SLIPKNOT's TAYLOR Says He Was 'Laughing His Ass Off' When He Said He Was 'Upset' Over Bassist Identity Leak

SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor has denied that he was angry over the leak of the identity of the band's new bassist, insisting that he was "laughing [his] ass off" when he said he was "upset" about the musician's name being revealed in the media.

SLIPKNOT's fifth album, ".5: The Gray Chapter", was released on October 21 via Roadrunner. It's the band's first CD without founding drummer Joey Jordison, who was fired in 2013, and late bassist Paul Gray.

The identities of the band's new bassist and drummer have not yet been revealed, but both appeared — disguised in the same newly designed mask — in the video for "The Devil In I", the first single from the new album.

Nonetheless, it is widely believed that the new bassist is Alessandro "Vman" Venturella, who sports the exact same tattoo on his hand that was spotted on the hand of the new bassist in the video. Venturella has served as a guitar tech for MASTODON, COHEED AND CAMBRIA and others, while also playing in the band KROKODIL.

Asked by Revolver magazine if he was "pissed" over the tattoo faux pas, Corey said: "It wasn't something we'd even thought of and it didn't even occur to us until it hit. I was like, 'Aw, man. C'mon.' But the funny thing is, I was doing a radio interview and I was laughing about it. And then the story got picked up by all these media outlets that implied I was incensed, angry, and outraged. No, not really. If you listen to the interview, I'm laughing my ass off. It just goes to show you, in this TMZ world, people are gonna pick up something just so they can make a story out of it. It would be nothing for me to make an argument out of it, but at that point it was like, 'Man, who gives a shit?'"

Asked why SLIPKNOT has chosen to keep the new members' identities a secret, Taylor said: "To me, it's more about the collective. It's more about the group than it is those individuals. And people don't know for sure all the details, which is part of the fun of it, too — keeping people on the edge of their seats."

Taylor told Metal Hammer that firing Jordison in 2013 after 18 years was "one of the hardest decisions" the group ever made, adding that Jordison is "in a place in his life" which is "not where we are."

Taylor said he could not get into specifics for legal reasons, but admitted, "It's when a relationship hits that T-section and one person's going one way and you're going the other. And try as you might to either get them to go your way or try and go their way, at some point you've got to go in the direction that works for you. This is me speaking in the broadest terms, with respect to Joey. I guess to sum it up, it was one of the hardest decisions we ever made."

Taylor said that the band is "happy right now and we hope that he is… He's just in a place in his life, right now, that's not where we are."

The singer would not answer whether drug use played a role in Jordison's dismissal, and confessed that he had not been in touch with his former bandmate. Taylor said, "I haven't talked to Joey in a while, to be honest. That's how different we are. It's not because I don't love him and I don't miss him. And it is painful; we talk about him all the time, but at the same time, do we miss him or do we miss the old him? That's what it really comes down to."