Even though vocalist Corey Taylor is preparing for a tour with his masked heavy metal band Slipknot, and the band is less than 48 hours from performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Taylor was also getting ready for a local show, Sunday, May 19th in Garden Grove at Garden Amp.
This is the last, among a string of Corey and Friends performances, where Taylor gets together with various musician friends to perform covers only, metal, punk, the classics. “This show is so much fun,” said Alicia Dove, from the Cherry Bombs, who will be opening the show. “When people see Corey Taylor, they expect Slipknot and Stone Sour songs, but it’s only covers, and they play the funkiest mishmash of rock, punk, and metal. It’s like a rock n roll house party. I call it a rock n roll extravaganza.”
“We are a visual act, Cherry Bombs are an experience that is visually heavy there is not one set of eyes that leaves the stage all the phones are up,” Dove said. “When we’re on stage there is no slow song you can’t leave to grab a beer you will miss something. Whether it’s some girl falling from 30 feet high, or some giant fireball being shot across the stage, or singing, dancing, it is something you never have seen before at a rock concert.”
When it comes to the cover songs in Taylor’s performance, Taylor said that the process of picking which songs to perform is totally organic. “We just throw bands out to each other and then it leads to songs,” he said. “We do everything from ZZ Top, Prince, The Damned, David Bowie, The Clash and so many more, and it all works because we’re all into the music. I am not sure about the lineup since lots of my friends are out of town but most likely same line-up as the last show at the Roxy in February.”
With a new album out in March and press already heavy in anticipation, Slipknot will embark on a world tour. “There is no way to truly prepare for it You have to just go out and do it,” Taylor said of being on the road. However with recent minor knee surgery, Taylor says he is taking it easy. “I got my knees fixed up, and I’m feeling OK,” he said. “When you’re in a band like Slipknot you’re bound to have some damage done. Right now, I’m not pushing anything. I know my body that is the best I can do I know my limitations.”
20 years after Slipknot were thrown into the music world, the masks and the mystery behind them are part of the band’s identity but in an ironic sort of way. “The reason we started wearing the masks in the first place was to take the emphasis off identity and we used it to get more into the music,” he said. “But now after all these years we wear the masks to make the performance more intense, it is part of what makes a Slipknot concert unique but if you’re into music it shines through no matter what for us it’s just about putting on the best show for our audience and all the fans, if your heart’s in the right place and you love it, you can’t go wrong.”
Understandably, this solo show might be the last performance, but that isn’t permanent.
“This is gonna be it for these shows for now, because [of] Slipknot. We’re touring and that takes up so much of my time,” Taylor said. “But, that’s not to say we won’t do anymore in the future we might but after this show, Slipknot is my priority.”
Corey Taylor and Friends with The Cherry Bombs at Garden Amp, Sunday Mar. 19. For tickets and full details, click here.
Alex Distefano is an established freelance writer and music blogger from the Los Angeles area. With over a dozen years under his belt as a published Journalist, he covers the worlds of heavy metal music, punk rock, current events, cannabis culture, comedy, radio, food, tattoos, the paranormal, and ‘conspiracy theories.’ He graduated from California State University Long Beach in 2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in both Journalism and Ancient History. Aside from his professional writing endeavors, Distefano works as an Educator, and delivery/rideshare driver.