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Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor on Marilyn Manson and living in Las Vegas

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Jason Bracelin

Checking in with Slipknot frontman and sometime Vegas resident Corey Taylor

The first time Slipknot played Vegas it cost the band a record deal. At a music-conference showcase gig at the old Gameworks on the Strip in the late ’90s, the Iowan metallers spooked their way out of a major-label contract. “We were supposed to be signed to one record label, but then they came and saw us play, and they dropped our deal in a heartbeat,” chuckles singer Corey Taylor, who also fronts hard rockers Stone Sour. “We scared the absolute sh*t out of those people, man.”

Nowadays, Taylor lives here for a good portion of the year. “There’s a really great history for Slipknot in this town,” he says. “Vegas is like a second home.”

You’re pretty much an honorary Las Vegan at this point, right? Yeah, I’ve been living here eight years. It’s kind of cool. I’ve got family here. I’ve got a lot of great friends here. So, when I play here, it’s almost like playing Des Moines [Iowa]. I get to hang out with all kinds of people who I love and have a great time.

How do you divide up your year? Half in Iowa, half out here? A little bit, yeah. Most of the time I’m on the road. I still have a place in Iowa, because my son lives there and my grandmother is still alive. I try to spend half my time out there with my wife and family, and then we spend the rest of the time here in Vegas.

Do your neighbors know who you are? I live far out enough where I really only have a handful of neighbors, and a couple of them know. Their kids are really big fans, so I’ve signed some stuff for them, and in trade they’ve let our kids ride their horses and stuff.

When you come here on tour do you become the unofficial tour guide for the rest of the band? Do you take them to your favorite local haunts? Some of them. Especially with Stone Sour, we hang out a lot. We’ll go do dinner at different places or I’ll cook. I cook a lot. I’ll have the guys over and I’ll make a lasagna the size of your dinner table, basically, and send everyone back to their hotel rooms feeling like sh*t.

You’re currently on the road with Marilyn Manson. How well did you know him before this tour? We go back to Ozzfest 2001. That was the first we really toured with him. It was really cool to be able to watch him and Sabbath every night. To me, he’s still a really powerful artist. He’s not afraid to say what he feels, not afraid to react. He’s a bit of a crazy person, obviously. We’ve never had a problem promoting him, going up against him in healthy competition. Great artists encourage each other; they feed off of each other and they push each other. It’s helping each other get to point where you just put on one hell of a show. We’ve always had that with him.

Slipknot with Marilyn Manson. August 21, 7:30 p.m., $30-$65. T-Mobile Arena, 702-692-1600.

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