In a new interview with Terry “Beez” Bezer of WhatCulture Music, Corey Taylor of Slipknot says he has 26 new songs written for his debut solo album due for release in 2020. The full conversation can be seen below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).
On his involvement with the digital television series “The Boys”: Corey: “Ten years ago-ish, I told my management that they need to look up who holds the rights to ‘The Boys’ — maybe not even television, but movie-wise, because it’s one of my favorite [comics]. Obviously, it was locked up with somebody. That was the last time I really heard about it. Then, fast forward about a year ago-ish, they were putting it together and actually reaching out to us to see if there was music that we could give over. It all just kind of lined up perfectly. They sent me some early episodes, and I’m gagging — I’m losing my mind. I was like, ‘Give them whatever they want.’ [The SLIPKNOT song] ‘Solway Firth’, it just worked — it was perfect. The rest is history.” On SLIPKNOT’s latest album, “We Are Not Your Kind”: Corey: “There’s been hints of it over the years — that kind of unconventional thinking and the approach. We really kind of hinted at it on ‘Vol. 3’, and this album, to me, feels like a great mixture of ‘Vol. 3’ and ‘Iowa’ — that darkness, but with that creative, artistic vibe. It felt like that’s the way we were heading, and then for whatever reason — the turmoil in the band or whatever — it kind of got off the rails a little bit, and things got a little more conventional. Coming back to this felt great. We were like, ‘The shackles were off. Let’s make an album for us again and see what happens.’ Obviously, ‘.5’ was us mending and just letting ourselves mourn and feel, ‘Okay, do we want to do this?’ Once we answered that question, it became, ‘Okay, let’s see where we’re going to go now.’ Because we did that — and because we went completely unconventional — it really challenged the way people listen to us again. It’s made people go back and listen to the old stuff and go, ‘Dude, did I miss something here? How does this make sense?’ That’s what’s been really great about it, and it’s got me excited about the whole thing again.” On the SLIPKNOT song “Spiders”: Corey: “When Clown played me the music for ‘Spiders’, because that was something that he and V-Man and Jim [Root] had kind of put together with Jay [Weinberg], it was so different that it got me excited. It was, like, ‘Okay, I can take this song in four or five different directions. Where do I want to go with it?’ Honestly, it made sense to go a little more minimal and a little stark, and really play with the melody a little more. I’d tried a couple of different things that didn’t feel as creatively accurate, and once I kind of stopped thinking about it and just went, ‘You know what? What if I started from scratch and find what works for me?, then it was awesome. That really was kind of what this album was about — trial and error [and] finding what worked. ‘Let’s try six or seven ideas. Maybe it’s the first idea that we had; maybe it’s the fourth or fifth; but either way, just really going with the strongest hook, the strongest melody line. It wasn’t necessarily about the words; it was about what feels the best.” On potential future Knotfests: Corey: “Things are being bandied about, and respectfully. This is kind of what I’ve said since day one — the fact that we weren’t going to come in and try to flood these territories who had helped us get to where we are and be disrespectful. We’re trying to do it in a cool way, a smart way and a respectful way. That’s the plan. Obviously, things may fall apart, but for now, we are working that out as we speak.” On his recent solo live performances and his in-the-works solo album: Corey: “The great thing about being a fan is you never forget the passion you have for music. You never forget the songs that you love. For me, there’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure, so I’m going to listen [to] and play whatever I want. It was great. It’s been cool to kind of start building the momentum for a potential solo run… It’s definitely going to be rock-based, but it’s going to be rock meets so many different things. There will be harder-edged stuff, but there also will be big, expansive, huge, world-changing guitar songs that you’re going to want to sing along to. That’s just who I am, and I’m not going to fight who I am. I’ve got 26 songs written, and I’m not done yet.” SLIPKNOT is continuing to tour in support of “We Are Not Your Kind”, which was released in August via Roadrunner.