Corey Taylor explains the inspiration behind Slipknot's incredible new live show.
If you've seen Slipknot live on their current run of brilliant European shows (we were at Download Festival a couple of weeks ago and it was flippin' mind-blowing), you'll already know just how killer their latest stage set-up is.
And frontman Corey Taylor has gone into a bit more detail about the band's live production and its inspiration, telling Daniel P. Carter on the BBC Radio 1 Rock Show about how it's an “attempt to create some Iron Maiden stuff" – something the Iowa titans have been trying to do for a while now.
“Honestly, it’s everything that we’ve wanted to do for years, and we just never had the budget, and we had also had a lot of people around us telling us we couldn’t do it,” the vocalist says.
“The show looks amazing. Not only is it interactive – there’s video, there’s fire – but the whole set looks like an industrial complex. This is our attempt to create some Iron Maiden stuff, which is something we’ve been trying to do for a while.”
Slipknot performing at Download earlier in the month. Photos: Jenn Five
As was already reported earlier on in the week, Corey also spoke of forthcoming album We Are Not Your Kind, and how experimental it will be.
“As a whole – and I can say this honestly – it is probably the furthest we’ve pushed the boundaries of creativity and experimentation, while also not losing our identity,” he says. “There are bands out there who go for all of that experimentation and forget who they are; they forget that there’s an audience that wants to hear a certain type – it doesn’t have to be the exact thing, but there has to be a certain emotion that they are looking for, that they want to hear. There has to be that touchstone. And you can go as far out as you want, but you have to be able to pull them back to that feeling that made them fans in the first place. And I really think we did with that album. We not only went places that we’ve hinted at musically over the years, but never really went full-board, but we’re also doing heavier things than we’ve ever done.
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“We’re still a band that has always just written music for us. If we’re not impressed by it, we’re not putting crap out, you know? Even stuff in retrospect where we may take a listen to it later and go, ‘Ah, I don’t know if that was us.’ But at the time, we’re absolutely backing it, no matter what. So as long as we continue to write music for us first, and the audience second, that’s how you keep that excitement.”
Pre-order We Are Not Your Kind through Roadrunner Records right now, and catch Slipknot live at the following dates this year.
June
27 Bologna, Italy @ Sonic Park
29 Madrid, Spain @ Download Festival
July
1 Nîmes, France @ Amphitheatre Nîmes
4 Lisbon, Portugal @ VOA
5 Viveiro, Spain @ Resurrection Fest
8 Quebec City, Quebec @ FEQ
26 Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
27 San Bernardino, CA @ San Manuel Amphitheater
August
1 Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre
3 Albuquerque, NM @ Sleta Amphitheater
4 Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion
6 Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
8 Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena
10 Des Moines, IA @ Iowa State Fairgrounds
11 Tinley Park, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
12 Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
14 Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
16 Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
17 Bonner Springs, KS @ Providence Medical Center Amphitheater
18 Maryland Heights, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
20 Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
21 Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
23 Burgettstown, PA @ KeyBank Pavilion
24 Scranton, PA @ The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
25 Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater
27 Mansfield, MA @ The Xfinity Center
28 Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
30 Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
31 Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion
September
1 Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
3 Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
4 Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
6 Austin, TX @ Austin 360 Amphitheater
7 Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion
8 The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
October
17 Perth, AUS @ Optus Stadium
20 Adelaide, AUS @ Adelaide Oval
22 Melbourne, AUS @ Marvel Stadium
24 Melbourne, AUS @ Marvel Stadium
26 Sydney, AUS @ ANZ Stadium
29 Brisbane, AUS @ QSAC
31 Auckland, NZ @ Mt. Smart Stadium
November
2 Auckland, NZ @ Mt. Smart Stadium
30 Mexico City, Parque Deportivo Oceanía @ Knotfest
December
6 Bogota, Colombia @ Knotfest
