Corey Taylor on What Sets His Solo Album Apart from Previous Work, Why He Loves AEW
Corey Taylor releases his debut solo album, CMFT, on October 2, and even though Taylor has access to countless musicians and collaborators both inside and outside of Slipknot and Stone Sour, he made it clear that this album is very much in his control and is about what he wanted to record.
Taylor appeared on Talkin’ Rock with Meltdown and detailed, “Basically, [it’s] me writing all the songs, with the exception of one. I wrote everything on the album, with the exception of one, and that was a co-write with Tooch [Christian Martucci.]” Taylor then added with a laugh, “It’s also me handpicking the band based on talent and lack of drama.”
Taylor continued, “I’ve been doing heavy lifting for both [Slipknot and Stone Sour] for a very long time, and it really got to the point where I was just, like, ‘You know what? If I’m gonna do this, I wanna do it right. I’m gonna do it my way, and I’m gonna do it in a way that I can enjoy every second.’ That really is where it comes down to. If I was gonna do a solo album, it was really gonna be me. It’s not me putting my name on something that somebody else wrote. This is gonna be me and what I wanna do.”
Taylor would further drive home his point saying, “For me, it was more about really getting everything out of my career with both bands before I even considered doing something like this. For me, this is a way of sharing stuff with the fanbase that I’ve spent 20 years building. And really maybe even filling in a piece of the musical puzzle. ‘Cause people, when I tell them the stuff that I listen to, they can’t wrap their head around it because of the two bands that I’m a part of, and yet when they hear this album and they hear the things that I’ve written, it will all of a sudden make sense.”
Of the two preview tracks released, “CMFT Must Be Stopped” has certainly made a bold splash, especially its video that features tons of cameos and Taylor brandishing a CMFT wrestling belt that also serves as the album’s cover art. Taylor has long been one of the most vocal celebrity wrestling fans out there, and his music over the years has served as various themes for WWE weekly programming and PPV events.
“We’ve always had a really good relationship with WWE, but I will say AEW is dope,” said Taylor. “I love AEW. I love what they’re doing. I love how creative they are. I love that they’re getting back to the creative, like the freshness basically of just how much fun wrestling used to be…You go from the ‘Attitude Era’ to the ‘Ruthless Aggression Era’ and now, you talk about that ‘P.C. Era,’ it really kind of lost not only the younger crowd, but the older crowd, as well. It really because stagnant. I think a lot of that is because, for all intents and purposes, there was only really one big company.”
Taylor adds, “But now, because there are so many other different companies, they’re really kind of coming to the surface, like Ring of Honor is really starting to come into its own. A lot more people know about Ring of Honor. You TNA/Impact still has a pretty good following. You obviously have AEW. There’s stuff coming over from New Japan [Pro Wrestling], which, you know, is a promotion that’s been around for a very long time. There’s all these other promotions that are really affording people to be able to be creative again because they don’t have to rely on one company. I think because of that, we’re seeing that level of creativity kind of really start to come back to life.
CMFT is currently available for pre-order with exclusive formats and bundles at TheCoreyTaylor.com. CMFT is also available for pre-save on major digital platforms here, where fans can also stream/download the album’ first two singles: “CMFT Must Be Stopped” featuring Tech N9ne and Kid Bookie and “Black Eyes Blue.”
