SLIPKNOT's COREY TAYLOR Says Band Could Continue If He Ever Decided To Leave

Corey Taylor says he could see SLIPKNOT carrying on without him if he ever decided to leave the band.

The vocalist made the comments in the new issue of Metal Hammer magazine when reflecting on how much longer the masked Iowa act could go on for, exactly two decades after the release of SLIPKNOT's self-titled debut album.

Taylor said: "I mean, it's crossed my mind as the years have gone on. It's gotten harder to do this. You think about when the end is. No one thought we'd be doing it 20 years later.

"If I just couldn't do it anymore, I'd just stop, but that doesn't mean that the band would stop. If I can't do it, then someone might be able to take my place.

"I've thought about it before: if the right person came around and the guys were into it, then I'll just head off. We can't shortchange anyone."

Three years ago, Taylor clarified his comments in which he said that "might step away" from the band at some point in the future.

Asked on the "Someone Who Isn't Me" podcast if he thought he will ever get "tired of touring," Taylor replied, "Honestly, if you'd asked me a year ago, I would have said no. But… I'm just kind of starting to. I'm not young anymore. And as willing as my will is, I'm just beat up, man. I mean, I might as well be 60 in SLIPKNOT years, for Christ's sake."

Taylor added: "I don't know if I would retire. I might step away from SLIPKNOT at some point, just because the way the music is, and that sense of energy, I don't know if I could be able to do that into my 50s. And I would never want the band to feel like I was holding them back, because I just couldn't physically do it. So that means I wouldn't completely quit music; I would probably just step away from SLIPKNOT."

After his original comments were picked up by various web sites, Taylor took to his Twitter account to explain what he meant. He said: "I'M NOT QUITTING SLIPKNOT. Listen to/read interviews IN CONTEXT not out. I talk about time off. This is why I dislike 'cut n paste' journos."

SLIPKNOT's sixth album, "We Are Not Your Kind", will be released on August 9 via Roadrunner. The disc was once again recorded at a Los Angeles studio with producer Greg Fidelman, who engineered and mixed SLIPKNOT's 2004 album "Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)" and helmed 2014's ".5: The Gray Chapter".

SLIPKNOT's "Knotfest Roadshow" headline tour of North America will feature VOLBEAT, GOJIRA and BEHEMOTH as special guests on all dates. Produced by Live Nation, the 29-city outing will kick off July 26 in Mountain View, California at Shoreline Amphitheater and continue through September 8 where it will conclude with a performance at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, Texas.