I Am A Metal Head Now

Ok so I have a lot to get off my chest and admit to being wrong about.

And not just kinda wrong. We're talking dead fucking wrong.

I couldn't have been further off in my baseless assumptions about the entire genre of "Metal". And I'll own it.

I don't know how, or why I've had this stereotype and predetermined idea of what actual heavy metal is, and what metal shows were like, but for some reason I never really gave it a chance. 

(Sidebar - One of the good things about getting older is you gradually begin to realize you don't know everything in the world about everything in the world. A lot of what you've thought your whole life is in fact wrong. Or not necessarily wrong, but thought due to ignorance or lack of wisdom/experience. Realizing you were incorrect about something and changing your mind is actually really fucking refreshing. And humbling. In a strange way it's also exciting because it makes you realize having an open mind now, to something you didn't previously, leaves a world of possibilities.)

Everything changed on Thursday night last week. 

Thanks to our INCREDIBLE helpers in the Barstool talent booking office, Megan and Jordyn, White Sox Dave was able to land Corey Taylor to come to the BS Chicago office and sit down for an interview with us. 

Any time we're able to conduct interviews in person, as opposed to zoom, I get hyped, because they always go over a million times better. We also connect with and interact with our guests so much better, and the content is always gold. 

Hand up, I had no fucking clue who Corey Taylor was when Dave announced on our Backstage chat a few weeks ago this was happening. I was pumped but nowhere near as pumped as our cohosts Colin and Kenny were. They immediately began freaking out and said they were booking flights to Chicago.

Both of these two guys just had babies, so the fact they were flying in for an interview was a big deal I realized. 

Turns out Corey is the frontman for Slipknot,

he's also front man for Stone Sour, a band I'd actually heard of and remembered from a while ago

and if that wasn't enough, he's also got his own band, a solo project, "CMFT".

How this guy manages to find time to stay this active musically is crazy.

He showed up to the office on Thursday afternoon with a cameraman and a security guard and sat down with us for what felt like 2 or 3 hours. It was actually an hour and twenty minutes, and he would have stayed for twice as long but we felt so guilty taking up so much of his time, we told him we were wrapping up like ten times and kicking him out. 

I couldn't believe what a normal dude he was. And how fucking smart he is. I'm not saying he was smart in the sense that I was expecting somebody to be an idiot and was impressed they had ten brain cells. This guy is incredibly intelligent. His vocabulary was astounding. His self-awareness and the wisdom he was dropping on us was unreal. I was a fan instantly, just based off conversing with him for a little while.

We wrapped up and headed to dinner at Maple and Ash which was lights out as usual. Our guests Colin and Kenny were blown away coming from inferior food cities like Los Angeles. (Colin's from Philly which in my book is actually a very sneaky awesome high caliber food city and doesn't get enough credit but I needed that shot to make sense and I fucking hate LA).

From there we left and headed north to Lakeview and the famed Riviera Theatre. One of my favorite live music venues in Chicago. Historic doesn't even begin to describe this joint.

Now this is what really sold me on the sound. 

I walked in expecting to see a few thousand school-shooter-looking people but I couldn't have been more off.

Yes, there were obviously LOTS of men with ponytails and long hair but whatever. Everybody was completely normal looking, I saw zero pentagram face tattoos, zero face tats altogether to be honest, and I even bumped into my favorite beer delivery driver who drops off to us in Chicago once a week and always has an outrageous dirty joke to tell me. He was in line for beer and saw me walking by and yelled, "what the fuck are you doing here?" 

I snapped back with the same to him and he started dying laughing and said he was looking for his whore ex-wife, which got the entire beer line to fist pump and yell "hell yeah". I liked these people. 

The show was honestly fucking awesome. I'm not just saying that because Corey was such a nice guy to come on our stupid little show and I enjoyed talking with him. 100% objectively, it was an awesome concert.

The music was nothing like I expected.

For some reason I had it in my head that metal was just guys screaming into the mic as loud as they could shit like "I wasn't to saw your face off with a chainsaw and wear it as a mask."

It was nothing even close to that.

Corey's voice is incredible.

After I posted that picture of him with us all at the office I received like 30 texts from friends freaking out. No joke. They all said how lucky I was to meet him and what monster fans they were of him. People I know that are Slipknot fans and people I was fucking shocked to find out were into them. The one constant with them all was them all stressing to me how amazing Corey was a vocalist, performer, and how insane his range was.

And it couldn't have been better advertising. 

I was floored listening to him.

Here was a guy who legitimately performs in the biggest soccer stadiums around the world in front of 100,000+ crowds on a regular basis, playing in front of a couple thousand in the dingy, but quaint, Riviera Theatre in Chicago, rocking his fucking brains out.

He is an incredible entertainer and performer. His mannerisms and stage presence are up there with the best I've ever seen. And yes, his voice is un-fucking-believable. 

The songs weren't anywhere near as hard as I thought. It was totally understandable and the guitars and bass weren't even that loud. 

The only thing I felt was totally different from most concerts I go to is how fast the BPMs were. These songs were fucking fast. The drummer is playing double time on almost all the songs up near like 160 BPM, while Corey was singing half time. Really impressive shit.

I know I sound like a bitch writing this but I honest-to-God didn't know what to expect at one of these shows.

And I've been to like 15 Guns n Roses shows, a handful of Motley Crue ones, and random shows at Chicago haunts like Cobra Lounge and Reggies. I know that's hair metal and local bands, but I don't know why I was so underprepared or caught off guard.

Kenny told me this was "watered down" metal I was hearing and not the real deal but I didn't give a fuck. I almost think that's a good thing and a good introduction to the genre for me?

Bottom line is I had a fucking blast. 

I wasn't in the mosh pit up front like White Sox Dave was all night. (My face is still healing and I'm a puss bag)

But I was right behind it feeding off the energy the whole show and loving the hell out of how much the die-hard fans were into everything. 

So basically I'm a metal head now and can't believe it took me this long. 

I need some more bands, songs, and shit to get acquainted with. So all my fellow metal heads please send me some suggestions or drop them in the comments.

We're dropping the interview with Corey Taylor this week, Wednesday I think, so please give it a listen and give us a follow.