COREY TAYLOR Defends SLIPKNOT's 'Stringent' COVID-19 'Restrictions' During 'Knotfest Roadshow' Tour

During an appearance on the "Oral Sessions With Renée Paquette" podcast, Corey Taylor discussed the COVID-19 safety procedures and protocols that are being implemented on SLIPKNOT's ongoing "Knotfest Roadshow" U.S. tour, featuring support from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, FEVER 333 and CODE ORANGE.

"All the bands are super rad and so stoked to be back on the road," Corey said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "And we have such stringent restrictions that everybody is really, really happy about it. We're doing our best to kind of set the standard so other bands, other tours can kind of come around and follow the example.

"Basically, [we're playing] Live Nation-only venues, which require all staff to be vaccinated," he explained. "It also means that at the gigs, you can either show a vaccination card or a negative test to come in. And it basically means that you're masked at all times backstage. If someone pops positive, they're quarantined and they stay behind.

"We've only had two outside crew people test positive, and we have been lucky enough, once that happened, we have tested every day — all the crews of all the bands, all the [members] of all the bands, all the bus drivers; everyone — to make sure that we're all negative," Taylor added. "So it's an arduous process, but it's a necessary process to make sure that we keep this machine on the road. There are so many moving parts, there are so many people in so many different positions that you don't even realize that you can trace back contact with one of them through, like, six other people. You just never know — one person on the outside gets it, they have contact with three people who are close to you [and] boom, you're exposed. So it's a juggling act, trying to make sure that we keep it in check."

The "Knotfest Roadshow" tour kicked off in late September and is scheduled to wrap up in Arizona in early November.

Earlier this week, CODE ORANGE announced that it was canceling five previously announced headlining shows due to "newly enhanced COVID protocols" on the SLIPKNOT tour.

Last month, Corey said that his breakthrough case of COVID-19 produced symptoms that made him "the sickest" he had ever been in his life, and he credited the vaccine for keeping him out of the hospital.

The 47-year-old SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR singer, who is fully vaccinated, was forced to call off his appearance at a Michigan pop culture convention in August after testing positive for the coronavirus.

SLIPKNOT returned to the live stage for the first time in 18 months on September 4 at the Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma. The gig marked the debut of Taylor's new mask, which he had been working on for the past few months.

SLIPKNOT has spent the last few months working on a new studio album, tentatively due in 2022.

The band's latest LP, "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.