COREY TAYLOR On His High-Energy Live Performances: 'Until I Break My Neck Again, I Think I'll Just Keep Going'

In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor was asked if he ever thinks about the fact that he will turn 50 years old in December. He responded: "I think about it constantly. I think about it when I get up out of bed. I think about it every time I step on stage and I break my back. I'm, like, 'What am I doing?' But then I have to remember, I'm a mental person. This is all I wanna do.

"Obviously, it's a different kind of set than what I used to do when I was younger, when I was a kid," he continued. "But at the same time, I still love to play, I still love performing, and I still love to get out there and try to do it as hard as I can. So, until I break my neck again, I think I'll just keep going."

In June 2016, Taylor underwent emergency spinal surgery when it was discovered that he had been walking around for years with a broken neck.

During a September 2016 appearance on SEX PISTOLS guitarist Steve Jones's radio show "Jonesy's Jukebox", Taylor stated about how he found out that he had a broken neck: "What happened was I went in for just a routine physical. You hit a certain age, and you have to start having those old-man updates. I had just turned 42, and I went in and had physical done, 'cause I was having some stuff going on. And my doctor was, like, 'Hmm, you need to go to a spinal specialist.' So I went in and did an MRI and whatever, and what I found out was I had a very old injury in my two vertebrae — my C5 and C6 — were completely compressed together, destroyed the disc, and the bone was growing into my spinal cord. [The doctor] told me, 'I've seen MMA fighters that don't have it this bad.' He was, like, 'I can't believe you're walking.' So I had to go in for emergency spinal surgery that actually postponed the last tour I just did for three weeks. They jacked my vertebrae up, they put a replacement disc in, they shaved the bone back, and I still have a gnarly bruise on my spinal cord."

Taylor went on to say that the injury wasn't affecting his voice but that "it was affecting my body." He revealed: "I had no strength on the left side of my body. My balance was completely off. I was getting electric shocks all through my body. I was basically incontinent."

Pressed about where and when he thinks he might have sustained the injury that led to his surgery, Taylor told "Jonesy's Jukebox": "The only thing that I can think of is at Ozzfest '99, I fell off the front of the stage, I fell four feet and I landed on top of my head. And I think that is what did it. You know, you're 24 and you don't even process that. You're, like, 'Whoah, whatever. I'm too metal for pain.' It went on and just over the years, it's just exacerbated and just gotten worse."

Taylor underwent surgery on both knees in May 2019 and recovered in time to appear with SLIPKNOT on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" that same month. He also played a solo show two days later in Garden Grove, California.

Corey's second solo album, "CMF2", will arrive on September 15. The LP follows up Taylor's 2020 solo debut "CMFT", which featured the No. 1 Billboard mainstream rock single "Black Eyes Blue" and streaming sensation "CMFT Must Be Stopped" (feat. Tech N9ne and Kid Bookie). The LP hit No. 6 on Billboard's U.S. Top Rock Albums chart.

"CMF2" is Taylor's first album for BMG and the first on his own label imprint, Decibel Cooper Recordings.

Jay Ruston (ANTHRAX, STEEL PANTHER, AMON AMARTH),who produced STONE SOUR's 2017 "Hydrograd" LP as well as "CMFT", returns for Taylor's second full-length.

In support of his new album, Taylor has announced his 2023 tour featuring special guests WARGASM, OXYMORRONS and LUNA AURA on select dates. Produced by Live Nation, the 28-city tour kicks off on August 25 at Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, making stops across the U.S in Detroit, Orlando, Dallas and more before the final headline show in Los Angeles at The Wiltern on October 5.

Photo credit: Pamela Littky