SO I GUESS COREY TAYLOR MIGHT JOIN VELVET REVOLVER AFTER ALL

Corey Taylor performing “It’s So Easy” with Slash in 2009. Could this be what Velvet Revolver sounds like in the not-too-distant future?

Corey Taylor must really, really hate having free time on his hands. He’s already the vocalist for Slipknot and Stone Sour, and he nearly joined Anthrax in 2007. Then, in 2009, he revealed that he’d “had a meeting” with Velvet Revolver about taking Scott Weiland’s spot in the band, but that it “it just didn’t work — for whatever reason.”

Now VR’s search for a new singer has been heating up, with drummer Matt Sorum going so far as to tell an interviewer that “The guy we’re liking now is a young guy” who is “known” (e.g., not a noob they picked up on Hollywood Boulevard) and whose background is in “a little bit heavier rock ‘n’ roll than we are.” Naturally, this led to lots and lots of speculation as to this mystery singer’s identity, and the combination of clues — that the vocalist was not unknown, that he was younger than Slash and company, and that he traditionally sang for a band or bands that were heavier than VR — caused some spectators, like our friends at Metal Insider, to ponder the possibility that Taylor might the man for the job after all.

Now the story has taken another interesting turn. Billboard has done a new profile on Taylor, which begins thusly:

“Corey Taylor is comfortably ensconced in Stone Sour for the time being, but let’s check out some truth vs. fiction about a couple of other matters: is he the ‘known singer’ who’s working under wraps with Velvet Revolver?

“‘To be continued!’ Taylor tells Billboard.com with a long, hearty laugh. Neither a confirmation nor a denial — and he’s not saying anything more than that, either.”

So the thing about a non-denial like this is that it’s basically a confirmation. I mean, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for Taylor to answer that question in way other than a simple “No” unless he has, indeed, been working with VR — or, at least, invited to work with VR.

And I think he’d make a good choice. He’s an excellent front man, his voice is still in great shape, VR have been saying for some time that they’d like to go a little heavier with their new record and he would certainly allow them to do that, and as a known, proven entity, he’d bring a lot of fans to the table, the same way Weiland did. Because, as I’ve said many times before, if VR come out with some unknown, they’ll just be Slash’s Snakepit 3.0 — the reason people paid attention to them when they emerged in 2003 was because of the combination of superstars, and that’s the same reason people will pay attention to them in 2011. If they follow-up the lackluster sales of Libertad with a new album featuring vocals by the this year’s Lukas Rossi, the record could make Chinese Democracy look like the cultural sensation of the millenium.

While we wait for an official announcement that Taylor is or is not the new singer for Velvet Revolver, weigh in with your thoughts on the matter below. And, of course, feel free to do a bit of a dream casting yourself…

-AR

[via Metal Inside Her]