KORN Frontman Discusses Forthcoming Album

ARTISTdirect.com editor Rick Florino recently conducted an interview with KORN frontman Jonathan Davis. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

ARTISTdirect.com: How's the new record coming along? Has the concept been fully fleshed out?

Davis: It's going to be what it's going to be. The album's starting to take on a life of its own. I wanted it to start out as a concept album but now there are other things coming up that I want to talk about. I don't know necessarily if the concept's going to stick or not. We've been working with [producer] Ross Robinson. It's weird. I've been humming my lyrics along with the band as they play. I haven't done that in forever. We'd usually do our parts separately, and then I'd do my thing over the music after the song was done. We've been writing altogether as a band this time. I've been freestyling all of these lyrics that aren't necessarily about the five things I initially came up with for the album's concept. It's total freestyling — complete stream-of-consciousness. I'm really digging it. I might just go with what's coming out of my body at that moment…

ARTISTdirect.com: So it's like that same catharsis you had on "Korn" and "Life Is Peachy"?

Davis: It's going to be exactly like that! I've got Ross with me, and he breaks it down to the point where sometimes I'm tears. He makes sure everybody in that room understands what that song's about and the power and the energy. He does these pep talks and we sit there and listen to him. Then he just says, "Let's do it," and the energy is ridiculous. We're playing in a little room that's like nine feet by nine feet. We're all smashed in their together and in each other's faces. I've been listening to the songs we're doing, and they really are incredible. We're still on drums with just scratch guitar and bass. Hearing the music, it's so old-school KORN. I'm really excited. I know there are a lot of old school fans that love the first two records, and I think they're going to be really excited with this.

ARTISTdirect.com: You've grown so much as a writer since you began. Untitled was a very visual record and you told so many stories lyrically. Will this next album combine the raw catharsis of early KORN records with this more recent storytelling?

Davis: Yeah, I think that's what it's going to do. You're definitely going to feel exactly what I'm feeling. The band is playing old school-style on tape machines. We don't have any click tracks. The music's got a soul. It's got a life of its own. It moves, and the tempos change. I think it's going to be really interesting for fans to hear this. Everybody uses PRO Tools now, and everything is put through a grid, perfected and Auto-Tuned. This is just going to be raw. We've got a 16-track tape machine and a 16-track board, and that's what we're using. We're doing it like LED ZEPPELIN did it back in the day.

ARTISTdirect.com: It sounds like it's going to be incredible live.

Davis: It's sick, and we're just doing it as a four piece. The creativity is just flowing. Every day we come up with new songs. We've got so many songs, and it's going to be fun to pick the ones that will make it through to the album.

ARTISTdirect.com: So many fans grew up with KORN. You're a truly meaningful band to a whole generation. What's it like to have fans so intertwined with your legacy?

Davis: It's amazing, bro. When I look out at the crowd now, I see so many different generations. I see people like you that have grown up with us and came to our shows at 12 or 13. Those same fans have kids today, and they're bringing their kids to the shows. I'm seeing younger kids that are just discovering us. I'm simply blown away that we're still doing it, and it's still relevant. People still come to see it and they need it. I feel like what we do in this band is give. We give 100 percent of this power and emotion into our music. The fans take that, and it's like a release…it's like, "Thank you." They want to come live that when we play live or when they buy the records. I mean, my own music helps me get through shit. There are countless people that I talk to who say, "Man, if I didn't have your music I don't know what I'd do." I think that's the magic of this band and why we're still doing it. I'm so happy that I have the opportunity to do it.

Read the entire interview from ARTISTdirect.com.