Loudwire caught up with COREY TAYLOR on his recent US solo tour and he spoke about STONE SOUR’s upcoming album, his book, ‘Seven Deadly Sins’, SLIPKNOT and their plans, Charlie Sheen and roasting ZAKK WYLDE (see here to find out more about the roasting!). You can read some extracts from Loudwire’s interview below:

The ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ spoken word / music tour was a very different project for you. How did it come about?

It’s been in the works for a long time, to be honest. It was just a matter of putting the right pieces together. I knew that someday I wanted to do a spoken word tour and let out my inner stand up comedian, really, in a lot of ways. It was just a matter of the right place, the right time, and the right circumstances.

It wouldn’t have made sense if I had done it before I released the book and if I had waited too long it wouldn’t have made sense for me. I’m also really lucky and it was kind of cool that I was able to do different things that gave me the confidence to put this whole package together. I had done acoustic gigs that went really well. I had done the Oxford speech [this summer to students] that went really well. And that kind of gave me the courage to be, like, you know what? Screw it. Let’s just do a whole tour of this. The fans really seem to enjoy it.

What do you hope readers take away from your book?

I can only hope that they see it in the spirit in which it was written. Especially in this climate where everybody is putting out bios and a guy like Tim Tebow, who puts out a life story at 22. You think ‘Really? You’ve lived that much at 22, you are putting out a book now?’ I wanted people to see it for the spirit in which it was. It wasn’t an autobiography and it wasn’t ghost written by somebody else. I wanted it to be poignant. I wanted it to be smart. I wanted it to be funny and a little offensive here and there. But the main thing I wanted it to be interesting. You are so down to earth. That’s something a lot of your fans must find so surprising.

It’s important. The people I respect the least are the ones that take themselves way to seriously. And you can just tell this isn’t about the creativity for them. It is about the trying to prop themselves up to feel better about themselves. I think that is sad because there are really some great, great artists out there that really come off as such tools.

I am the kind of guy who has never taken myself too seriously. I mean, I am very serious about what I do, I’m very serious about the creative process and everything but at the end of the day I am just another lucky geek who got to live out a dream, you know? I am still the guy who reads tons of comics, watch tons of movies, still loves having a great time. I never put myself up on that pedestal. When people put me up on that pedestal I do my best to knock myself off.

What do you see happening with Slipknot in 2012?

I think [2012] will just be more of a strengthening year for us. [The 2010 death of bassist Paul Gray is] still very fresh for us, even though it’s been a year and a half since his death. It is still something that breaks me down every night. I just know if we try to rush in and make an album that doesn’t feel right, the audience will know. The audience will know that it doesn’t feel right and they’ll know it was forced and they’ll know it isn’t genuine. If anything we have always been as genuine with our audience as possible. That is why I have gone out of my way to say ‘Look, I’m not ready to do it.’

And I know there are guys in the band that may or may not be comfortable saying it to anyone else but I know they feel the same way because they have said so to me. I think as long as the guys know we are going to eventually going to they are OK with that. It is not that time yet. When we make the album we all know it is going to be for Paul, you know? And I don’t think any of us are ready to open up that much yet. I think we need to take the steps to strengthen ourselves as a band first. And then start making those steps.

And, plus, he was one of our major, major songwriters. There is such a huge gap because of his loss. And I feel it. And that’s why I am not comfortable. It doesn’t make sense yet. And that is one of those things that makes me a villain to a lot of kids. Me saying we aren’t going to make an album is like me saying that the band is going to break up for some people. And everyone needs to calm down. I never said that. I said it is going to be a while before we make another album. But I think the more we put ourselves out there and the more we show ourselves as a band, a solid unit, the more people calm down about that.

There are always so many rumors out there. Is there one that you’d like to set straight?

The rumor that I died has been chasing me since 1999, The first 1