Corey Taylor: “With Stone Sour, 9 times out of 10, I was better than the guitar player we had in the band”

Corey Taylor has explained how founding Stone Sour allowed him to flourish as a guitarist, and why he decided to take the role of both vocalist and lead guitarist when they started out.

Taylor, also known for fronting Slipknot and for his own solo work, founded Stone Sour in 1992. At the time, he was homeless and his bandmates chipped in to get him a hotel so they could spend time together and work on music.

• READ MORE: Corey Taylor says Slipknot’s Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) was “just as big a risk” as Iowa

In an interview with Feedback Def, Taylor shared how starting Stone Sour allowed him to feel a sense of belonging: “That was my first [experience of being in] a brotherhood, first sense of a community, and a first sense of, ‘Okay, I can bring something into this that these guys have never had before’, which is a clarity, a musical voice, and something to take this even further than we want it to [go],” he says (via Ultimate Guitar).

He adds, “I guess that was the first year where I really felt confidence in my skills as a guitar player. When Stone Sour first started, not only was I playing guitar constantly, but I was also the lead guitarist. So I was not only the main writer, I was always the lead guitar player. That’s kind of been the through line for my whole career; I would always fill in the weaknesses for whatever band I was in at the time.”

“Like, when I first started, I was almost always better than the drummer I was in a band with. So, whenever we would do demos, I would play all the drums. But then, I had to make a choice. I wanted to sing, I don’t want to do both. I don’t want to be Phil Collins, I want to just sing.”

Taylor goes on to add that within Stone Sour, he decided to take on both lead guitar and vocals, despite only wanting to focus on one, as he felt he was more apt for the role as a stronger player, and the sole songwriter.

“With Sour, I was, nine times out of ten, always better than the guitar player we had in the band, as a lead player. So I said, ‘Fuck it, I’ll just handle it. I’m writing all the music anyway, I might as well be the guy who’s leading the charge.’ And then, we’ll just get a good rhythm guitar player kind of go with [it]. I’d say that was the genesis of my really diving headfirst down, just jumping off the cliff and praying to God the parachute goes off.”

Corey Taylor released his most recent solo album, CMF2 back in September. You can view all of his live dates over on his official website.