Corey Taylor has opened up about how Metallica frontman James Hetfield helped him to feel less alone as he tried to get sober.
The Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman has been sober since 2010, following years spent dealing with alcohol and drug issues.
“[I was] dealing with my own various addictions and fighting the depression that I had to deal with for years — the trauma that kind of came from when I was growing up,” Taylor told Consequence Of Sound in a new interview.
He went on to add that these traumas included being sexually abused and growing up without a father figure.
Taylor then pointed towards Hetfield as one of the people who “helped me kind of figure it out” when it came to sobriety.
“When he first started his journey, getting sober and getting healthy and whatnot, I looked at that, and I was, like, ‘Well, shit, if he’s strong enough to do it, maybe I can try it’,” he said. “[Sobriety] had a big enough effect on me that, over the years, I’ve really tried to stick with it. In figuring that out, I also realized that there were so many people who were going down that path, as well. Jerry Cantrell had just gotten sober around that time, and he was starting to kind of put his steps together.”
Taylor also acknowledged that it isn’t easy for addicts to give up something that has been a strong part of their lives for an extended period of time.
“It takes time; it takes effort, takes work,” he said. “I really have to give [Hetfield] a lot of credit for the inspiration for that… It definitely helped to know that I wasn’t alone in it. And it certainly helped me clear my head and focus more. And really get down to writing again — really, truly writing.”
Taylor had previously said on a podcast that the first few years of sobriety are “weird” because “you realise quickly how much a part of your personality booze has become, and you kind of have to sort out who you are, what you’re comfortable with and largely just the habit of it.”
Taylor released his second solo album, ‘CMF2’, today (September 15). In a three-star review of the album, NME wrote: “There’s enough good stuff on here to justify the album’s existence. And if nothing else, it’s a fascinating insight into the dichotomy that drives one of the greatest bands of the 21st century.”