In a recent conversation with Rock Feed, Corey Taylor revisited the topic of SLIPKNOT‘s longevity, considering the high physical toll their live shows take.
“I’ve already said that physically I maybe have five years left, but at the same time I go out of my way to really try to take care of myself,” Corey said. “Now I have a lot of f**king miles on me. It’s hard for me. People don’t realize this, but when I walk, I’m almost in constant pain. It’s the knees, it’s my feet. I have a broken toe on this foot. I have gout across my feet. It gets up into my joints and s**t. Yeah, it’s tough. I’m not as nimble as I used to be. I’m not 35 anymore. It’s hard. But there are ways to do shows that don’t require being that crazy now.”
“The travel doesn’t lend itself to being healthy, because, at that point, it’s not like being home,” he continued. “You’ve got all your stuff. You’re kind of at the mercy of what’s there for you. So you’re gonna eat like s**t, you’re gonna sleep like s**t, you’re gonna feel like s**t, and nine times out of 10, you’re gonna play like s**t. We don’t want that. So it’s tough. Even a guy at my level, it’s not always laid-out catering and the best food and the best people. Sometimes it’s a soggy sandwich at 12:30 in the morning, and you’re looking at it, going, ‘If I put this in my body, I’m gonna throw up.’ People don’t f**king get that.
“You know why they think that? It’s because that’s all they see on Instagram, on TikTok, on this and that, and you’re seeing the commercials. There have been times we’ve gotten off stage, we’ve gone right to the airport, flown out. We don’t sleep until seven the next day. And now we’re just all [exhausted]. Our crew gets it even worse, ’cause they have to f**king go in, make sure everything’s good, and then they can go f**king take a nap. So it’s not gravy all the time, man. It’s tough. It’s hard f**king work. Even at our level, it’s hard work.”
Taylor previously discussed possibility of retirement in an interview with Germany’s Rock Antenne earlier this year, where he said:
“As long as I can physically do it, and as long as there are people there to see it, man, I’ll continue to do it,” he said. “Now, if the quality starts to fail, then I’ll know it’s time to hand it in. And I’ve already thought about it — I’ve already thought about, maybe I’ve got another five years left of physically touring like this. I try to take care of myself. I work out when I can. The travel out here [in Europe] is exhausting; the food is horrible; so it makes it hard to do that. But as long as I can keep at it, that’s at least what I wanna do. So, yeah, it is what it is.”
Asked about the alignment of his bandmates regarding the conclusion of SLIPKNOT, Corey responded: “If they wanted to continue and I wanted to retire, I would help them find somebody, to be honest. This band has always been bigger than the sum of its own parts. And it was hard moving on without Paul [Gray, late SLIPKNOT bassist]. It was hard moving on when we had to part ways with Joe [late SLIPKNOT drummer Joey Jordison]. It’s always been hard when the original nine ceases to be the original nine, but at the same time, the ones who are here are here because we love it, and we’ve always gotten something out of it.
“I’ve said it since day one — if I didn’t want to do SLIPKNOT, I wouldn’t do it. And I think I’ve proved that. The reason I stick around is because I want to do it. There’s still something in my heart and my soul that needs it. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Obviously, psychotherapy will help me out with that s**t. But at the same time, it’s… it’s once in a lifetime, man.”
