Slipknot's Corey Taylor: 'We were father figures to our fans'

Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has said that his band acted as "father figures" to many of their fans.

The group formed in Iowa in 1995 and achieved fame and notoriety with their self-titled debut album in 1999.

Asked how their audience had changed over the years, Taylor told Metro: "Our original fans have grown up and done pretty well.

"We were father figures to a lot of them and helped guide them, which is a huge thing to say. So now we have families coming to our gigs but we haven't dumbed anything down."

On whether music gave him catharsis after his own troubled childhood, he added: "I'm the poster boy for that. Music was my salvation. If music hadn't come into my life, I'd be talking to you from a penitentiary.

"I found I had a talent for music, which pulled me up from pretty dire circumstances. I was lucky I had a guiding light in music to keep me focused and from falling into the easy traps that surround you when you grow up poor and fall into trouble."

Taylor recently paid tribute to fans who kept a two-minute silence during their headline Sonisphere set to mark the death of the band's bassist Paul Gray.

Gray died in May 2010 and has been replaced in the group's touring lineup by their former guitarist Donnie Steele.

> Slipknot announce 10th anniversary release of 'Iowa' album

Watch the Slipknot 'Wait and Bleed' music video below: