COREY TAYLOR On Getting Sober: 'You Realize Quickly How Much A Part Of Your Personality Booze Has Become'

SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor is the featured guest on "The Moon Under Water", a podcast where award-winning comedian John Robins invites different guests on to create their dream pub. During that chat, Taylor, who has been sober since 2010, was asked how he navigates going to pubs and bars now that he no longer drinks alcohol. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The first few years is weird, because you realize quickly how much a part of your personality booze has become, and you kind of have to sort out who you are, what you're comfortable with and largely just the habit of it.

"I was never a big beer drinker, so non-alcoholic brew, that wasn't the key," he explained. "So I started with sodas and then just kind of went to water. And now that's just what I do.

"To me, going out and hanging out in a pub or a bar or whatever is more about the company you keep. And you realize at some point the golden moment is going to go away. So you try to time your departure right around that time where you're just, like, 'Okay, we've got about 10 minutes before he becomes a super mess. So I'm gonna split, and I'll talk to you guys later.'"

Taylor added: "I try not to 'Irish goodbye' everybody, where you just split. I only did that, really, when I was drinking. [Laughs] But I make sure that everybody's good; I make sure that everybody's… Okay, if anybody needs a ride home, I'm the first one to do it. 'Cause it's usually just me and my wife. My wife still drinks, but she's very social. She's way better at it than I was. Usually right about the time she's starting to kind of… She's just, like, 'I'm tired. We need to split.' I'm, like, 'Ah. You had me at 'I'm ready to go.'' So we're out the door and heading for home."

Corey previously discussed his long history of drug use and eventual recovery in a January 2020 interview with BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Mary Anne Hobbs. At the time, he said: "You get to the point where you realize that what you do means so much to you that you wanna do it at the absolute top of your game. And you know me — I'm a nut, so if I'm going all the way, I'm gonna go all the way and above and beyond.

"I've struggled with drinking for a long time, especially with having that kind of addictive personality side to me," he continued. "But at the same time, I've also had this weird switch where when I decide to quit something, that's it. And this year is ten years for me. And then I quit smoking, which I never thought I would do. And that was just as difficult, if not worse. But then you get to the point where you start going, 'Okay, we're done quitting things. What can we do to improve ourselves?' So I started really looking at the way I eat and the way I take care of myself. I started training again and really trying to get physically fit to the point where if I went on stage, I knew that I could do the best show that I've done in twenty years. And that became part of just keeping this thing alive."

Four years ago, Taylor, who tried to commit suicide in 2003 by attempting to jump off a hotel balcony while struggling with alcoholism, was honored with the "Icon" award at Rock To Recovery's second annual awareness event and benefit. In his acceptance speech, the singer said: "I had my first drink when I was five years old, did my first drug when I was eleven, and it was just all fucked up from there. I lost a lot of friends."

During a 2016 appearance on the "Meet Your Heroes" SiriusXM radio show, Taylor said that his personality turned "vicious" and he had a "dark attitude" while drunk. He added: "To this day, there are still a lot of friends of mine who are, like, 'If you ever fall off the wagon, don't call me.' So I know it's in me, and I think that's the difference between me and a lot of other people is the fact that I can at least admit it."

He continued: "I just let booze get in the way for a while and then I kind of pulled myself out of it. I feel like I'm doing my best work now, to be honest."

Taylor recently revealed that he will enter the studio in January and February 2023 to record his second solo album. "About 15 songs" will be tracked for the follow-up to 2020's "CMFT", which will showcase "a darker edge" but will still be "very melodic," he told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk". "And it's less an homage of the stuff that I grew up on and more of what people are used to hearing from me — but still a solo album," he explained. "So there's still great rock and roll on it. There's some heavier stuff, but there's some really great slower stuff. It's gonna be really rad."

This past February, Corey released a solo album of covers and acoustic recordings, titled "CMFB…Sides", via Roadrunner Records. The collection comprised nine previously unreleased B-sides, covers of tunes that inspired Taylor, acoustic renditions, and live versions.