Inside the mind of Corey Taylor: 7 things he's excited about right now
There's a LOT on the Slipknot legend's plate
Last updated 19th Feb 2021
Corey Taylor caught up with our very own Loz Guest to discuss pretty much everything from what Slipknot's 2021 tour plans are, to his love for WWE, right through to his horror film, Zombie Vs. Ninja.
The self-confessed loquacious rocker talked at length with Loz about everything that's going on, so we've broken it down into seven main listening points - and you can watch the full interview below.
WATCH | Corey Taylor: HUGE Slipknot plans, his horror film, WWE and more!
1) There's something HUGE in the pipeline for Slipknot
Corey could barely tell us anything about secretive upcoming Slipknot plans, coyly saying, "That world is looming. In a big way. I won't say how, but that monster is starting to feel the itch. So, there are things and that's all I'm gonna say. I'm not going to give too much away, but that'll be enough to drive people crazy."
But added that it won't be too long before we find out, "There's some stuff brewing that I can't talk about, but it's massive. It's... I can't, you know, I mean, I can't say that. I can say this - you will hear about it, probably in the next month or so. Just put it that way."
2) Corey's horror film script is in the works
It's no secret that Corey is a huge horror film buff, having been involved in two documentaries about the genre (In Search of Darkness I & II), but what's lesser known is that he's actually working on his own horror film - and it's starting to take shape...
Watch the trailer for Corey's second horror documentary
"I'm actually really gaining traction with my horror movie that I wrote, Zombie Vs. Ninja," he confirmed. "I started work on it a couple of years ago, and I've been writing scripts constantly, like I've written about five or six - actually, it's six completed, one of which was this one.
"It's exactly as described; it's zombies versus ninjas and it's absolute mayhem. I have Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead) and his team connected to to do all the effects, and I've been shopping it for a while and I hooked up with Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Star Wars, Star Trek) who has a production company, and we're working together to put this together."
3) He has a favourite out of Jason Voorhees vs. Michael Myers
Of course, no horror film buff can truly call themselves that without having an opinion on which villain is superior, "See now this is this is tough. To me, the obvious choice is Michael, because he's not as supernatural - or at least he didn't used to be.
"There was a darker mystique to Michael because you didn't understand him and where he was coming from, at least from the original movie, which is scarier in a lot of ways. I don't get it with Jason, there was almost like this killing zombie thing, he's very much a zombie. I would say, Michael is a more compelling character, Jason has better movies."
4) He's tentatively planning a 'Taylor family tour'
Corey and his wife, Cherry Bombs founder Alicia Dove, are planning a mini tour of the US this summer, combining Alicia's cabaret show with his solo band, "With the vaccine in play, that got us thinking, me and Alicia, we're starting to tentatively plot a quick mini tour, May / June here in the States. Basically a Taylor Family tour.
"Her Cherry Bombs would open and then I would close the night with my solo band, we play like two hours; but it's all pods, groups of six, 25% capacity in the venue so that with social distance you have 10 checks at the door. You don't get in without a negative COVID test, within 48 hours, and if you don't have it, you don't get in, period.
"So we're looking at trying to find ways to get this machine going again, and at least see if it can work, especially with the fact that there's so many venues in this country. Besides me just wanting to get out on the road, it's me just wanting to do something to get this industry going again because it's too stagnant, people are tired of watching concerts and forests."
5) Corey's a huge fan of WWE's Undertaker
With Corey sat in a WWE chair, conversation soon turned to the Undertaker's retirement, "When you talk about your favourite wrestler, his name doesn't come up immediately, but then he gets mentioned and everyone stops. He can work with anyone.
"That was what was rad, he could work with small dudes like Mysterio, he could work with crazy dudes like Billy, he could work with Michaels, like those those back to back WrestleMania matches that he had with Shawn Michaels were insane. You're talking about dudes who have wrestled each other before, so there's no reason they could have just hit all the corners and been done with it, but they wanted to bring the house down.
"That's the sign of an amazing performer. They wouldn't be the dudes that people talk about. They don't care about anything else other than ripping the place down, and those are the ones who ended up being the biggest in the business.
"It's just like the music business, if you don't go out on that stage sure that people walk away going, 'That was the best set of the day', then you're not doing your job. If you're going out there to just go, 'Look at me', then nobody cares - it's not about that. It's about making sure people get their absolute money's worth. It takes a lot to be a good showman, and a good performer, and he could do it all."
