COREY TAYLOR Says Dealing With Business Side Of Music Is 'Very Distracting' And 'Exhausting'

On July 8, SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor was live at School Of Rock Green Valley in Henderson, Nevada answering question from an intimate group of students. You can watch the discussion below.

Asked how he balances dealing with the business side of being in two successful bands and still maintaining his enthusiasm to perform and be true to his art, Taylor said: "It's tough, especially when you're kind of put in the position to have to be the boss. I've learned a lot up to a point. After that, I have people, luckily, that I trust who I can rely on. It's all about being able to relegate and delegate, basically. So I know there are certain areas where my managers and my accountants, they do their thing. They're the same managers and accountants I've had for fifteen years. So I don't worry about that, because we work closely, and I also know that — not that anything would ever happen, but if anything would happen, there are other people who would let me know. So I have safeguards and trust, basically. Up to that, though, they know that I also understand the creative [aspect] of it, and nobody else does, really. So when it comes to SLIPKNOT, it's very much us still being able to come together and work on the art of it, work on the music of it, without outside influence. Very little influence from the record label, which I'm which I'm very lucky.

"With SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR, we've earned the right to kind of be able to get on with it," he continued. "We've also shown that, after all this time, we can still creatively compete, we can produce music that people really enjoy without compromising anything on our end. And I guess I'm pretty lucky and pretty fortunate about that. But it also comes from having that confidence and being able to say sometimes that… 'I'm looking for something musically. I may need help,' and not just kind of shutting the doors on that stuff. So they know if I'm looking for something specifically that I will reach out to certain people, and they trust me to do that. So it's kind of a good balancing act that I've had to learn to [keep things together], because if it were up to me, I wouldn't have anything to do with any of the business crap. I can't stand it — it's very distracting and it's exhausting — but it has to be done. I'm the first one up, the last one out when it comes to that stuff, so when it means that much to you, you have to be a part of it. But I'm not gonna complain. I need to do it. I'm coming up on eighteen years."

Taylor added: "The old adage is, 'If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.' It's not exactly true. Because, yes, you get to do what you love, but there's a bunch of stuff that you have to do that comes with it that maybe is more trivial. It's definitely stuff that you don't look forward to. But it could be worse. I could be digging ditches. And I'm never going back to that. So it's good. It's a good balance."

Corey's new book, "America 51", was released on August 8 via Da Capo Press. The book, which is subtitled "A Probe Into The Realities That Are Hiding Inside 'The Greatest Country In The World'", was described by its publisher as a reflection of how touring with bands has taught Corey "what it means to be an American in an increasingly unstable world." It features Taylor's thoughts on the state of the U.S. and had to be rewritten after Trump was elected president last November.