Taylor: The vocal weight in heavy metal Slipknot
By @ravenscape.com
Corey Taylor is the lead singer and guitarist of the heavy metal band Slipknot.
Slipknot will headline First Niagara Pavilion on Aug. 6.
Slipknot lead singer and guitarist Corey Taylor.
When Slipknot headlines First Niagara Pavilion on Aug. 6, singer Corey Taylor will be looking cautiously over his shoulder.
Taylor always does that in western Pennsylvania, ever since his famed metal band’s first headlining tour in the late-1990s, when Slipknot played the former Station Square amphitheater.
Taylor picks up the story: “I think we were with Mudvayne, and I remember it was under a bridge next to railroad tracks and it was so cold.
“There was a girl who got backstage who chased me around trying to bite my face off for like an hour and a half,” Taylor said. “I didn’t know what to do so I hid in the tour bus. But when I looked out again later she was still waiting for me, like trolling behind a fence. So every time I’m back in Pittsburgh I’m like looking over my shoulder for that chick who likes to bite faces. But we love playing Pittsburgh. It’s one of the crazier cities. You never let us down.”
Some of the more fervent local fans won’t wait until August; they’ll hop onto Interstate 70 later this week and make the Columbus, Ohio, trek to see Slipknot headline opening night of the three-day, completely sold-out Rock on the Range music festival.
Slipknot and Marilyn Manson head up Friday night’s show at Mapfire Stadium in the Buckeye State’s capital, joined by Slash, Breaking Benjamin, Live, Falling in Reverse, Yelawolf and more.
Saturday’s Rock on the Range lineup features metal gods Judas Priest with Godsmack, Papa Roach, Ministry and Of Mice and Men.
On Sunday, Linkin Park, Rise Against, Halestorm, Motionless in White, the Pretty Reckless and Anthrax take charge to close out what many regard as America’s best hard-rock festival.
“It’s just getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” Taylor said. “Having played it a few times, I’d compare it to Download Festival in the U.K.; that kind of depth of talent.
“For a lot of people it’s become a destination concert; they plan their whole weekend around it, no matter who’s playing, because they know they’ll have such a great time and they know the bands on the bill will be the best bands out there,” Taylor said. “It’s probably one of my favorite shows in the States. Everyone’s excited; everyone’s stoked.”
Realizing they need something special for their new shows, Slipknot has designed a stage filled with fire that seemingly chases the horror-mask wearing band members. Any bandmate who loses track of where he is, or the timing sequence of the fire, might find themselves singed by flames.
“Leave it to Slipknot to create an even more dangerous stage,” Taylor said. “It gets like 100 degrees and when that fire comes up you can feel it glisten all over your head, but it looks cool all over the stage so we use it.”
Taylor is accustomed to such things, having joined Slipknot in 1997 in time to appear on the Iowa band’s double-platinum debut album.
Like his six bandmates, he wears a latex mask on stage; which has evolved through the years to include dreadlocks, scars and a creepy, featureless look.
Isn’t it tricky to sing while wearing a mask?
“At this point I’m so used to it, half the time I forget I’m wearing it,” Taylor said. “It only affects me if I’m sick, then you get that blockage right up front and it feels like you have a brick taped to your face. But you learn to get through it. It’s second nature now.”
Fans expect the mask, and dark, pounding songs from Slipknot, which has released five studio albums, including “.5: The Gray Chapter,” which debuted at No. 1 last October on the Billboard Top-200.
“We’ve slowly added in a new rotation of songs to the concert setlist that we didn’t do on the last tour,” Taylor said. “It’s going really well.”
Some bands might tweak their setlist for a multi-band festival like Rock on the Range to ensure the broadest appeal, but not Slipknot.
“We figure if you don’t know what Slipknot is by now, you’re going to get it very quickly,” Taylor said. “We’re not going to butter your bread for you. You’ve got to earn it.”
It’s the same philosophy Slipknot will follow Aug. 6 when headlining the Summer’s Last Stand Tour at First Niagara Pavilion, with Lamb of God, Bullet for My Valentine and Motionless in White.
“It’s like a who’s who of bands,” Taylor said. “We wanted to show you can put on a heavy metal tour with different types of bands. I mean, Lamb of God, well, there’s not a whole lot of bands heavier than that band.”
Splitting time as lead vocalist for another rock band, Stone Sour, Taylor also branched off recently to collaborate with indie-hip-hop artist Tech9ine on the rap-metal fusion song “Wither.”
“That came together really quick,” Taylor said. “I had to record my part in Las Vegas and I sent it to him but I got this really cool phone message from him in this crazy voice where he was like freaking out saying how much he liked it. That’s the stuff you look forward to especially now because a lot of people might pay us lip service, but a sincere reaction like that from an artist in his own right showing respect like that is just a really cool thing.”
Respect is earned and given by Slipknot, which rotates its nightly setlists to ensure a new order of songs at least every three nights.
Taylor said, “We appreciate people who go out of their way to see us a few nights in a row, and we want them to know we recognize and really respect that.”
Taylor sometimes is surprised to find certain people are Slipknot fans.
“I mean the whole metal vibe I get, but we were recording an album one day and Ben Harper came into the studio and said he was a huge fan and I was like ‘What? Are you kidding me?’ He’s a great musician,” Taylor said.
If it’s true that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, then Slipknot can sleep well knowing there are Slipknot tribute bands.
“I remember one from Illinois or Indiana, Disasterpiece. They were really really good,” Taylor said. “I keep hearing there are more and new ones. It’s reached the point I’ve got to brush up on my Slipknot tribute bands.”