‘From Can To Can’t’ Sound City Single Review

‘From Can To Can’t’ is a song featuring Corey Taylor, Dave Grohl, Rick Nielsen and Scott Reeder, exclusively first played on Zane Lowe's show on Radio One. Opening with Corey Taylor’s mesmerising singing, the song is off to a good start. With a fusion between grunge and slow guitaring, it sounds slightly similar to Corey’s work with Stone Sour, which definitely isn’t a bad thing. The guitar solo is impressive, but what more do you expect from so many talented rock artists working together? All in all, the song is successful and enjoyable to listen to.  A powerful song from powerful artists.

Corey Taylor at Download Festival 9/6/12

Corey Taylor is an amazingly versatile musician; famous for screaming in Slipknot, singing in Stone Sour, and more recently in the past year, playing intimate acoustic solo shows. Opening with ‘Bother’, originally a Stone Sour song, he amazed the crowd with his beautiful voice and guitar skills. He played an acoustic version of Slipknot’s ‘Spit It Out’, which actually sounded great, and instead of asking people to sit on the ground then jump up, as he does when he plays the song with Slipknot, he asked everyone to hop on one leg, causing great amusement to the crowd. He debuted a song from the new Stone Sour album, saying it was the first time it had been played live, which was called ‘Taciturn’ and proved Stone Sour are going to be back and better than ever. After playing songs by his two bands, he proceeded to play covers of his favourite songs, including a flawless version of Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’. Lzzy Hale of Halestorm joined Corey on stage for a mind-blowing performance of AC/DC’s ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’. Lzzy’s voice was raw and powerful, matching Corey’s perfectly. Ending with ‘Outsider’ by The Ramones, Corey Taylor proved in this amazing but short set what an incredible musician he is, and how we should definitely keep a look out for many more exciting things to come.

Corey Taylor at the HMV Institute, 13th July 2011

On the 13th July 2011 I was lucky enough to see my favourite musician, Corey Taylor, perform an exclusive concert at the HMV Institute in Birmingham. Before the concert I went to his book signing at Waterstones for his book 'Seven Deadly Sins' and I was able to meet the man himself. He was lovely and truly listened to what I had to say and appreciated my support. He is a truly amazing man and I have the greatest respect for him.

The concert started with a brief introduction from Corey Taylor, and he then read part of a chapter from his book, 'Seven Deadly Sins'. It was amazing to listen to the book being read aloud by the author himself, and further emphasised the unique perspective Corey has on life due to his wide range of experiences. His accent is beautiful and he put on an incredible performance.

After reading a section of his book, Corey had a 'question and answer session', in which the crowd were welcome to ask any questions they had for the Slipknot and Stone Sour front man. One heartfelt moment was when someone asked about his favourite memory of Paul (Gray, bassist of Slipknot who passed away last year) and he descended into a story about them going to 'Disney World' and him scaring Paul on the roller-coasters when he was already terrified (and the thought of Slipknot at such a place seemed rather amusing). After he had finished informing us of his memories of the amazingly talented bassist, a crowd chant of 'Paul Gray' started and Corey started crying and thanked everyone for their support during such a hard time. The future of Slipknot was also questioned, to which he answered that he hadn't healed after the death of his brother and that is was unable to think so far ahead into the future. He was also questioned about his different attitudes towards music whilst in Stone Sour and Slipknot, to which he replied 'When I write a song I can just tell which band it is for...Snuff was always going to be a Slipknot song and 30/30 150 was always going to be  for Stone Sour'. The true meaning of '30/30 150' was revealed; contrast to popular belief it is not about a gun, it was Corey's measurements in high school. 

After a short break Corey came back on stage accompanied with an acoustic guitar. He performed his beautiful version of 'Wicked Game' (originally by Chris Isaak), 'Jolene' (originally by Ray LaMontage) and even 'Nutshell' (originally by Alice in Chains). As he was in Birmingham he decided to cover 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath, which was very interesting and very different to the original. He played 'Bother' by his band Stone Sour which was incredibly heartfelt and an emotional song that suited Corey's voice perfectly. His cover of 'Freebird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd was astounding and was probably my favourite song of the night; it was just so passionate. Corey brought his son on stage and even sang a cover of the 'Spongebob Squarepants' theme song, which was very amusing and showed he had a good sense of humour. His acoustic version of 'Spit it Out' (by his band Slipknot) was amazing; who knew metal could sound so good acoustic?  His cover of Pearl Jam's 'Black' was incredible and it became obvious throughout the night what bands inspired him and who he admired. He ended the concert with a cover of 'Everlong' by Foo Fighters, which was beautifully calm and emotional. 

All in all, it was a fantastic night and I've gained even more respect for Corey Taylor.