Corey Taylor Is Asked ‘Slipknot or Solo?’ + His Answer Is Honest

When faced with the very direct question and tasked between choosing between Slipknot and his solo career, Corey Taylor was honest in reasoning why his individual musical pursuits offer more intrigue and excitement for him as an artist.

BBC Radio 6 Music host Mary Anne Hobbs asked the singer, “Slipknot or solo?”

“Interesting,” Taylor says (transcribed by Blabbermouth) before revealing, “I’m going to say solo, only because I’m starting it right now. And I’m really starting to kind of find myself in it.”

Taylor had toured sparingly as a solo artist as far back as 2009, but committed more to it in 2020 with the release of CMFT, his debut solo full length. Earlier this year, he dropped CMF2, his second record, and has been touring heavily in support of it.

“It really essentially started as an experiment,” the singer says of his solo ambitions, “I had all these songs that I wanted to share with people and I really couldn’t give them to either band. So it was, like, ‘Okay, well, we’re just going to have to create a third option.'”

His focus on his solo career came in the wake of the dissolution of Stone Sour in 2020 after seven albums and a two-decade professional career.

Corey Taylor, “Beyond”

Corey Taylor Reflects on Slipknot

Turning his attention on his band of the last 27 years — Slipknot — Taylor expresses hope that he’s still in the band until he makes the decision to walk away.

There has been a lot of turnover within the group over the last four years years, with the addition of Michael “Tortilla Man” Pfaff in 2019 (as Chris Fehn‘s replacement) and a new mystery member following the sudden dismissal of longtime keyboardist/sampler Craig Jones.

On Sunday (Nov. 5), Slipknot surprised fans when they announced they had made a “creative decision” to “part ways” with drummer Jay Weinberg, who joined in 2014 in place of Joey Jordison.

“Slipknot is something that can never be replaced in my heart, can never be replaced in my life, and I sincerely hope that I’m a part of it until I hang the mask up,” the frontman confesses.

He then dives into the creative differences between his solo career and Slipknot, offering, “But the solo thing, there’s so much that I can play with and I’m afforded the freedom and the luxury to be able to create, song-wise, that it’s exciting to me every time I think about it. And maybe that’s just because I’ve spent 25, 27 years now, in Slipknot that I am so excited about this shiny new toy or whatever.”

It’s natural to be excited about a fresher creative endeavor and Taylor notes how Slipknot gave him the ability to make so much music already.

“I’ve explored so much in Slipknot and it excites me to think about what’s next for Slipknot. But when it comes to this, it can be even more personal than I’ve allowed myself to be with Slipknot. And it could be just because of my age as well. I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve tried almost everything, and yet here I am, 25 years ostensibly after my first real release, and I’m still trying to break new ground musically and doing it in a way that doesn’t feel forced, doing it in a way where the song is still king and really try to put my heart into it.”

Taylor says his solo career should be the vessel that is “responsible” for prying the most out of that opportunity, which will have a complementary impact on Slipknot as well.

“I think that’s going to inspire me to open up even more in Slipknot down the road. As I get older, I’m less likely to hold things back and more likely to try — and not just to kind of overpower people with it, but to share it. Which is completely different,” he says.

READ MORE: How Corey Taylor Came to Enjoy + Appreciate Metallica’s ‘St. Anger’

Corey Taylor’s Recent Retirement Talk

In September, Taylor said he is in “constant pain” when he walks, attributed it to years of touring and delivering intense onstage performances. He also reiterated past comments on physically having about “five years left” before backing off full-time touring.

The singer, who will turn 50 before the year is over, said of his ailments, “It’s the knees, it’s my feet. I have a broken toe on this foot. I have gout across my feet. It gets up into my joints and shit. … It’s tough. I’m not as nimble as I used to be. I’m not 35 anymore. It’s hard. But there are ways to do shows that don’t require being that crazy now.”

Earlier this year in June, Taylor even suggested he would help Slipknot find his successor should he choose to retire from the band.

“If they wanted to continue and I wanted to retire, I would help them find somebody, to be honest. This band has always been bigger than the sum of its own parts,” Taylor told Rock Antenne, continuing, “And it was hard moving on without Paul [Gray]. It was hard moving on when we had to part ways with Joey [Jordison]. It’s always been hard when the original nine ceases to be the original nine, but at the same time, the ones who are here are here because we love it, and we’ve always gotten something out of it.”