It’s not exactly a revelation that Slipknot have had their internal issues over the years. Putting nine personalities in the same room is destined to create conflict at some point. Putting them in the studio or on the road together for months at a time just ups the stakes. According to the band’s frontman Corey Taylor, there were moments so tense in the past that he debated leaving the band.
In a new interview with Kerrang! Radio available at this location, Taylor said of the band’s camaraderie:
“There have definitely been more tense moments than good ones. We’re all frenetic; we all come from different backgrounds musically, environmentally, culturally. It’s been tough sometimes. But the thing that I have noticed as we’ve gone on and we’re still doing this, we have allowed ourselves to recognize how good we really are. We’ve allowed ourselves to step away from the stoicism that comes from being from the Midwest and we’ve embraced each other.”
He added:
“We recognize that it takes work to be in this band and when we’re all going for it there’s an appreciation that maybe before we felt we couldn’t show, and the more that we all show that the better it feels as a brotherhood.
There have been moments where I’ve come so close to walking away from this and I’m really glad that I didn’t to be honest. The payoff has been fantastic, especially now that we’re in this really great place and we are performing at a level that is still top notch.
And writing music that is still really good and connecting with a whole new generation, which is insane. I don’t think we could have done it with anybody else to be honest.”
Taylor also revealed that the band had considered pulling the plug on the band after releasing their 2x multi-platinum self-titled album back in 1999:
“When we really exploded, we had serious talks about breaking up and pulling a Sex Pistols and be like put a massive album out and then say, ‘screw you, we’re outta here!’ Those were real conversations! I feel like we’ve failed everyone by making ‘Iowa’ (laughs). It was such a great thing to think about. None of this (massive success) was expected, man. Just on paper we shouldn’t have made it and yet here we are! It’s a weird feeling still.”
