Vocalist Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour) is featured in a new interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Following is an excerpt from the discussion.

Q: What is it like to be Corey Taylor?

Taylor: "I am one of the luckiest people on this entire planet. Beat the odds, got to do exactly what I wanted to do with my life, and I have been able to do it professionally for almost 18 years. I have beautiful kids, I have a wonderful wife, I have family I would lay down in traffic for, and there doesn’t seem to be a ceiling for what I am able to do.

I also beat the odds with spinal surgery. If I hadn’t caught it, I would be paralyzed. The doctor told me that not too long ago, which scared the crap out of me. So I am extremely lucky, and I know it doesn’t show a lot, but I am very grateful for what I have. I’m humbled by the success, and it just makes me hungry for more.

So what’s it like to be Corey Taylor? It’s pretty awesome sometimes. Obviously, there’s the typical 24/7 doldrums that happen with real life, but that’s real life for everybody. Not everything is gilded. You have to get through the bull to find the gems in the sand."

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Corey Taylor may not be able to entirely mask the pain he still feels from his "unplanned spinal surgery" in early June under his Slipknot character visage. But the silver lining is that he's been a better vocalist during the group's summer tour with Marilyn Manson.

"I've been damn near on, pitchwise," Taylor tells Gary Graff of Billboard. "My stamina's a lot better. It's like I'm really kind of filling in all these weird blanks in [the music] I never even realized were there. I love the challenge of it. It's being able to tune in even more to the music, really kind of being IN it, more than I ever was before." The injury has also made Taylor more aware of the particulars of his manic performances.

"I've had to kind of reassess what I do live," he explains. "Up to this point I didn't realize how physical I am when I sing -- even more than just headbanging or jumping or running or any of that stuff. I punctuate physically when I sing, and I never realized that before. Even the first few shows I was finding I had to hold myself back from more than just the headbanging, y'know? I would do something and it would be like, 'OK, that hurts. OK, we can't do that for awhile.'"

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