6) Slipknot's September 2021 US tour is still going ahead... for now
In this current climate the idea of live music may seem very far off, but Corey explains they're monitoring the situation very closely: "Slipknot is booked to tour America, end of September. We are booked to go out and we haven't heard anything yet that it's different. We talk to Live Nation every week, we keep up to date on all of the different restrictions. Like, not only in the States but federally so we're obviously trying, just kind of staying up to date on everything and going from there."
7) Corey has started working on his fifth book
Having penned four already, from 'Seven Deadly Sins' to his most recent 'America 51', which was released in 2017, Corey says he's cautiously begun writing his fifth book - but he's not in any rush to complete it yet, "I'm working on a handful of things, nothing crazy, I started typing - I've started messing around with book number five. But that's way down the line, the last one was so taxing, that I just don't... I'm in no hurry, let's put it that way."
Read more:
Slipknot consider releasing seventh album in 2021
Corey Taylor: "I came SO close to leaving Slipknot"
Take a journey through Slipknot's masks over the years:
Slipknot in 2000
Slipknot wearing trademark white boiler suits and their horrorshow masks in 2000
Slipknot 'Slipknot'
Slipknot on the sleeve of their fearsome, self-titled debut album in June 1999.
Slipknot's in 2000
Slipknot standing in a stairway in early 2000, obviously.
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan and Joey Jordison's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan and the late-great Joey Jordison in their fetching masks in 2000
Sid Wilson's mask
Slipknot's Sid Wilson in his gas mask in 2000
Corey Taylor's mask
Corey Taylor with his dreadlock mask in 2000 - a very different mask to his look today.
Jim Root's mask
Slipknot's Jim Root in 2000 in his Jester mask.
Craig Jones' mask
Slipknot's Craig Jones in his bizarre spiked helmet mask in 2000. This would soon evolve into a spiked gimp mask.
Mick Thomson's mask
Slipknot's formidable and towering Mick Thomson in 2000 in his horror hockey mask.
Paul Gray's mask
The late-great Paul Gray of Slipknot in his Pig Mask in 2000
Chris Fehn's mask
Slipknot's Chris Fehn in 2000. His pointy-nosed Pinocchio-esque mask has been a mainstay of his entire career with Slipknot. The mask is dubbed the Liar Mask.
Craig Jones' mask
Slipknot's Craig Jones in 2001. His part Hellraiser/part Gimp mask has also remained largely unchanged over the decades, except for the odd tweak.
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in 2001. Although all of his masks have been clown related, the percussionist has tweaked his mask more than any other Slipknot member.
Slipknot
Slipknot's masks in June 2001
Joey Jordison and Corey Taylor's masks
Slipknot's Joey Jordison and Corey Taylor in 2001
Sid Wilson's mask
Slipknot's Sid Wilson in June 2001. Another variant of his gas mask.
Jim Root's mask
Slipknot's Jim Root in 2001
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan up close
A close-up of Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in December 2001
Slipknot's evolving masks
Slipknot and their masks in December 2001
Chris Fehn's mask
Slipknot's Chris Fehn in his Liar Mask in 2002
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor in 2002. The dreadlocks still remain.
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in August 2002. This mask is more 'fairground clown' than his previous guises.
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor in May 2004. This delightful look is known as The Scab Mask.
Paul Gray's mask
Slipknot's Paul Gray in 2004. Not quite a pig mask but still animalistic.
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in June 2004. This time he adopted a bloody bandage mask.
Slipknot's evolving masks
Slipknot in May 2005. Sid Wilson had dropped the gas mask in favour of a skull mask.
Slipknot at the Grammy Awards
Slipknot on the 2006 Grammy Awards red carpet. Sid Wilson on the far right opted for a death mask, while Shawn Crahan wore a grey mask and eye-catching pink boiler suit.
Slipknot 'All Hope Is Gone'
Slipknot return with new masks for All Hope Is Gone in 2008, including, most notably, Joey Jordison's crucified Jesus mask. Corey Taylor wore a new Blank Face Mask.
Mick Thomson and Jim Root's masks
Slipknot's Mick Thomson and Jim Root in their masks in 2008.
Joey Jordison's 'All Hope Is Gone' Jesus crown of thorns mask
The late Joey Jordison's iconic crucified Jesus mask was brought in for the 'All Hope Is Gone' era in 2008. A crown of thorns and warped stitches were added to his Kabuki mask, whilst some truly off-putting twigs or branches seemed to grow out of his fingers in place of nails. One of the most creepy Slipknot looks of all time, as demonstrated in this incredible photo of Joey on stage at Hammersmith Apollo in London.
