Before Corey Taylor, there was Anders Colsefni, the original singer of Slipknot. Colsefni recorded one album with the band—Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat.—but was ultimately replaced.
In an October 2026 interview with the Minnesota Music Note podcast, Colsefni opened up about his time with the band. During the conversation, he shared his side of the story on what happened when Taylor took over the lead vocalist slot.
The frontman switch came as the band was working on some new music to present to their label, Roadrunner Records. They’d compiled a project dubbed Crowz. Setting the record straight about how the vocal duties were divided up, Colsefni told MMN host Will McLeod: “Well, ‘Crowz’ wasn’t me and Corey recording anything together at all.”
Anders Colsefni was the original Singer for Slipknot
“It was just after we’d submitted Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. to Roadrunner,” he continued, “they wanted to hear where we’re going next. They’re like, ‘Okay, this is a really disassembled group of songs that don’t make any tangible sense together. Let’s hear what direction you’re going in.’
“So the ‘Crowz’ songs were us writing our next stuff,” Colsefni added, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “‘Me Inside’, ‘Prosthetics’, ‘Heartache And A Pair Of Scissors’, which turned into ‘Scissors’, and a number of other songs, ‘Crowz’, ‘Carve’, those were our next offerings to Roadrunner.”
Colsefni went on to say that “the only reason why Corey’s vocals are on any of them is because they brought him in while I was gone.” The ex-Slipknot member said he went to visit “family in Minnesota,” and while he was gone the band brought Taylor in to “record vocals over mine or with mine.”
During his time as vocalist, Colsefni recorded one album with Slipknot: ‘Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat.’
“When I got back,” he continued, “they sold it to me as, ‘Hey, this is what’s gonna work best. You’re gonna do background vocals, and he’s gonna do lead vocals, ’cause we need a lead man.’”
“I agreed with that,” Colsefni admitted. “They needed somebody out front with a mic that’s not beating on something else. And so, really, the Crowz songs were really me first, and then they brought Corey in to redo them, and then sold it to Roadrunner so that they could get their record deal.” He finally added, “I have no regrets about it.”
Colsefni has since re-recorded the Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. album and toured performing the songs.
Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images
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