Games & Gear - Tech Talk with Stone Sour

Hit Parader Magazine

July 2007

Despite all of its inherent glitz and glamour...it's fame and fortune. It's not always easy being a rock and roll star. There's the pressure. There's the responsibility. There's the day-to-day grind of dealing with an ever watchful media. And there's the incredible wear-and-tear that constant touring can put on your body and mind. No matter what amount of money is lining your over-stuffed pocket, and no matter what degree of adulation you find yourself enjoying, handling stardom can become a bit of a headache even for the most "together" rocker.

 Stone Sour's Corey Taylor knows exactly what we mean.

 The once-and-future vocalist for Slipknot freely admits that after spending the better part of the last three years on the road with his Knot brothers, he probably could have used a bit of a break. Hey, laying out on a beach in Hawaii is about as "rock and roll" as you can get...ain't it? But rather than taking his well-deserved respite from the rigors of the music world, as soon as the opportunity presented itself Taylor got back together with Knot-mate guitarist James Root, guitarist Josh Rand, bassist Shawn Economaki and new drummer Roy Moyorga and recorded Stone Sour's second album Come What(ever) May.

 In style and sound, Stone Sour's more up-to-beat, melodic metal direction has once again served to invigorate Taylor's somewhat overwrought rock and roll soul. After recording and touring non-stop with Slipknot, he knew he needed a change, and joining back together with his long-time buds - with whom he had created Stone Sour's 2002's platinum selling, self-titled debut disc - was exactly what the doctor ordered. Indeed, working within the Stone Sour context to create a sound and imagine that was a strident contradiction to the Knot's vaunted shock-rock attack proved to be the perfect elixir to cure all the ills that ailed the vocalists strained nervous system. 

 "I had poured everything I had into the last Slipknot tour, and we all needed a break" he said. "We've learned that's the pattern we need to follow; work as hard as we can for as long as we can, then just step away for a while. Now we all know that when the time comes, we'll look forward to putting our masks back on. And nothing against Slipknot, but right now Stone Sour is the most important thing in my life." 

 Those who understand the effort that Taylor - as well as each of his Slipknot partners— put into making their band a true international phenomenon over the last decade, realize the validity of his words. At the end of their Subliminal Verses road trek Slipknot needed a break from the day-in, day-out rigors associated with being one of the most overwhelming bands in recent metal history. And as the rest of the Nine Man Mutant Metal Army took off to “parts unknown” to enjoy their down-time, Taylor and Root decided to pick up exactly where they had left off with Stone Sour back in ‘03.

 “Stone Sour has been a part of me ever since we first started playing music together back in 1992,” Taylor said. “But it took me all the way until 2002 to find the time to get everyone back together. It was worth the wait. That's why I knew we had to do it again with Come What(ever) May. I had thought about the band a lot over the years— and I thought about the music we made, and the music we could have made. It still excited me, even after all the success of Slipknot. So after the success we had with the first Stone Sour album, that excitement reached a new level. As soon as I ended the last Knot tour, my thoughts turned to Stone Sour. It was like a different part of my brain clicked on. You've got to remember, this was the band I was in before Slipknot— the first band that I ever really seriously cared about. Obviously, it’s very different from Slipknot— but that was the whole point.”

 Without his Knot trademark mask and coveralls to “hide” behind, in Stone Sour Taylor seems quite content to stand “naked” before the world, letting his music—rather than his image— do his primary talking. With Come What(ever) May already proving to be a bigger success than Stone Sour— thanks to a string of radio-ready my hits like Through Glass and 30/30-150— it is apparent that Taylor is going to remain busy at his current band’s helm well into 2007. So what does this all mean in terms of Slipknot’s future? We all know that there will be one... but when?

 “I'd think we'll probably all get back together sometime within the next year,” Taylor said. “But none of us are in any hurry. I don’t miss wearing the mask at all. It's great to have people be able to see my expressions on stage and to react differently to what the audience does. That mask is such an integral part of Slipknot, and it always will be. But there is a different side to my musical personality, and this is it. Anyway, those masks can get kind of hot and bothersome at times. But when the time — comes to put mine back on, you'd better believe I'll be ready.”

 Obviously, one question that must be asked is how Taylor will react if Stone Sour’s career continues to expand and the unit ends up being as big as Slipknot. With the band’s work on the recent Family Values Tour drawing even more attention the group’s way, it's not without reason to think that the success of Stone Sour could throw an unexpected crimp into Slipknot's plans to reunite and begin writing for their next album in late ‘07. And while he admits that he would love to see Stone Sour become a multi-platinum smash, Taylor does his best to deflect any talk that he may soon be facing a monumental musical conflict of interest.

 “It’s a ‘problem’ I’d' like to have,” Taylor said. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that Stone Sour becomes as big as possible. We'll take everything from there. If demand on our time becomes too great, that’s when I'll start to worry about things. At the moment the course is clear: we all hope the album continues to do well, and that we keep touring behind it. It would be great if the demand for Stone Sour was great enough to make going back to Slipknot a little more delayed at that time. But, let's face it, we all know what we have to do.”

(Article by P.J. Merkle)