Corey Taylor is one of the most well-connected people in rock. Speaking in an upcoming issue of Classic Rock ahead of the release of his second solo album, CMF2, the Slipknot and sometime Stone Sour singer talks us through some of the weird and wonderful celebrity encounters he’s had down the years, from working with Dave Grohl, Velvet Revolver and Anthrax to being left dumbstruck by Bjork, drinking Metallica’s backstage booze rider dry and hanging out with the QI Elves. But it’s his tale of his very first encounter with late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell that stood out – and left us retching.
According to Corey, the first time he met Dimebag was when Slipknot passed through Pantera’s hometown of Dallas while supporting Coal Chamber in 1999.
“The first time we played Dallas, Dime and Vinnie [Paul, ex-Pantera drummer and Dimebag’s brother] came down with their whole posse. We ended up at [strip club-come-HQ] the Clubhouse, and they proceeded to get us so shitfaced it wasn’t even funny,” recalls Corey.
He continues: “They were all about doing pranks on people. Clown [Slipknot percussionist Shawn Crahan] was like, “Whatever you try, I’m not going to baulk.” They had one of their cooks hollow out a tomato and fill it with these insanely fiery red chili peppers.
“Dime pulls out this tomato stuffed with this stupid knot of chilis and he goes, “How much is it gonna cost to get all this down?” And Clown goes, “I don’t need your money”, and just grabs it and starts eating it like an apple.
“It gets worse. We head to the bathroom, and we're pissing at the urinal. There’s a piece of gum on one of the cakes in the urinal, and Dime looks over and goes, ‘Alright, Clown, how much would it take…’ Before he can finish, Clown reaches down, grabs it and starts chewing. It was so fucking gross.
“Dime just threw his hands up. He talked about it until the day he died: “Clown, he was the one motherfucker I couldn’t get to collapse, he just fucked me up.”
Read the full interview with Corey in a forthcoming issue of Classic Rock. Subscribe to the magazine here. CMF2 is released on September 15.
