KORN Singer Talks Coming Off Anti-Anxiety Drugs

According to The Pulse Of Radio, KORN singer Jonathan Davis recently spoke with Metal Hammer magazine's British radio show about the stresses he was dealing with just before the band began making its new album, "The Paradigm Shift", including his struggle to get off anti-anxiety drugs and his son's diabetes diagnosis. Speaking about his addiction to benzodiazepines, Davis said, "I stopped writing and listening to music and a lot of stuff that I love because I was really battling with this detox off of benzos . . . I was fighting having seizures, I was shaking all the time, I couldn't think."

Davis said that his son's medical problems added to his own problems, adding, "I had one foot in reality and one foot out. I was freaking out. My baby had diabetes and I was like, 'Oh my god, he's going to lose his feet and go blind.' Music has always been my savior, but I wasn't having . . . I don't know where I was, honestly."

Davis told The Pulse Of Radio that he had to get clear of his addiction before he could begin working on music again. "There was some music being written, but during that time when I kicked it, up until the point I got in the studio with the guys, no, I was just totally — I couldn't even function," he said. "The thing about benzos are they wire your brain differently, so once you stop, your brain has to rewire itself back to normal and it takes time. So I couldn't even concentrate to do that."

Davis told Rolling Stone recently that he had been on anti-anxiety medication for three years and "the doctor told me you gotta get off this, it's bad for you."

KORN will release "The Paradigm Shift" on October 8. The band's 11th studio album is the first to feature original guitarist Brian "Head" Welch since 2003's "Take A Look In The Mirror". The first single is "Never Never".

The band will kick off a headlining North American tour on September 26 in Philadelphia, concluding in Las Vegas on October 12.