BRIAN 'HEAD' WELCH Says KORN Is All About Intensity

KORN guitarist Brian "Head" Welch was interviewed on a recent episode of Brazil's "Wikimetal" podcast. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether KORN's latest album, 2016's "The Serenity Of Suffering", is a return to the band's roots:

Brian: "I think in a lot of ways, it does feel like that. But, obviously, with the new technology and [producer] Nick Raskulinecz and then some of the extra people that we've brought in just for some ambient sounds and stuff makes it have a modern feel too. What it has is intensity, like the old records. It's got real intensity, and so that is what KORN is, I think. It's always been like that. There's been albums where KORN has experimented with other sounds, and that's good too — I love experimenting — but the best songs live always come from the intense songs, and they're the funnest to play. Those are the ones that you can play year after year, decade after decade, because they just come across so energetic and fun live."

On whether KORN's innovative musical style on the band's debut album was created intentionally or if it came about naturally:

Brian: "I think it just happened natural, but I think it's a little of both. Because we were just fans of that type of music. We listened to anything from N.W.A. and CYPRESS HILL and hip-hop and stuff to NINE INCH NAILS and that type of industrial stuff to SOUNDGARDEN and FAITH NO MORE and METALLICA. We wanted to see people hop up and down and mosh. When we wrote the songs, we would think about that. And then Jonathan [Davis, vocals], he loved being weird and not sounding like your average singer. So he was just always a freak. I think album one he sounded like a freak, but at the same time, he was very real and honest and raw, and his emotions were… he would open his soul and just say, 'Come and look inside.' So I think all of that stuff mixed together. Sometimes it was intentional and other times it just happened, because all those sounds were just poured into us over the years, being fans of different kinds of music."

KORN and STONE SOUR will join forces for a summer tour, set to get underway June 16 at the USANA Amphitheatre in Salt Lake City, Utah and then continue through early August. Presented by Live Nation, "The Serenity Of Summer" tour will be rounded out by support from Japan's female-fronted BABYMETAL, southern rapper YELAWOLF and ISLANDER (June 16-25),followed by a second leg (July 19 - August 2) which will see KORN joined by SKILLET, YELAWOLF and DED, creating a versatile bill reminiscent of KORN's famed "Family Values" tours in the past.

Interview (audio):