote for Trump, so I’m going to get a vaccine for this damn thing.”
Asked how he has coped with the idea of the world shutting down, Corey said: “I mean, it was weird… this is the longest I’ve been off the road for 20 years, and when it first started, I was like, ‘Okay, it’ll be six months at the most…’ But when it finally got into, ‘Okay, we’re getting into 2021 now and we’re not really sure what’s going on,’ it was daunting. The first month or two I was almost shifting down into normal life, because my brain is so hardwired to not get settled for months at a time. Normally I get home [from tour] and I have a good month, and then I’m back on the road again. It was interesting to feel that shift, and getting to that point of embracing domestic life. But, at the same time, this was all also the catalyst for doing the solo album the way I did, realizing that I had an opportunity to go in [to the studio] and bang it out real quick, and make something really awesome… I didn’t think it was going to have this sort of impact, which is rad. I was just excited to make it and see what would happen. The flipside of that coin, though, is that it made me miss touring even more because I want to play these songs, and play with these guys live. It was definitely a tease, let’s put it that way. But it was still a great way to do something cool and put something out for people, and they’ve really enjoyed it.”
Taylor‘s debut solo album, “CMFT”, was released in October. Corey recorded the effort with his band consisting of Jason Christopher on bass, Dustin Schoenhofer on drums, and Zach Throne and Christian Martucci (STONE SOUR) on guitar. The LP was completed at Kevin Churko‘s The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas with producer Jay Ruston, who has previously worked with ANTHRAX, STEEL PANTHER and STONE SOUR, among others.
Last month, Corey told “Good Company” that SLIPKNOT is “thinking about putting another album out maybe next year. But I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know what the plan is yet. But I know that we were talking about doing it, ’cause we only have one album left on our contract [with our record label].”
In October, SLIPKNOT percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan confirmed that the band has been using some of the downtime during the coronavirus crisis to work on new material.
“We Are Not Your Kind” came out in August 2019. The disc sold 118,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Furthermore, the album made an impact worldwide with No. 1 debuts in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and Finland, as well as Top 5 debuts in Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and New Zealand.
“We Are Not Your Kind”‘s sales in the U.S. were boosted by a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with SLIPKNOT‘s summer 2019 tour.
