KORN, LAMB OF GOD, DIMMU BORGIR Members Comment On DOWNLOAD Festival

Members of KORN, LAMB OF GOD, DIMMU BORGIR, DRAGONFORCE and DEVILDRIVER have spoken to Kerrang magazine about their upcoming participation in the Download festival, set to take place June 8-10 at Donington Park, Leicestershire, England.

KORN's performance at last year's Download festival was overshadowed by the illness of vocalist Jonathan Davis, who was rushed to a London hospital where he was later diagnosed with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP).

"I was heartbroken at having to pull out last time," Davis tells Kerrang! "But I felt like I was dying. After each song was finished, someone would call me and tell me how it was going. I wanted to be there so bad but I had to stay in bed.

"This time we're just going to bring an amazing, pissed-off show like we do," he adds. "This time, it's going to be even more special because I'm going to be making up for the last one. I can't wait to get my ass back to Download and play."

LAMB OF GOD guitarist Mark Morton: "I remember reading about the metal festivals at Castle Donington when I was growing up and wishing I could be there. We played Download in 2005 on the second stage and it was definitely the biggest show we'd ever played in Europe. I remember being really excited by the response and we felt really welcome. We can't wait to come back."

DIMMU BORGIR guitarist Silenoz: "We've been looking forward to playing Donington for many years and now it's finally happening! We're hoping the Diaboli Horde will turn up en masse in support of our first festival appearance on English soil!"

DRAGONFORCE guitarist Herman Li: "We've had so many requests from fans asking us to play Download this year. We're always up for a free piss-up, so there is no way we can let our fans down. We're really looking forward to coming back for another rampage with more songs at Download 2007!"

DEVILDRIVER frontman Dez Fafara: "Last year was a real highlight for us because DEVILDRIVER got to play twice and I got to go up on stage with my old friends KORN because Jonathan was sick. Our new record is coming out in June, so we'll be playing two or three tracks from that. People at Download are going to get their favorite songs and some new ones. It's going to be killer. I'm very blessed to have done this for 13 years. I wake up smiling every day!"

The Download festival is a three-day rock/metal/punk festival held annually at the spiritual home of rock music in England — Donington Park, which hosted the Monsters of Rock festivals between 1980 and 1996, and 2002's Ozzfest. It takes place in early summer, and is owned and managed by Live Nation, a company owned by Clear Channel Communications.

Download festival 2006 — which featured headliners TOOL, METALLICA and GUNS N' ROSES — was said to be a huge success, with 75,000 visitors each day.