|
|
|
|
|
|
Corey Taylor of Slipknot
By Greg Pratt
Four albums in and Iowan metal crew Slipknot are still terrorizing the mainstream. I have no idea how they ended up there: this is heavy, heavy stuff. But their latest disc, All Hope Is Gone, ended up at #1 on the Billboard charts, so they must be doing something right. With a renewed focus on his side, singer Corey Taylor is overjoyed at the album, his fans and recent victories like the aforementioned #1 and a headlining gig at Madison Square Garden. The masked men are hitting up Canada with some tour dates supporting the disc, so we took a minute to catch up with Taylor and all things knotty.
What are you up to?
I’m very, very tired. Today I got up at 6:45 because I had to take my son to school. I made breakfast and lunch for him, packed the lunch, took him to school, came home, cleaned the house, went and worked out, came back here, made myself lunch and now this is the second of two interviews I’m doing today.
That’s so not rock'n'roll.
Well, neither am I. What are you going to do?
So how’s everything going in Slipknot land?
It’s going good, man. Everybody seems like they’re in a good place, but you know how we are. That could all go away in a ten-second period. Just the fact that my phone’s not blowing up with emergencies and panic attacks… I’m loving it.
Now that All Hope Is Gone has had a bit of time to sit, how are you feeling about it?
I go through these phases where I just have to put it on. At first, I would start with the front half; now I listen to the back half. It just sounds great. You know how that is, you get an album and fall in love with the first five songs and then you throw it on again and realize the last five songs are killer.
With All Hope Is Gone, you returned to a bit more of a heavier sound. Did that just feel like the right thing to do?
It just happened. We’ve never been the band that sits down and says, “We’re going to sit down and make this kind of album.” We throw shit at a wall and see what sticks, basically. With this album, everything felt dark. Everything felt really heavy.
So would you say the album comes from a good place or a bad place? It’s heavy, it’s aggressive, it’s dark, but you sound very positive about it.
I think all great albums have that; it’s all in the delivery. The lyrics I was writing were kind of both ways. I was raging on a political sense, and I’ve always had something against religion, but at the same time a lot of the stuff I was talking about started in a dark place but inevitably ended up in a positive place. I’ve always tried to put that in there, just saying, ‘Yeah, shit’s fucked up right now but it can be okay and this is why and this is how.’ So it’s just something that I think is overlooked. We catch a lot of shit for being dark and whatnot but unless you’re a real fan people miss the point where we’re like, ‘But it’s alright. It’s okay to be fucked up. It doesn’t have to always be that way.’ On this album, it was a great balance. That’s what we finally found.
And then the album goes to #1 on Billboard. What does that mean to you?
It’s very weird, man. When we were in the studio, I was the first one to say, "This album’s going to be #1." Kinda just talking shit, but at the same time, you hope for it. You don’t want to hope too much, but it’s definitely one of those things on your list of “holy shit, this would be fucking awesome.” So when it did go #1, it fucking blew me away. I was so fucking excited. I was really happy; I called everybody I knew and told them. I was very proud of that. Everybody talks about how it felt to win the Grammy. But fuck the Grammy. That’s seven old people sitting in a room deciding whether or not they’ve heard of your band. For me, it’s always been more about the albums, the gold albums, the platinum albums, people showing up at your show. That’s your audience coming out and saying, "We fucking love what you do. We all do." The album was the same way; our fans gave that to us. We worked hard and we earned it but our fans gave that to us just as much as fucking SoundScan did.
Speaking of the live show, you recently headlined Madison Square Garden. How did a band that sounds like you guys do that?
That’s a great fucking question, man. I don’t even know, to be honest. I still trip on it. Leading up to it, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I was like, "It’s fucking Madison Square Garden, whatever." Then you show up there and it’s like, "Holy shit, it’s Madison Square Garden." Seriously, when the curtain came up and we’re standing there and I’m looking at the Garden and we had damn near sold it out, my jaw dropped. You couldn’t see it because I was wearing a fucking mask, but it took me a second to get my shit together. I was nervous… I’m never nervous. It blew me away. When we finished the show, I came offstage, I just started balling. It was a heavy, heavy night for me. Nobody plays Madison Square Garden to make money, let’s put it that way. It’s very expensive to play. Someone told me it cost $50,000 just to turn the lights on in that place. So you don’t really play there to make money. You play there because it’s Madison Square Garden. It’s a prestige gig. For me, it was just one more testament to how far we’d come.
So you get offstage at Madison Square Garden and you’re balling; how come?
It was just big. I don’t usually let shit like that get to me, but it was a big night, and it was a fucking great show. It was probably the best show we’ve ever had in New York. Everyone was just going insane. It sounded like everyone was singing every fucking word. It was just one of those golden moments. It was Maiden at Donington, it was Cheap Trick at Budokan, it was Aerosmith at the Texas Jam. It was fucking heavy. The grind of this gig can break you down and make you very cynical but there’s moments like that that make you sit back and say, "I am living a dream. Are you kidding me? I get to do this for real?" So I was giddy. I was 14 in my room reading magazines, just going, "Fuck, some day." And that day was that day and it made me very happy; I went backstage and hugged all my bros. I was sick as a fucking dog that night too, that’s what killed me. I had a sinus infection, I had an ear infection, a 100-degree fever and it just all went away.
