Corey Taylor is about to kick off the second leg of his U.S. solo tour, and will soon join his mighty metal band Slipknot for their first outing back since the pandemic put a halt to the concert industry last year. As he hits the road, a significant percentage of the country’s population has yet to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
We recently caught up with Taylor via video Zoom and asked him about the divide in this country when it comes to vaccines, as well as his thoughts on whether concerts should require attendees to be vaccinated.
Taylor told us, “People act like getting a vaccine is signing a deal with the devil. It’s been so politicized and spun out of control in these conspiratorial echo chambers that people forget that you can go find all the info you want online to educate yourself about everything about these vaccines.”
He added, “The fact that [vaccines] have been demonized, almost to the point of these gnarly conspiracy theories, no wonder why people are afraid of it — because they’re listening to the wrong people.”
As for whether concerts should require proof of COVID vaccines moving forward, Taylor responded, “Do I think it should be a requirement for people to be vaccinated to go to shows? Yes and no. Here’s the thing: there shouldn’t be a mandate, but guess what, man, if you’re going to put people at risk of getting sick, you shouldn’t want to go to a show. That’s common sense. And if you do put people at risk, then you’re a f**kin’ asshole. And you shouldn’t be let in anyway. ”
The singer concluded, “So, for me, it’s a common-sense thing, but we don’t have a lot of common sense these days, man.”
In the same video interview (watch above), Corey also discussed what it’s been like to return to the road following the shutdown, what he looks forward to when Slipknot kick off their tour, and what fans can expect from the next Slipknot album.
Pick up tickets to Corey Taylor’s summer solo tour here, and to Slipknot’s “Knotfest Roadshow” fall outing here.
Trouble viewing the video interview above? Watch on YouTube.
