Corey Taylor: Hate me all you want, just pay attention

A picture of Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor
Corey Taylor (Image credit: Getty)

Corey Taylor says he’ll keep slapping phones out of people’s hands if they are not paying attention to the show.

Last month, the vocalist made headlines when he reprimanded a fan who was looking at his phone while in the front row of a Slipknot gig by slapping it from his hand.

The pair shared a laugh about the incident later, Taylor said, but he insists he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Taylor tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “You can hate me all you want. It’s not going to stop me from smacking those things out of people’s hands.

“You watch people walk down the street, and they can’t get their beaks out of their stupid phones to cross the street.

“I love watching people get buried in their tiny little technological worlds, and then reality comes and smacks them in the face.

“I don’t mind people who take pictures. I don’t even mind people who shoot video. I love that, because you’re still engaged in the show.

“A lot of people get the wrong idea; they think that if I just see someone on their phone, I’m trying to rage quit their fun. I’m not trying to do that at all.

“But if I see someone, and it’s so obvious they’re not even there, you’ve got to poke them with a stick to get their attention sometimes. Sometimes that means smacking the phone out of their hands.”

The singer has also had two fans thrown out of Slipknot gigs in recent weeks – one in Toronto and the second in Concord, California.

Slipknot are currently touring North America with Marilyn Manson. The trip was delayed after Taylor underwent emergency neck surgery.

Slipknot remaining tour dates 2016

Aug 25: Dallas Gexa Energy Pavilion, TX
Aug 26: Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, TX
Aug 27: Austin 360 Amphitheater, TX
Sep 25: San Manuel Ozzfest Meets Knotfest, CA
Oct 15-16: Toluca Knotfest, Mexico
Nov 05: Tokyo Knotfest, Japan

Corey Taylor's Darkest Moments

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.