A newly published interview with Slipknot‘s vocalist Corey Taylor, percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan and guitarist Jim Root over at Revolver finds the aforementioned trio reflecting on the 25th anniversary of their 2x multi-platinum self-titled album. The group are mounting a celebratory tour on that record this year, with those dates expected to continue into early 2025.
Outside of discussing that landmark album, the aforementioned trio were also asked about what’s next for the band, including new music and the status of the long-awaited “Look Outside Your Window” side project album.
The latter record came to be amid the sessions for 2008’s “All Hope Is Gone“, with the aforementioned trio splintering off alongside turntablist Sid Wilson to craft a record they’ve previously described as having a “Radiohead” vibe. Since then there’s been numerous promises to finally issue that effort, with this year being the latest timeframe to finally see its release.
When pressed for what the hold-up is, Clown offered:
“I’m glad that you’re asking me about ‘Look Outside Your Window‘, because there’s never been a conspiracy against that project. The album’s been finished for a long time. But the world keeps changing, and so do my feelings on the art — like, what did we create a long time ago, and how does it relate to now? And what are we feeling now, and what is it?
But the reason it hasn’t come out is that every time we’ve agreed that it’s coming out, something happens like COVID and we have to cancel it. Or then let’s say somebody in the band — it could be anybody — goes and does something else, and then what happens is, the focus changes. ‘Look Outside Your Window‘ is never going to be something that barges in on anything else. If it barges in on Slipknot, or anything Corey‘s doing — or myself, Jim, Sid, anybody in the band — if it barges in and interrupts, then it’s not doing what it’s supposed to do.
So, that’s the number one factor why it’s never been released. Because the culture needs to take a deep breath … and go, ‘Ah, this is here!’ And when it is here, everyone just needs to do what they’re going to do with it. Because it’s really that good, and it’s really timeless: It’s last year; it’s 10 years ago; it’s 10 years from now. You’ll never hear Corey Taylor sing like this on his solo albums…
It was created during the whole All Hope Is Gone cycle, and there was a lot of stuff going on, brother. And that’s all in the lyrics. And it hurts, for me; I don’t know what people will take out or understand, but I know what it’s about. Jim and I held it up. It was our thing, because there was too much anger and too much crap happening, and too much non-communicating. And Sid and Corey wanted to be part of it, and I said, ‘Of course!’ [Late bassist] Paul Gray was consistently coming in, saying, ‘I’m going to be on this,’ and I would say, ‘There’s no way in hell you’re going to be on it, because a lot of it’s about you.’
It was a very emotional time, and all those emotions went into creating that album. And that album is timeless; I can actually listen to it now and feel what I was then, and it affects me more now than it would have then. So I would say there’s still a real good chance it could come out this year; you bringing it up makes me remember that I need to bring it up to the team. But it’s a beautiful thing, a serious thing, and I stand by saying that it will be worth the wait.”
Root was also asked about that long-shelved opus as well, to which he replied:
“I told Clown like five or six years ago, ‘Dude, I’m tired of waiting for it to come out — I’m just gonna put it up on YouTube for everyone to hear.’ [Laughs] I haven’t, though; I know he’s been working on it, and I don’t even think I have a way to listen to that or hear what that’s even like anymore. I just remember that I was going down some serious Björk and Portishead wormholes at the time.
Clown was playing drums and stacking all these sounds, and I’d start playing guitar to it; and then Corey would come in and sing on it, and Sid would come in and play all these crazy instruments. It just turned into this, like, really intense art piece, and I would love for that to get out there someday. I just honestly don’t know what’s holding it up. I’m gonna have to get on Clown about that.”
Elsewhere in the chat, the topic of new music was brought up. Initial writing sessions have already taken place with the group’s newest recruit: drummer Eloy Casagrande (ex-Sepultura). Casagrande himself confirmed as much earlier this year. Since then, the band have also revealed the existence of a new track titled “Long May You Die“.
When pressed for the status of new sonic output from the revitalized group, Clown replied:
“Well, one thing I can say is this: There’s always going to be new Slipknot music. But we’ve also said that there is a filter, and we are the filter, and that filter must go through everyone. And when I was telling you that we’re doing a lot better communicating, now apply that to communicating about music.
