In a recent chat with Metal Hammer, Corey Taylor’s son Griffin responded to ‘nepotism’ claims.
“I was a teenager with a lot of feelings and a lot of emotions and I didn’t know how to deal with it,” the musician said of ‘nepo babies’ comments during Vended’s early days. “It would just depress the f*ck out of me.”
He mentioned that most critics are online, though sometimes there’s a troll in real life, who “scream something from the crowd or just make a joke, like ‘Play ‘Duality!” And I go up to the mic and be, like, ‘Wrong band, dude.'”
Shawn Crahan’s son Simon also stepped in and said, “My dad told me, ‘I would not put you on a tour if you weren’t good.’ We wouldn’t be playing festivals the way we do if we weren’t good. We’re a good band. We play good music. That’s why we’re here. We’ve discovered that talent ourselves. And everyone thinks it’s just been handed to us.”
Vended is a band made up of Griffin Taylor, Simon Crahan, JJ Pugh, Cole Espeland, and Connor Grodzicki. The band, based in Des Moines, Iowa, is working hard to build its own fanbase.
In a September interview with Blabbermouth, Griffin said that Corey Taylor isn’t in charge of Vended. “Not really. Simon and I do talk to our dads. We fill them in on what’s happening,” he said when asked if his dad helps them out and is there when needed. “There’s no string-pulling here. There’s no, ‘Oh. Let me do something.’ It’s our job to take matters into our own hands.”
Taylor added, “They don’t really do something for us other than give advice when we ask for it. It’s not like they’re throwing advice at us every other f*cking day of the week. It’s overall conversation and just being a father, in general. Letting your kid figure it out for themselves, but also being, ‘Here’s what I think about this.'”
Vended released their debut album in September. Their next big tour is this Spring, opening for British metalcore bands While She Sleeps and Bury Tomorrow in North America.