So where do you go from here though? You’ve done Madison Square Garden…
Oh, it’s gotta be downhill. Everything after this has just got to suck. [Laughs] In three years we’ll be playing fucking clubs again, by my estimation. But honestly, I don’t know. I definitely know where we want to go. Me and Clown have been conspiring for probably four or five months; we’ve got some ideas and some shit we want to do for the next album but… where do you go? You headline MSG and it’s damn near sold out. Where do you go? I guess you just keep going.
Something that’s always cracked me up about you guys is you have these butt-ugly masks on and you look hideous and you have all these teenage girls screaming at you…
Exactly! What the fuck is that? [Laughs] I love it, man.
You must be laughing under the masks.
You have no idea. I smirk damn near the whole time I’m wearing that fucking thing. If you could read some of the letters I get… it’s un-fucking-believable some of the shit these people ask me.
When does grown men wearing masks become absurd?
I’m not sure, to be honest. We probably could ask Gene Simmons. I don’t know… That’s a good question. As long as it means the same to us as it always has I don’t think there’s a time limit on it. For us, it’s not about the bullshit; it’s about the content behind it. At least that’s the way it is for me. For me, it’s always had much more of an artistic bent than anything else. So when it starts to become Chewbacca from Star Wars it’s time to walk. As long as it still feels right and it means the same and it’s not hokey and not bullshit. As long as we don’t jump the shark, I think it’ll be okay.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
Flight of the Conchords
 They may have been subtitled "formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo accapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo" at one point, but Flight of the Conchords' stock has grown since they first appeared on the comedy circuit. A few Emmy nominations, a Grammy award for Best Comedy Album (for 2007's The Distant Future), a platinum-selling debut album and a immediate sell-out tour of North America later, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie are in a good place, finishing off an album of their second season's music, touring all over and contemplating whether they're up for that third season HBO is waiting for. The night after their first sold out concert in Toronto, the two Kiwis answered a barrage of questions in a round table interview....Read More
|
|
|
Eugene Kelly of the Vaselines
 They say timing is everything, and there's no truer example than the return of the Vaselines (Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee). Originally existing for a mere four years at the tail end of the '80s, the Scots left us with only a snapshot of their influentially minimal yet noisy indie pop (an album and two EPs). After 16 years of inactivity, they reunited for a reunion at the very time their influence can be heard in the sweet tunes of the Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Los Campesinos! and Camera Obscura, among the many others. With a new comprehensive two-disc compilation from Sub Pop, titled Enter the Vaselines out May 5 and a North American tour in May, Eugene Kelly took some time to answer some questions via email about the reunion, the new retrospective and of course, a little Nirvana....Read More
|
|
|
Patrick Watson
 Patrick Watson, the man and the eponymous band, won a Polaris Prize for 2006's long player, Close to Paradise. Furthering the quartet’s sound, freshly minted follow-up, Wooden Arms, brims with subtle beauty, opaque instrumentation, and sonic enchantments. Strolling into folk science fiction territory – it’s a genre – via a quasi-dungeon, Dollywood, and the People’s Republic of China, the record craftily piles on layers. Prior to heading out on a mammoth tour, the band’s front-man and namesake chatted with Exclaim! about storytelling, shots in the dark, and a luminary country songbird....Read More
|
|
|
Booker T.