I can say that there’s gonna be music sooner than you can imagine, delivered to you in a way you can’t imagine. And I’m excited because we’re not on a label. And there’s a lot of dismay with that, you know what I mean? But there’s also a lot of middle fingers with that. I love it, you know? Come and get us, or we’ll come to get you!”
With the band currently operating as free agents after completing a lengthy contract with Roadrunner Records, Clown was asked how they are approaching these new songs business wise. He responded:
“What I can tell you is that we’ve already been motivating around creating music, because of the love of doing it. So you’re gonna get music really soon. And if I can have a loud voice in it, I will make sure that we have at least a good amount of music put out before we do anything with anybody. Now, I don’t hate labels. In fact, I’m from the generation of record deals and producers and pre-producing your album and cutting to two-inch tape.
So, I have a fantasy with all that; I like it when we can just book our plane tickets and go rock out in the studio. If we don’t go with a label, we’re gonna have to do all that ourselves, which might mean hiring some people to help pick up the loose ends, which makes it a business — and I’m not sure we’re interested in opening up another business. But I am interested in understanding what it means to go directly from our brains to your brain with nobody in the way; I’m interested in that potential.”
Root was also asked about the prospect of new songs, and shared some details regarding initial writing sessions he had with Casagrande and bassist Alessandro “Vman” Venturella“:
“We have a bunch of holdover stuff that was written during COVID — but it was such a manic, depressing, chaotic time that I think a lot of the ideas that came out of that aren’t necessarily the greatest, just because we couldn’t work on anything with a hundred percent focus. We had Eloy play on a tune that kind of spilled over from some of that writing, and I think some of the guys like it more than some of the other guys like it; I don’t love it.
But when he and VMan were staying with me, we jammed a couple of different times in my home studio while running Pro Tools, and all these ideas were just flowing. I’m gonna go through it and do some riff mining, and see if I can start some arrangements to get us going on some new songs. I think we’re going to try to get a time together where all of us can be in the same place, and get into a room and just jam as a band and write — like the way the Iowa record was written, or the way the self-titled album was written.”
Elsewhere in the discussion, Corey Taylor spoke on the mystery surrounding the group’s current sampler, who replaced Craig “133” Jones back in 2023. Despite an apparent leak earlier in the year, Taylor maintains that fans have yet to guess correctly. He stated of that:
“Oh, yeah. [Laughs] There’s definitely people who have theories [about who he is], and none of them are correct, which is great. But at the same time, it’s like, let’s just see what happens, you know? And he’s fine just sticking in the background. He doesn’t give a f*ck. Which I think is awesome, and very funny.”
You can dig into the whole discussion over at Revolver. As for their 25th anniversary touring, the following shows are booked for this year:
With Knocked Loose & Orbit Culture:
08/06 Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
08/07 Burgettstown, PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake
08/09 Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena
08/10 Camden, NJ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
08/12 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
08/14 Gilford, NH – BankNH Pavilion
08/15 Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
08/17 Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
Slipknot:
09/01 Pryor, OK – Rocklahoma
With Knocked Loose & Vended:
09/07 Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre
09/08 Ridgefield, WA – RV Inn Styles Resorts Amphitheater
Slipknot:
09/09 Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life
With Knocked Loose & Vended:
09/11 Nampa, ID – Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater
09/13 Inglewood, CA – Intuit Dome
09/14 Inglewood, CA – Intuit Dome
09/15 Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
09/17 Austin, TX – Moody Center
09/18 Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion
09/21 Des Moines, IA – Knotfest Iowa at Waterworks Park
Slipknot:
10/11 Sacramento, CA – Aftershock Festival
10/19 São Paulo, BRA – Knotfest Brasil
11/08 Guadalajara, MEX – Calle 2
11/09 Mexico City, MEX – Parque Bicentenario
12/05 Amsterdam, NET – Ziggo Dome
12/06 Dortmund, GER – Westfalehallen
12/08 Stuttgart, GER – Schleyerhalle
12/09 Leipzig, GER – Quarterback Immobilien Arena
12/11 Zürich, SWI – Hallenstadion
12/12 Paris, FRA – Accor Arena
12/14 Leeds, UK – First Direct Arena
12/15 Glasgow, UK – Ovo Hydro
12/17 Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
12/18 Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
12/20 London, UK – The O2
12/21 London, UK – The O2
