SLIPKNOT's COREY TAYLOR Is Looking Forward To Working On New Music With ELOY CASAGRANDE

In a new interview with Alternative Press, SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor and percussionist M. Shawn Crahan (a.k.a. Clown) spoke about the prospect of writing new music with drummer Eloy Casagrande, who joined the band this past February.

"Eloy is such a natural writer," Taylor said. "I think he's going to take us to some places we haven't been in a while. I've got a lot to say, and I'm looking forward to expounding on a lot of different things."

Regarding when SLIPKNOT will return to the studio, Crahan said: "Somewhere between 2025 and mid-2026, there's gonna be writing. I think it's gonna be sooner than later. Maybe we'll be in the studio in the later part of 2025. There's no expectations. No one's in a rush, but we're not going to blow it off either."

SLIPKNOT's seventh studio album, "The End, So Far", was released in September 2022 via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to 2019's "We Are Not Your Kind", it was the band's final record with Roadrunner after first signing with the rock and metal label in 1998.

Clown spoke to Alternative Press about SLIPKNOT's plans on how to release new music, including the possibility of signing a new major-label deal or even making future albums available independently.

"I won't sign a seven-album deal," he said. "But could we do one-offs or two? I don't know. Am I interested in doing it ourselves? Well, that's a lot of fuckin' work. Could we do it? Yeah. Could it be beneficial for the band? Of course. Is it going to be 10 times more work? Absolutely."

After parting ways with Jay Weinberg last November, SLIPKNOT teased fans with a hint about a new drummer nearly six months ago, posting a photo of a single broken drumstick online with the caption "Rehearsal."

The band explained in a statement that the split with Weinberg was a creative decision. Jay followed up with a statement of his own, saying that he was "heartbroken and blindsided" by his dismissal.

Weinberg has since joined SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and INFECTIOUS GROOVES.

Casagrande abruptly quit SEPULTURA in early February, shortly before he was supposed to begin rehearsals for the band's recently launched 40th-anniversary farewell tour.

Casagrande joined SEPULTURA nearly 13 years ago as the replacement for Jean Dolabella.

In an interview with Revolver magazine, Taylor was asked about the decision to reveal Eloy's identity shortly after playing the first couple of gigs with the former SEPULTURA skinsman. Corey said: "I think we just kinda went, 'You know what? Let's just tell people.' It was really as simple as that, you know? Eloy was the only one who was brave enough to get in the room with us. There were a handful of other people that we were looking at, and none of them wanted to jam with us. They just wanted to do their own thing and send it in — a very TikTok thing, you know? And we were like, 'That's not the way this works, dude.' Eloy rearranged his schedule to come see us. He was so hungry to jam and just see what would happen that we were immediately impressed just by that alone. He didn't get it right away — getting to know him was just as important as jamming with him — but by the time we made that decision, we were, like, 'Let's tell the world now. He's earned it.' Our audience is so used to us kind of keeping our cards close to our chest, but to me it was more refreshing to just kind of come out and go, 'Yeah, he's our dude.'"

SLIPKNOT guitarist Jim Root was equally full of praise for Eloy, saying: "Yeah, he's a super-cool dude. He's really quiet, but he just lives, eats and breathes drums. If he's got an idle moment, he's got a practice pad in front of him or a practice kit. I recently bought a new place that has a little tiny demo studio attached to the garage. I've got a drum set in there and a big couch that you can turn into a bed. Eloy and VMan [SLIPKNOT bassist Alessandro Venturella] came to stay here for a week between the Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals, and Eloy was, like, 'Is it possible that I can stay in the room with the drums?' [Laughs] At literally seven the next morning, I could hear drums being played out in my studio. He's like some sort of Jedi drum master, which is inspiring to me. He makes me want to be a better guitar player to match his abilities, you know?"

In a separate interview with Tone-Talk, Root spoke about how Casagrande came to join SLIPKNOT and his impact on the band's overall sound. He said: "We didn't even try anybody else. Eloy's name came up. He contacted us, actually, about wanting to be a part of it and started sending a bunch of videos in. I think him and our bass player might've had a little bit of a relationship before. I think they knew each other. They had mutual friends. And Vman's really in tune with a lot of really great, proggy, heavy musicians that are passionate about their instruments. And it just seemed like a no-brainer. And he's really respectful of the legacy of [SLIPKNOT's original drummer, the late] Joey [Jordison], and Joey was a huge influence on him. And he's so humble. The dude has so much humility. And you could tell he just lives and breathes his craft, to the point where I see his passion and it ignites my passion for my instrument. And Brazilians, South Americans in general, are so passionate about what they do. Our manager told me, he was out to dinner with four or five promoters from South America, and they were all really stoked. They're all, like, 'It's so good you've got a Brazilian drummer in SLIPKNOT now. We kind of feel like we've won the World Cup.' It's a cool feeling. And God, he just fits in so well. I don't know, man. I mean, there's a lot of things I can say about it. I'm just glad it happened when it did. And we're lucky to have him — we are really lucky to have that dude."

SLIPKNOT is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of its seminal debut album, "Slipknot", which catapulted the band back in 1999.

SLIPKNOT's "Here Comes The Pain" tour, produced by Live Nation, includes arena plays nationwide this summer. Highlights include New York City's Madison Square Garden, Los Angeles's Intuit Dome, Austin's Moody Center and more.

Photo credit: Jonathan Weiner