A few months after Slipknot bassist Paul Gray's untimely death in 2010, the surviving members of the group talked to us about their fallen bandmate. You can read the resulting piece here. But not everything from our interviews made the final edit: Among the outtakes is a poignant remembrance from Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor on how the rock and metal community rallied to lend him support following the tragedy and, specifically, the advice that ex-Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul gave him.
You know, it's crazy: The first gig that we played with [Corey Taylor's other band] Stone Sour [after Paul's death] was one of the Rock am Ring, Rock im Park festivals. And the first people I saw were the guys in Alice in Chains [who lost original singer Layne Staley] and the guys from Hellyeah, and then later on, James Hetfield [who lost Metallica bassist Cliff Burton] went out of his way to come and check on me. And it was crazy, you know, like, you don't really sit down and think about, not only the fact that you've lost someone, but just how many people have in this business.
I mean, it's kind of crazy. Just the fact that they went out of their way to see how I was doing and see how the band was doing, not only let me know how much respect they had for Paul, but for the band as a whole, you know. And in a weird way, it felt good to know that, you know, Pauly left his mark, Pauly left his legacy. He helped create music that touched so many people,whether they were fans or other bands.
The thing that they let me know is that it never really goes away: There's always a hole, basically. It may get better, but it never really goes away. The best advice I got was from Vinnie. And he basically told me — and this is a guy who not only lost his bandmate, but he lost his brother, his true brother — he let me know, he's like, "Man, the thing you've gotta remember is you're living for two. You're living for two now 'cause his spirit is never gone." He's like, "So everything you do, every experience, every victory, you know, you're winning for two, you're living for two, you're laughing for two. That's forever."
And that ... it made it a little easier for me. It let me enjoy things. It let me love again, basically, let's put it that way. And I keep Paul with me every day, you know. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate Vinnie sharing that with me 'cause, I mean, I knew Vinnie and Dime, both, you know. They were at our first show in Dallas. We got to hang out with them — they were the first dudes that really went out of their way to embrace Slipknot, as far as, like, other bands go. And it was great, it felt really good to know that Vinnie was sharing something with me like that.
