OMEN
04-29-2006, 10:31 PM
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OTHER SIDE: The loss of a band member forced Korn to take a new direction, says front man Jonathan Davis.
When their co-founder found God and quit, Korn took a new direction. Ahead of Monday's New Zealand show, front man Jonathan Davis talks to Steve Tauschke.
Guitarist Brian "Head" Welch quit American metal giants Korn to give himself to God last year, leaving a gaping hole in the ranks and singer Jonathan Davis dumbfounded.
Davis was stunned that his friend and right hand man would suddenly turn his back on the group they founded together more than a decade ago.
"I just felt shock," says the frontman. "We got no phone call - nothing! Just a f---ing email and that was it! I mean it was just ridiculous. It said, 'I think this band is bad, I'm going to be with God, you're negative and polluting the world, la la la.' "
Welch claimed in a subsequent letter sent to the band's management that his commitment to Christianity meant he now had moral objections to Korn's multi-platinum material, much of which he co-wrote. He has since kicked his reported addiction to methamphetamines and last year was baptised in Israel's Jordan River.
"He just got caught up," Davis says. "He went to rehab in Bakersfield and got sucked up by the Christians. I mean, that's what they do. They wait until you're at your lowest point and then they suck you in and that's what happened to him. So he's currently shut us all off and won't talk to any of us.
"When it was all said and done, I was pissed off. But, you know, the guy's alive and we're happy he's alive and supposedly off drugs. If he wants to be an extremist Christian then let him be an extremist Christian. It's not hurt us."
Korn have continued as a quartet - Davis, Fieldy (bass), James "Munky" Shaffer (guitar) and David Silveria (drums). The new dynamic forced the band to challenge themselves for their seventh album, last year's quasi-industrial See You on the Other Side.
"As soon as Head left I'm like, 'We gotta do something different,' " Davis says. "Him leaving really kicked us in the arse and made us hungry. It was the best thing that ever could have happened to us. We went in there ready to write the album of our lives and it felt good to be f---ing different, to totally experiment and write with one guitar player. We thought, 'What is Korn and what is a Korn song?' Let's not do what a Korn song should be."
Davis says with nu-metal dead and the end of their longstanding relationship with Sony with a greatest hits album in 2004, the Californians needed something special for the new album. They turned to programmer Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails) and hit-making production trio the Matrix, best known for their commercial pop credits with the Backstreet Boys and Hilary Duff.
"We really worked hard and made a great record with those people," Davis says. "On a sheet of producers, the Matrix and Atticus Ross were the best two by far that vibed with us and got what we were trying to do. They do great music. It's no different; ours is just heavier so let's just see what happens. So we wrote the thing in about three weeks, completely in the control room of the studio and it turned out incredible."
Davis says that Korn are still doing things their way. "There's nothing we wish we would have done and everything we've done has gotten us to this point so we're happy with the decisions we've made."
# Korn play Ericsson Stadium's Supertop on May 1, alongside Blindspott, Dawn of Azezal and 8 Foot Sativa. Tickets available through Ticketek.
StuffNZ
OTHER SIDE: The loss of a band member forced Korn to take a new direction, says front man Jonathan Davis.
When their co-founder found God and quit, Korn took a new direction. Ahead of Monday's New Zealand show, front man Jonathan Davis talks to Steve Tauschke.
Guitarist Brian "Head" Welch quit American metal giants Korn to give himself to God last year, leaving a gaping hole in the ranks and singer Jonathan Davis dumbfounded.
Davis was stunned that his friend and right hand man would suddenly turn his back on the group they founded together more than a decade ago.
"I just felt shock," says the frontman. "We got no phone call - nothing! Just a f---ing email and that was it! I mean it was just ridiculous. It said, 'I think this band is bad, I'm going to be with God, you're negative and polluting the world, la la la.' "
Welch claimed in a subsequent letter sent to the band's management that his commitment to Christianity meant he now had moral objections to Korn's multi-platinum material, much of which he co-wrote. He has since kicked his reported addiction to methamphetamines and last year was baptised in Israel's Jordan River.
"He just got caught up," Davis says. "He went to rehab in Bakersfield and got sucked up by the Christians. I mean, that's what they do. They wait until you're at your lowest point and then they suck you in and that's what happened to him. So he's currently shut us all off and won't talk to any of us.
"When it was all said and done, I was pissed off. But, you know, the guy's alive and we're happy he's alive and supposedly off drugs. If he wants to be an extremist Christian then let him be an extremist Christian. It's not hurt us."
Korn have continued as a quartet - Davis, Fieldy (bass), James "Munky" Shaffer (guitar) and David Silveria (drums). The new dynamic forced the band to challenge themselves for their seventh album, last year's quasi-industrial See You on the Other Side.
"As soon as Head left I'm like, 'We gotta do something different,' " Davis says. "Him leaving really kicked us in the arse and made us hungry. It was the best thing that ever could have happened to us. We went in there ready to write the album of our lives and it felt good to be f---ing different, to totally experiment and write with one guitar player. We thought, 'What is Korn and what is a Korn song?' Let's not do what a Korn song should be."
Davis says with nu-metal dead and the end of their longstanding relationship with Sony with a greatest hits album in 2004, the Californians needed something special for the new album. They turned to programmer Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails) and hit-making production trio the Matrix, best known for their commercial pop credits with the Backstreet Boys and Hilary Duff.
"We really worked hard and made a great record with those people," Davis says. "On a sheet of producers, the Matrix and Atticus Ross were the best two by far that vibed with us and got what we were trying to do. They do great music. It's no different; ours is just heavier so let's just see what happens. So we wrote the thing in about three weeks, completely in the control room of the studio and it turned out incredible."
Davis says that Korn are still doing things their way. "There's nothing we wish we would have done and everything we've done has gotten us to this point so we're happy with the decisions we've made."
# Korn play Ericsson Stadium's Supertop on May 1, alongside Blindspott, Dawn of Azezal and 8 Foot Sativa. Tickets available through Ticketek.
StuffNZ