During an appearance on Heavy Consequence, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor talked about his collaboration with Anthrax for the band’s graphic novel ‘Among the Living.’ He also revealed that he was about to be Anthrax’s lead vocalist years ago and explained why he couldn’t join the band.
Anthrax previously announced the new graphic novel entitled ‘Among the Living’ which was based on the stories of the band’s third studio album’s songs. It was written by Scott Ian, Joey Belladonna, Frank Bello, Corey Taylor, and Rob Zombie with many more legendary musicians. Taylor wrote the chapter ‘A Skeleton in the Closet’ and stated that it was a great experience both as a comic book and an Anthrax fan.
During the recent interview he joined, Slipknot frontman talked about his collaboration with Anthrax and shared his ideas on their new graphic novel ‘Among the Living’ saying that it was great to work with his longtime friends on a project. Taylor also remembered the time when he was invited to Anthrax as their new lead singer however he couldn’t join them due to a problem with his record company.
According to Corey, back in 2007, Anthrax was looking for a new lead vocalist after Joey Belladonna had left the band again. Their first candidate was actually Corey Taylor and they even started to jam together while Corey was writing songs for the band.
However, Taylor’s becoming the band’s lead vocalist remained a dream and an attempt because his record company Roadrunners didn’t let that happen saying that he couldn’t do both and he owed them. Taylor described it as a good thing for the band’s reuniting with the original singer even though he felt bad in the beginning.
In Taylor’s words, he said:
“I’ve been friends with these guys for years. I’ve met them on my birthday, in 1999. We were all just hanging out after the show. We were a bunch of dicks from Iowa. To be able to hang out with Anthrax was the coolest thing on the planet. They were so great and rad and we’re all wasted. It was blurry, to be honest.
After that, we stuck together and continued to be friends from now on. We jammed for a couple of covers in New York. When we were at the dinner, somebody said ‘who do we get?’ You know they were in between singers. They said ‘why can’t you do it?’ We all laughed but we stopped. I mean why can’t I do it?
I’m obviously closer to John Bush’s style than Joey Belladonna’s style. His range was incredible. I tried to combine two worlds. So, it was real. I was talking with Charlie Benante about the setlists. They were sending me demos. I started writing lyrics. They ended up in ‘All Hope Is Gone which a lot of people realized. That wish was shut down by Roadrunner.
They basically told me that I couldn’t do it. I tried to do it and I said I can do both. They said they never gonna let it happen and you owed us. It was the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to. It was one of all these what-if moments. However, because I’m a massive fan, I realized this was the starting point for them getting Joey Belladonna back.”
Corey Taylor recalled the times when he was almost the lead singer of Anthrax but he stated that he couldn’t join them because of his record company. Taylor thought that it had a good consequence even if he felt really bad about being obliged to refuse their offer.
