Slipknot front-man/ self-proclaimed true metal guardian Corey Taylor has teamed up with Lamb of God front-man Randy Blythe to share some thoughts on the current state of long haired yahoo music.
The pair sat down with Metal Hammer (surely the most brutal sounding metal site), to cast their eye over the current field, and in a surprisingly refreshing turn of events, they didn’t winge about it being ‘dead’ unlike some artists.
“I think it feels healthier than it was a few years ago. It used to seem like everything was sullen and a little too mapped out. A little too rigid, too stiff” said Taylor.
“I don’t listen to a lot of new shit – or I didn’t! Now I’m getting into a lot of the newer bands like Code Orange, Knocked Loose, All Pigs Must Die, Nails…there’s an inherent violence there that I just love.”
It’s little wonder that with all the new material he’s been listening too that he’s feeling inspired. After all, he’s just revealed a desire to craft a jazz album for Slipknot at some point.
Blythe, who has been very outspoken on his love for new acts, was also keen to name-drop a few contemporary artists that he’s been digging of late.
“The good thing about bands like Code Orange, Power Trip and others, is that they all came up the way that we did…They came up playing halls, basements, doing shitty gigs. When we started, there wasn’t this overwhelming amount of festivals or big tours that there are now. A lot of the kids in the scene today don’t know that this huge metal scene – which it is now – didn’t exist when we were coming up.”
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Familiarise yourself with Code Orange below before they visit for Download in March
When it came to advice for aspiring musos, Taylor was keen to keep things down to earth; make mistakes.
“Don’t be afraid of mistakes; mistakes are the best ways to find those cool ideas. And the young bands that we’re talking about, you can tell that that’s what they’ve done, they’ve played together, they’ve gelled together.”
As for the discourse around the genre, Blythe had some strong words for fans (and journos) when it came to sub-categories and genre classifications.
“As soon as you put something in a category within music – and it’s often not the bands that do this, it’s journalists or fans… like, I’m supposedly one of the leaders of the ‘New Wave Of American Heavy Metal’. I always got asked, ‘How do you feel about being the leader of the NWOAHM?’ I’m like, ‘What the fuck are you talking about?’
The sound of “Pure American Metal”
Strong words from a man who is always looking for something new, rather than rue the lost glory days of the early to mid noughties.
With all that said, is the ‘rock star’ dead in the modern era?
“No”, says Taylor simply.
Check out Taylor’s newest offering below
