Punishment Time

19 February 2014 | 11:41 am | Benny Doyle

"We still have our personal issues, we’re human, we still get on each others’ nerves. But I’m willing to accept that we all have our shit."

More Korn More Korn

When Brian 'Head' Welch denounced Korn and announced his newfound passion for that lord and saviour character in 2005, you couldn't help but think the split was going to send the Californian band into a conclusive spiral. The departure of original drummer David Silveria a year later did nothing to dispel this expectation either. But Korn have long been a band that have defied general belief – that's why the nu-metal trailblazers are still standing, still creating, and after a ten-year sabbatical Welch is shoulder-to-shoulder with them once more, returning just in time to cut the band's 11th studio album, The Paradigm Shift.

“To me it's a very fresh version [of Korn],” begins fellow guitarist James 'Munky' Shaffer. “I wouldn't say we made huge leaps as far as creating some revolutionary new sound – it still sounds very Korn to me. But we definitely wanted to play off our strengths, which is the back and forwards guitar thing. Jonathan [Davis] came up with some great melodies on this record, some very catchy choruses, and of course you have Fieldy's bass rumbling in the mix and Ray [Luzier] just did a phenomenal job on tracking the drums. It feels like a live band – with The Path Of Totality, where the drums are electronic, it felt a little constrained. This one feels like a train that's about to come off the tracks.”

Considering the flash-in-a-pan touchstones that nu-metal held (awful fashion, throwaway social commentary, immediate oversaturation), Korn have done pretty damn well, not only to emerge from the drop-D heap but to continue challenging themselves and their fans. But even with a new record to plug, undoubtedly the most thrilling prospect for long-time Korn fans heading to Soundwave is the chance to see Munky and Head trading riffs together again. Shaffer admits that their complementing playing styles gives him an unmatched confidence.

“He has a way of making me sound better than I actually am, and I'm really good at covering up some of his mistakes and making them sound like he was supposed to do that,” he smiles. “And it works when we're writing – if he's making a mistake and doesn't realise it, Fieldy and I or Ray and I, we tend to say, 'That's cool', and we point out those things and I think everybody becomes better, especially when we're in a room together, because it's those inconsistencies that make us human, and when we start to feel insecure about a riff or something there's that reassurance from just being friends for so many years.”

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Clearly hit the hardest by Welch's departure, Shaffer became something of a mediator in the years following, valiantly trying to maintain the peace as his bandmates tore strips off each other in the press.

“It took me a longer time to bounce back from it than everybody else,” he laments. “I didn't process it well. But when the guys talked about bringing in another guitar player I totally refused. It was a process man, the whole thing was super heartbreaking and a real rollercoaster of a time. It took some maturing on my end, to step back and go, 'Wow, this wasn't all about the band and it's not my fault he left', and a lot of that goes on, like, 'Could I have helped him not leave?' but now he's just a better person on so many levels I'm glad he went through what he had to go through – he might not be,” he laughs. “We still have our personal issues, we're human, we still get on each others' nerves. But I'm willing to accept that we all have our shit.”

After two decades which have seen offensively high highs and stomach-twisting lows, Korn now seem balanced – like they've rediscovered the joy of their existence. But far from thinking complacently, Shaffer stresses that the band are still playing like everything is on the line, and urges the masses to rediscover that passion with them.

“I think people are going to be really surprised by how much of a great show we put on. People haven't seen us in a long time – sure there are pictures on the internet but you really don't know if [a band's] still got it until you see them live. And for new listeners, that's what keeps us pumped up, is that we still want to impress some of the newer generation. And that goes for our peers too, we're still out there to prove that we have a great catalogue of songs that fucking demand their attention.”