Corey Taylor of Stone Sour and Slipknot – HuffPost 9.17.10

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for kids coming into music right now?

Corey Taylor: Just get all the practice you can in, and I don’t mean in the basement or the garage or whatever. I mean go out and play live. Go out and cut your teeth and learn your craft. Don’t be afraid to write music that may not seem like it could be popular. You’ve got to write songs to know what you want to do, and I think too many people paint themselves into a corner musically because they think that’s the only thing they can do. To me, it makes more sense to write different songs, and to play different kinds of music, and to find your own voice. But no matter what, get out and play for people. Get out and learn, and do everything that you can, you know?

Playing live is a lost art, and you don’t see a lot of bands that go out and play the way the older bands do. It’s a celebration, and a lot of people treat it like a commercial or a distraction. For me, that’s one of the things that I look forward to the most–getting in front of an audience, stirring them up into a frenzy, and then just kicking a lot of ass with them. So, if you’re going to get into music, learn your craft and don’t half ass anything but go for it. Do everything you can at eleven, and don’t be embarrassed to do anything. If you’re going to succeed you’ve got to have the will to do it, and that’s just the way it is.