Korn Are Too Old To Party

While for several years the band were dismissed by some as a vestige of an era long since past, the positive reception afforded Korn's latest effort, 2016's The Serenity Of Suffering, from both fans and critics alike, reinforced the notion that the winds of fortune have been seemingly blowing the nu-metal godfathers' way again. The album's 'back to their roots' vibe, while self-referential at times (Jonathan Davis reintroducing his scatting vocals, or booming "Go!", for instance) clearly resonated.

"I just think it was a return to — it was a mixture of all our efforts to date," the singer reflects a year-and-a-half on. "I think it was the best things about every record we put out before and some new-school stuff. It just all — sonically, the quality of songwriting — everything just meshed together. With this band, we like to push forward and try some different things and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. We just keep marching on. And this album, we took a chance and did we what we did, and we won this time."

The palpably enhanced sense of enthusiasm and sentimentality surrounding Korn in recent times is also likely attributable to other factors, such as the mega-selling act undertaking a tour performing their game-changing 1994 self-titled record in its entirety. Perhaps the event that has most reignited punters' interest, though, was the return of guitarist Brian "Head" Welch in 2013. The axeman departed Korn in 2005, years of partying and drug addiction having taken a sizeable toll, before converting to Christianity and embracing sobriety.

"Having Head come back in 2013, it just felt like it was a relief. It was like he hadn't left. He came in and he was just goofy Head," Davis laughs. "I love him, he's such a beautiful soul. Just having him back, his energy is amazing and it just feels great to have us all back together again. Fortunately, we're a band, we don't hate each other — we get along great," he laughs again. "We take breaks, everybody goes to their family, we come back and it's like we're a family, like brothers, it's really a good experience. We have our ups and downs, and of course we get pissed off at each other sometimes, but that's a given when you're dealing with family like that."

What's the atmosphere like backstage at a Korn show in 2018 compared to the hedonism of two decades ago? "There's no parties no more," Davis admits. "We go and play music, we have fun and then we go on our bus and go to the next city. It's not insanity anymore. But you've got to do that when you get older. We're all, like, in our late 40s — the party's over," he chuckles again. "You can do that when you're in your 20s… For me, I got out early, I got sober when I was 28. Everybody is completely sober, we all get along great, there's no drama, the party's stopped and it's not insane."

The Music catches the vocalist at his Bakersfield, California studio where, among other tasks, he's been in the preliminary stages of working on new Korn material. "We're gonna keep working on that and get a Korn record done this year, and have it out by next year." Davis, who has moonlighted in the EDM world under the moniker JDevil, has also completed his debut solo record. At the time of writing, a release date is yet to be confirmed.

"The solo record has been a labour of mine for the past ten years," Davis laughs. "I started writing in 2007, had a label, the label president loved it, we started recording a lot of the songs. The label president left, another guy came in to be the president and they were too busy. So they gave me my record back, long story short. I was going to go and do it on another label, and unfortunately the Korn machine was going on at the time, so I've been really busy doing Korn and haven't had any time to actually put it out.

"Fast-forward ten years later, I finally have the time to put it out now. I've written a lot of songs over the years and I put together the best batch. I think over that time period I did 25 songs and I put it down to, I think, 12 or 13 [that] will be on the record. I'm really excited about it, it's a hybrid of world music and rock music, and it's its own beast. It's kind of in the same vein of the Queen Of The Damned stuff I did back on that movie."