Slipknot's evolving masks
Slipknot's Paul Gray, Corey Taylor and Jim Root at the Kerrang! Awards in 2008.
Slipknot's evolving masks
Slipknot suited and booted in December 2008 at the MTV Video Awards.
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in May 2009. His long hair perfectly compliments his 'female mask'
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor pulling tongues in his Blank Face Mask in July 2009
Slipknot's evolving masks
Slipknot's Sid Wilson and Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in July 2011
Shawn 'Clown' Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in his Devil Clown Mask in July 2012
Mick Thomson's mask
Slipknot's Mick Thomson in August 2012
Jim Root's mask
Slipknot's Jim Root in his Jester Mask in 2013
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor at Download Festival 2013
Chris Fehn's mask
Slipknot's Chris Fehn in 2013 in his tradmark Liar Mask
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in January 2014
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor in November 2014; the same year he debuted his new Skin Face Mask.
Mick Thomson's mask
Slipknot's Mick Thomson in November 2014. Formidable as always.
Sid Wilson's mask
Slipknot's Sid Wilson in his new Steampunk Gas Mask in 2015
Alessandro Venturella's mask
Slipknot's Alessandro Venturella in 2015. The bassist joined Slipknot in 2014 and adopted his chilling burlap mask.
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in 2015. Since 2014 his guise has been various versions of his .5 Clown mask.
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor in 2015 in his Skin Face Mask.
Sid Wilson's mask
Slipknot's Sid Wilson in October 2015 in his slightly tweaked Steampunk Gas Mask.
Jay Weinberg's mask
Slipknot's Jay Weinberg in 2016. The drummer joined Slipknot two hours earlier and adopted an almost tribal burlap mask.
Corey Taylor's mask
Slipknot's Corey Taylor in 2016 in his slightly tweaked Skin Face Mask.
Chris Fehn's mask
Slipknot's Chris Fehn in July 2016. Fehn's Liar Mask is complimented by his long flowing locks.
Jay Weinberg's mask
Slipknot's Jay Weinberg flicking the V's in 2016
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan's mask
Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in 2016
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan's mask
Another mask worn by Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in 2016
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan's mask
Yet another mask adorned by Slipknot's Shawn 'Clown' Crahan in 2016
Slipknot's new masks for 2019
Slipknot unveiled their fearsome new masks for new album 'We Are Not Your Kind' on 16th May 2019.
Slipknot's 'Tortilla Man'
Slipknot's mystery new percussionist, strongly rumoured to be Michael Pfaff from Clown's side-project Dirty Little Rabbits, was dubbed Tortilla Man by maggots in 2019 because, you guessed it, his mask looks like a tortilla.
Corey Taylor's 2021 mask
Corey Taylor unveiled his nightmarish new mask at Rocklahoma Festival in September 2021 - the band's first concert in almost 19 months.
Jay Weinberg's 2021 mask
Jay Weinberg unveiled his fearsome new mask to maggots around the world at Knotfest Los Angeles in November 2021.
Sid Wilson's 2022 mask
Sid Wilson unveiled this freaky new look in the video for 'The Dying Song (Time To Sing)' in July 2022.
Clown's 2022 mask
Reflecting his love for disco music, Slipknot percussionist M. Shawn 'Clown' Crahan debuted this mirrorball mask in the video for 'The Dying Song (Time To Sing)'.
Tortilla Man's 2022 mask
Slipknot's newest band member went from Tortilla Man to Squashed Tortilla Man in July 2022.
Jay Weinberg's 2023 mask
In April 2023, Jay Weinberg revealed a striking new mask to coincide with the band's performance at Knotfest Japan. He wrote on Instagram: "It's an honour to collaborate with Japanese painter Solid Blackline for my mask this weekend, specially designed for Knotfest Japan. The organic, flowing shapes of his high-contrast designs evoke feelings of mysticism and beauty, balanced within the duality of chaos and order one feels as a visitor in this wondrous country."
Corey Taylor’s 2023 mask
In May 2023, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor unveiled a slight tweak to his 'The End, So Far'-era mask. It features a crudely sawn-off cranium to expose Corey's luscious locks.
Slipknot masks Grammys 2024
Michael Pfaff, Alessandro Venturella, Michael Shawn Crahan and Sid Wilson debuted a fresh set of eery masks at the Grammy Award ceremony 2024.
Read more:
Corey Taylor gives major update on his horror film Zombie Vs. Ninja
EXCLUSIVE: Corey Taylor teases 'something massive' for Slipknot is coming very soon
Slipknot consider releasing seventh album in 2021