Corey Taylor Pays Live Tribute To Late Slipknot Bassist [VIDEO]

Stone Sour and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor paid an emotional tribute to late Slipknot bassist Paul Gray on last Friday night (April 8th), on what would have been Gray’s 39th birthday. Gray passed away last May after overdosing on drugs in a suburban Iowa hotel room. According to the San Antonio Metal Music Examiner, Taylor, performing on Friday with Stone Sour in San Antonio, Texas, dedicated the song “Bother” to Gray, saying,

“Some of you know today is my fallen brother’s birthday. I wasn’t sure if I was going to say anything. But I miss him every day. So I’d like to dedicate this song to him.”

YouTube – Stone Sour – Bother San Antonio 4/8/11.

The Examiner reported that Taylor struggled with tears throughout the song and seemed at one point as if he wouldn’t be able to finish.

Slipknot percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan told Pulse Of Radio not long ago that he thinks about Gray every day:

“I say his name all the time just for no reason, and being someone that started the band with him, I feel like he’s kind of jumped into me in some aspects, and I feel like all my days are filled with him. Every day there’ll be something that’s kind of Slipknot-oriented and I feel like I have a responsibility to always think about what he might have liked in the situation.”

Crahan and Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison both issued statements commemorating Gray’s birthday. Crahan wrote in part, “Today is the day that Paul Dedrick Gray was born which makes it a very, very, very special day for me and all of us who miss and love him and think about him every day.”

Jordison wrote, “Today is a day that will have a special place in my heart forever. It’s a special day for all, for not only me and the guys in our band and families, but for everyone to put smiles across their faces and to celebrate the emotion and beauty of one of the greatest souls to ever grace music and humanity.”

Gray’s wife, Brenna, discussed her husband’s addiction problems in a recent issue of Revolver magazine, saying, “People don’t understand it. And if they can learn anything from this, it’s that it is a sickness. And he didn’t do this on purpose. And he would have never ever put himself in this situation if he knew this was going to happen. I mean, you and I can say, ‘Of course something like this can happen.’ But we’re not addicts.”

Slipknot will hit the road this summer for the first time since Gray’s death to play several European festivals. Original Slipknot guitarist Donnie Steele will return to the band to play bass on those dates.