We've been covering the back and forth between Joey Jordison and Corey Taylor for a while now. It's getting a bit ridiculous at this point. When we last left the story, Joey was hyping up the maggots saying everything is on the up-and-up. Anybody who has read the comments frontman Corey Taylor has made in the press knows this is far from the case.
Recently, Taylor spoke with Australian outlet, Undercover, and Blabbermouth did us a kind service by transcribing certain key excerpts. Taylor was very open and honest about his current feelings about the band.
First up, after talking about how close he feels to the members of Stone Sour, and how he will never quit that band, he speaks of his disassosiation from Slipknot:
With Slipknot — I mean, I'm very proud of what I did with Slipknot, and obviously, I'm close with those guys, but it's completely different [than Stone Sour]. It was a band that joined later and I, honestly, in a lot of ways, never really felt connected to it — for whatever reason; it might have been me, it might have been them. I cast no aspersions on anyone. But that's just the dynamic. Stone Sour's always had a really special spot in my heart, because it's the first real band that I started, and I put so much work into it, and I'm still with these guys that I've known 20 years. I mean, it's always gonna be right there.
Afterwards, the interviewer asks if the passing of Paul Gray will have any affect of future output from both Slipknot and Stone Sour, to which Corey responds:
"If it happens, if it happens… There'll definitely be new Stone Sour music, but with Slipknot, there's such a huge piece missing now — a piece that the fans can't even understand. And, honestly, it drives me nuts trying to explain it to them. I mean, Paul always was that unconscious, almost lynchpin that held everything together. And he had such a great mind for the music that we created that without him, I don't see it happening very soon, let's put it that way. If we do, it's gonna be way down the line, and it's gonna be when everyone's ready. Because there are other things in the band that are affecting things right now." After the interviewer points out that "Everyone must still be tender" following Paul's death, Corey goes on to say, "It's not even about that. It's individual issues, let's put it that way, and that's all I'll say about it. Obviously, we're doing these shows in the summer at Sonisphere and that's pretty much gonna be us dipping a toe in the water to see what happens. To me, it's baby steps. I think everybody's racing ahead without realizing that we kind of have to pick ourselves up first. Everyone needs to be realistic about it and it seems like I'm the only one who's being realistic. And it's a heavy responsibility to be the guy who is kind of coming off as the doomsayer, but at the end of the day, that's respect. I'm not just racing right ahead and going, 'Oh, yeah, we're gonna go…' I lost my brother last year, and people need to understand that and respect it before I start getting all 'hip, hip hooray' about everything."
Oh shit! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he's been reading what Joey Jordison is saying in the press and is none to happy about it. He seems to suggest that this has created a new rift in the band that must be overcome. The ultimate litmus test will be this summer, when the band has a handful of European festivals booked, which will be the first time the band will perform live since Gray's passing. Until then, I think it would be in everybody's best interests to stop making empty promises or even talk about this altogether.
