STONE SOUR ON DRUMMER DEPARTURE

Stone Sour has confirmed that guitarist Jim Root is out of the band, and we are wondering where that puts Root’s Slipknot bandmate Corey Taylor, who just joi…

Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor is back with his old band, turned side-project Stone Sour, which is just about done with a new effort. The band’s self-titled debut was released in 2002 and spawned the cross-format hit, “Bother.”

Since then Taylor and guitarist Jim Root have been part of the collective of Slipknot, but now with that band’s hiatus Stone Sour is the priority for 2006. Drummer Joel Ekman during the time had been battling with his kid’s severe illness, and it eventually forced Ekman and the band to part. We asked Taylor about the situation.

“It’s kind of hard to talk about. Out of respect for him, we’re not going to talk about it much. We will say that it’s a difficult situation and our thoughts are with him and his family. But at the end of the day you have to move forward and just concentrate on the future and what’s going to happen, you know?”

Stone Sour’s album will be done soon and released in the spring, and a tour is set to start June 2 in Germany.

“We’ve got some prospects. Very soon we will know…nothing to announce just yet.”

Ekman’s nine-year-old son was diagonosed with brain cancer last fall, and it’s taken a toll on him. The drum tracks were completed by Roy Mayorga.