 As leader of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the MGs, Booker T. Jones’s musical legacy will forever be heard in the songs of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and many others. That’s on top of his own group’s string of classic instrumentals such as “Green Onions,” “Hip Hug-Her,” and “Time Is Tight.” But although that brand of southern soul fell out of fashion in the 1970s and '80s, Jones remained an in-demand session star and producer, working with everyone from Bill Withers to Willie Nelson. In the '90s he and the MGs formed a new partnership with Neil Young, and that in part has led to Potato Hole, the first album recorded under his own name....Read More
|
|
|
Mille Petrozza of Kreator
 What do you say when you get a chance to talk to German thrash metal legends Kreator? Well, nothing, until you manage to get your two phone lines connected. Then, when it’s just you and soft-spoken Mille Petrozza, vocalist/guitarist of Kreator, it’s almost hard to not sound like a fanboy. But there is a job to do, namely to discuss the band’s Canadian and American tour with fellow thrash legends Exodus in tow, Kreator’s most recent disc, the shredding Hordes of Chaos, and how the state of the world seeps into his lyrics. (And veganism, but that didn’t really go anywhere.) This is a band with a 25-year career that is somehow just getting better and better; thankfully, longhairs 'round the world can rejoice in knowing they’re showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon....Read More
|
|
|
Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen (Iron Maiden: Flight 666)
 They hit a homer with underdog music documentary and anthropological study Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. Then came a film that went out of the park: Global Metal. And so it's almost a no-brainer that Banger Productions — Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn — would be prime suspects to make the world's first official biography on one of metal's Holy Trinity members, Iron Maiden. Following the band during their bold, adventurous 2008 Somewhere Back In Time Tour, Iron Maiden: Flight 666 is a compelling, strategically brilliant move on both Maiden's and Banger Productions' parts. From jaw-dropping live footage and sound to the interesting peeks inside of what Iron Maiden is actually about when not tearing out progressive metal for the masses, this feature film is yet another grand slam for two 'bangers trying to spread the word....Read More
|
|
|
Faris Badwan of the Horrors
 In England, when you look like the Horrors (Victorian Goths at the mercy of Vivienne Westwood) and sound like the Horrors did on their debut album (manic swamp rock psychedelia, equal parts the Cramps and Birthday Party), well, the frenzied press over there will have a field day either building you up or tearing you down. Although the London-based five-piece tasted both sides of the coin, they could never truly live up to the hype that came with album Strange House, and so once they finished with it, they found a new label and reconvened for a sonic overhaul. Managing to attract the skills of Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and scary leftfield filmmaker Chris Cunningham, not to mention Craig Silvey (the Coral, the Magic Numbers), the results are found in Primary Colours, a tremendous return - or comeback if you will - that demonstrates the Horrors’ ability to channel other influences and discover a sound that expands far beyond anyone’s expectations. Exclaim! caught up with front-man Faris Badwan who was en route to the next stop on the band’s tour with the Kills....Read More
|
|
|
Coat Cooke
 Coat Cooke is one of the linchpins of jazz-based improvising activity on the West Coast. Not only is he a fine, adventurous saxophonist and composer, but he leads the relentlessly innovative NOW Orchestra which has gathered Vancouver’s creative musicians together for over three decades. April saw the Orchestra release its first album in four years, Animal Tales, on the recently formed NOW Orchestra label. The label has four other new records out by Ion Zoo, Bruce Freedman’s African Groove Band, Jeff Younger’s Sandbox, and Viviane Houle & Stefan Smulovitz. Exclaim! spoke to Cooke over the phone from Vancouver....Read More
|
|
|
Ólafur Björn Ólafsson of Storsveit Nix Noltes
 One of the more imaginative rock records so far this year draws its character from unlikely locations. Storsveit Nix Noltes is an occasional Icelandic collective of Balkan music enthusiasts who also play in Benni Hemm Hemm, mùm and many other bands. Being an 11-piece band has its advantages – three guitars! accordion! sousaphone! – and disadvantages - logistics being their number one stumbling block. But during their few windows of opportunity, the band make the most of its time together. Royal Family/Divorce was recorded way back in 2006 following their one and only tour. Captured entirely live to one-inch tape in a cabin outside Reykjavik, this album rages with mind twisting Romanian folk melodies filtered through a maelstrom of detuned guitars. The disc, being given wide release for the first time via Fat Cat Records, displays a strong kinship with metal within entirely traditional, if fiercely electric, musical forms. Exclaim! spoke to Ólafur Björn Ólafsson over the phone from Reykjavik...Read More
|
|
|
Jordan Burns of Strung Out
 There’s no shortage of action in the Strung Out camp right now. Kind of surprising, seeing as how the California-based band have been going strong for a shocking (when you sit back and think about it) 17 years. But with a new rarities collection, Prototypes and Painkillers, out now, a new studio album in the works and a Canadian/American tour in May and June, the band are showing no signs of slowing down, despite the fact that drummer Jordan Burns recently wrecked his thumb while hitting the skins and had to sit out for a few shows (among the fill-ins were some lucky fans who entered a contest to play a song with the band), as well as revamp the methods he’s always used to record. We caught up with Burns as he was on the road to day one of recording for the band’s next album, which tentatively will see the light of day in September....Read More
|
|
|
Royal Wood
 Royal Wood’s The Lost And Found EP may be a buffer between his celebrated 2007 release A Good Enough Day and his full-length follow-up record, but it’s not a disc that’ll fall through the cracks. The only crevices Wood’s enchanting piano melodies and symphonic string arrangements will traverse are those that lead to our deepest, most cherished sentiments. He wields his passions like a sword, eager to fight for his right to share those universal human emotions with no strings attached. The Toronto-based musician took the time to chat with Exclaim! about the honesty, integrity and openness required to write truly emotive music....Read More
|
|
|
|
|
|
 | 
|
On his second album, Unbalance, 2562 continues to fuse genres and theories about rhythmic persuasion . Less atmospheric than his highly acclaimed avant-dub-step debut, this new disc further showcases 2562's unerring sense of swing. Though he denies any intentional influences from Africa...
Full Review
|
|
|
|
|