With masked US alternative metal band Slipknot on a brief hiatus during 2002, several of its members indulged in side-projects, including Murderdolls and Stone Sour. The latter features Slipknot singer Corey Taylor (b. 8 December 1973, Des Moines, Iowa, USA) and guitarist James Root (b. 2 October 1971, USA), and was originally formed in Des Moines, Iowa, during 1992. It took the band a few years to settle on a definitive line-up, but by 1995, most the pieces to the puzzle were in place. By 1997, Taylor had become burnt out, and left Stone Sour to join Slipknot, with Root jumping ship and joining the same band a year later.
Three years later, Taylor was expressing a sudden interest in relaunching Stone Sour. He and Root were joined by original members Josh Rand (guitar) and Shawn Economaki (bass), and Joel Ekman was recruited to complete the rhythm section. After considering a new name, the quintet opted to go with their original moniker, and signed on with Slipknot’s label, Roadrunner Records. The band’s recording debut came early in 2002, when the song ‘Bother’ appeared on the soundtrack to the hit movie, Spiderman (despite the fact that the song was credited solely to Taylor, the song is indeed a Stone Sour performance). A few months later, Stone Sour’s self-titled debut album was issued. The album received positive reviews and eventually achieved platinum sales in the US.
Slipknot commitments meant the members of Stone Sour were unable to reconvene until 2006. Come What(ever) May was recorded over the space of four months at the start of the year. The album featured new drummer Roy Mayorga (b. 6 April 1970, New York City, New York, USA; ex-Soulfly), who had been brought into the line-up earlier in the year when Ekman left to spend more time with his ill son.
