When they first hit the scene, Slipknot were known for their live show. Nine psycho clowns jumping da fuck up, beating on kegs and running around stage like men possessed made an impression and Slipknot have continued to go hard since, finding ways to one-up their production and stage show. Constant touring and live shows over the course of a quarter-century have taken their toll on singer Corey Taylor, who says he’s considered when he’ll know it’s time to hang the touring mask up (via Blabbermouth).
“As long as I can physically do it, and as long as there are people there to see it, man, I’ll continue to do it. Now, if the quality starts to fail, then I’ll know it’s time to hand it in. And I’ve already thought about it — I’ve already thought about, maybe I’ve got another five years left of physically touring like this. I try to take care of myself. I work out when I can. The travel out here [in Europe] is exhausting; the food is horrible; so it makes it hard to do that. But as long as I can keep at it, that’s at least what I wanna do. So, yeah, it is what it is.”
Taylor stressed that he loves Slipknot and being in the band, but that he wouldn’t stop them from continuing if he couldn’t physically do it.
“If they wanted to continue and I wanted to retire, I would help them find somebody, to be honest. This band has always been bigger than the sum of its own parts. And it was hard moving on without Paul [Gray]. It was hard moving on when we had to part ways with Joe [Jordison]. It’s always been hard when the original nine ceases to be the original nine, but at the same time, the ones who are here are here because we love it, and we’ve always gotten something out of it.
But don’t worry—you’ve still got plenty of time to hear what Corey Taylor thinks, because he’ll find a way to perform, even if it’s not with Slipknot.
“I still wanna be here. And when I physically can’t do it anymore, that’s when I’ll hang it up. I might not retire from performing period; maybe that’s when I go and I do my acoustic thing. But when I can’t go out there and give it at least my one hundred percent, that’s when I’ll hang it up. And me and Clown have talked about this, man. He’s older than all of us, and he’s broken just as much crap as I have. I mean, Christ, he hit the keg with a baseball [bat] and ripped his bicep clean off the bone, and then went, got surgery and came back.
“We’re psychos, dude.”