STONE SOUR's TAYLOR: 'We Put Really Good Songs Out There Because It's What We Love To Do'

Australia's X-Press Online recently conducted an interview with STONE SOUR/SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On fronting SLIPKNOT, one of the most venerated and iconic metal acts of all time, while counterbalancing this accomplishment with an equally successful rock act in STONE SOUR:

"I think people learn more about me being in STONE SOUR than they do watching me in SLIPKNOT. With STONE SOUR I don't feel like I'm going to rip my head off at any given time. I'm showing people who I am and a little more of where I am coming from.

"SLIPKNOT is one very specific side of me but this is so much more of everything I love to do. I like to do slower stuff, I like to do heavier stuff, I like to do stuff that's in the middle and I just get the opportunity to do that with STONE SOUR. It's not about competition, it's about expression. That's why I'm extremely lucky because I have two really popular bands. It's one of those things that I try never to look at like a gift horse in the mouth. I don't try to be contrived or fake and I don't try to play a part, which I think a lot of people do when they have different projects — they try to be something other than who they are. Plus, I think we write really good songs and we don't try to put the music out there just for the sake of making music. We put really good songs out there because it's what we love to do.

"On the Jäger tour pretty much every show has sold out. The crowd has really been responding to it and it's cool because there are peaks and valleys in our set that I think a lot of people don't like to do anymore or don't know how to do. I think they try to get out there and just try to beat their heads against a wall. But if you don't counteract heavy stuff with slower stuff then how do you know what's heavy anymore? So I think it's the diversity that really shines out in the STONE SOUR set. We are really into it, we are very animated and we just go for it as hard as we can."

On a particularly humorous episode from the road:

"Stuttgart, Germany. I was playing 'Bother' and somebody threw a Santa Claus hat up on stage, so I put it on and I said, 'Hey, I'm Satan Claus' and the whole audience proceeded to sing 'Jingle Bells' to me all as one. It was crazy. I just happen to know the chords to 'Jingle Bells' so I start playing along with them and it was surreal. It was the loudest, most crazy, fucked up thing I'd ever seen in my life. It was almost like it was instantaneous, they just started doing it. My eyes got huge and I just started smiling like an idiot.

"I love stuff like that. I love it when things like that just come out of nowhere and they just add so much to the set. It's just so organic and so unplanned. It's probably one of the best memories I've had in the last 10 years. It's just so amazing, it makes me feel so good to be doing what I do."