2023-08-15 18:12:10
Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman and lead singer Corey Taylor turns 50 this year. On the eve of the anniversary, he releases his second solo album CMF2, the release date is scheduled for September 15, but for now the musician talks to journalists and talks about what kind of music he likes to make besides metal, why he opposes the toxic nature of social networks and how he struggles with post-traumatic stress.
Among other confessions and “loves” of Corey Taylor, suddenly there was a completely non-“metal” English indie band Kaiser Chiefs. He fondly recalls their 2005 debut album Employment. “It was really cool! The more I immersed myself in this album, the more it inspired me to write my songs. I still listen to it and enjoy it. I’ve been threatening to cover “Modern Way” for a long time (the third track from this album. – “ZD”). I’m sure I’d make a really cool acoustic version.”
Many metal fans are surprised by Taylor’s unusual tastes, but he was known as a man full of surprises, and if you dig, you can find many things far from heavy metal among his musical educators, for example, Bob Dylan. I wonder which of the artists and artists of the West Bob Dylan has never inspired … As it turned out, Taylor’s second solo album was influenced by a lot of “historical” rock and punk music from the 70s, 80s, 90s. We can say that we will hear real old-school retro rock.
Of 2020’s first album, CMFT, Taylor recalls that recording a solo album was more enjoyable than he ever thought. “At the moment I have musical carte blanche. I am spoiled by the fact that I played in not one, but two great bands, the musician realizes his incredible luck. – Recording the first solo album, I thought: “Well, what else do I have left?” And then I realized that I have a lot of songs that I could not release! They were outsider songs that no band wanted to take, or they were songs I wrote for other artists that didn’t fit either.”
Corey literally scratched the bottom of the barrel and first scraped together for one album, and then got involved and collected material for the second disc, which he considers the best rock album of the year. His self-confidence literally rolls over, and he does not get tired of revealing his creative essence to the fans more and more: “It gave me the opportunity to open up even more as a songwriter and singer.”
Taylor compares songwriting to the process of coming to terms with herself and her past. As a result, he finds real inspiration not in the cool albums of other musicians, but in himself and his personal stories. The artist explains, “When you’ve been doing this for as long as I have, the only person you really have to challenge is yourself. If you start looking for people to try to defeat, then there is a danger that you will imitate someone. And I never wanted to be anyone other than myself. I have so many different styles, tastes and boundaries that I want to push! When I’m constantly trying to outdo myself, creativity and drive are carved out of that struggle.”
Reflecting on the bonuses of solo swimming, Taylor recalls the struggle for her identity: “One of the great things about solo recording is that you can address topics that might have been taboo before. I’ve had a long creative relationship with the bands I’ve played in, but there have been times when people have come up to me about certain parts of the songs I’ve written and asked me to change something about them. It repulsed me. I’d rather just take the song off the album than change it. There shouldn’t be any restrictions! Thanks to that, I was able to be a little more sugary when it comes to my sentimental love songs.”
One of the most sentimental songs on the album will be “Some Day I Change Your Mind”, which Taylor wrote for his wife. “In it, I refute my wife’s claim that I can never change. I understand that this sounds like a challenge and a long game … but I wanted to remind her that I did not forget one of our conversations and I will always try to be better for her, ”the artist confesses touchingly.
In a conversation with journalists, Corey criticizes social networks, the musician considers them toxic, to which his old song “Culture Head” is dedicated. He admitted that another person has been managing his networks for a long time and publishes something on his behalf, and he doesn’t even have passwords from them. “At some point, people have to see how bad it is,” Taylor said. “There is nothing social about social media. These are all very dark, depraved and terrible platforms for people who are just trying to tear down as many temples as possible. I am not interested”.
About artificial intelligence, the musician expresses himself even more harshly: “I’m so tired of AI and all this nonsense! As soon as we think we’ve figured out that social media is bad for us, someone says, “Hold my beer – I have another side of hell that needs to be uncovered.” And this is where AI comes in. This is ridiculous! We can’t even control ourselves, but we think that we can control AI when we allow it to think from the Pandora’s box? .. How tired I am of people.”
Another highlight of the album is the track “Post Traumatic Blues” – the single for which the video was filmed. This track talks about Taylor’s experience with PTSD. “I wanted this song to be a bridge between people who are dealing with PTSD and people who are trying to understand all the nuances of what it is and how to deal with it. But this diagnosis destroys families and at the same time remains hidden for many years. It comes with a whole rainbow of symptoms and problems. I, along with my foundation, tried to help these people. I was often told that my music helped them survive night shifts during emergencies. This applies to medical services, rescuers and law enforcement agencies. And I’m trying to do something to help them.”
Another single from the album, for which a video was shot, was the track “Beyond”. The song was written back in 2006, but Taylor has only now been able to unlock its potential. He recalls: “I wrote it in both an aggressive and a romantic way, but now I also see it as a kind of ‘unity’ song. I unite the masses and let them know that my music took them beyond their ideas about me.
Summarizing the solo performance experience, Taylor comes up with an interesting generalization: “My first solo album was kind of where I came out of, and CMF2 is more like what I’m aiming for.” In his second disc, the musician sings and plays the solo and rhythm guitar, piano and mandolin, experiments, does not depend on anyone and seems to get tremendous pleasure from this. But he does not forget about his native Slipknot team either, during an interview, Corey mentioned that perhaps next year we will hear their experimental album “Look Outside Your Window”. It was recorded back in 2008, but never came out due to the abundance of other material. Since then, the album has been considered “lost”, but fans remember it and wait with curiosity for its release.
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