As anyone who's witnessed one of their all-out performances can attest, and as any fan who's watched the band-member injuries list grow realizes, Slipknot shows take a serious toll on the Nine.
With that in mind, frontman Corey Taylor — who will turn 50 in December — recently weighed in on how much longer he can partake in the kind of physically punishing concerts and tours that the 'Knot are known for.
"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," Taylor said, speaking with Germany's Rock Antenne (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). "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."
Taylor went on to imagine the band persisting without him. "If they wanted to continue and I wanted to retire, I would help them find somebody, to be honest," he said. "This band has always been bigger than the sum of its own parts. And it was hard moving on without Paul [Gray, Slipknot's late 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.
The singer continued: "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 shit. But at the same time, it's… it's once in a lifetime, man."
Slipknot just released the Adderall EP and are wrapping up a major European tour, with a few U.S. festival dates scheduled for later this year. Taylor's second solo album, CMF2, is due out September 15th via his own Decibel Cooper/BMG imprint.
