ECR: How long has
Korn been together?
JD: We've been together about three years. the
band itself has been together about 10, but I got in the
band three years ago.
How old are you guys?
I'll be 25 on the 18th of January. Head (Brian Welch,
guitar) and Munky (James Schaffer, guitar) are 25, Fieldy
(bass) is 26 and David (Silvera, drums) is 24.
How did you meet the
others?
I was in another band called Sex Art by some chance,
Brian and Munky showed up at this bar where I was singing
and they heard me sing and really enjoys it.
Was [your singing] the
same in Sex Art as it is in Korn?
No, no. Totally different. But they came, they showed up,
this was in Bakersfield.
What were they doing
in Bakersfield? They were just accidentally there?
No, we're all from Bakersfield. they moved down to Orange
County a lot earlier than I did.
Did you know them
before this?
I knew Fieldy. Fieldy's dad and my dad were in a band
together and I knew Head from Junior High and I knew
Fieldy from Junior High and I went to high school with
him. I didn't know James and David went out with my
sister. That was before they all moved. So they were just
home visiting their families and they heard me and a week
later they called me up and asked me to try out. It took
me about a month to get down and I finally tried out and
that was it. I tried out, the first day we did three
songs and it just felt right. So we became Korn.
How long did it take
you to get signed? Did you actively, aggressively seek it
out?
It took us about a year-and-a-half. Yeah, we actively
sought it. We had out demo out and we had a manager. He
shopped it around and our producer shopped it around.
People were too scared to touch it. Then finally record
companies started talking to us, wanting to sign us and
we got offers from Atlantic and RCA. Then independents
Immortal came and talked to us and we liked them a lot
better. they're a subdivision of Epic. They were really behind us 100
percent so we took a smaller deal and everything worked
out great.
You guys often get
labeled as a hardcore punk kind of band. Do you think
that's accurate? I don't get that.
People call us all kinds of shit, but hardcore punk bands
are what's cool right now.
I guess being from
Orange County, it's easy for people to lump you in with
that, but [when I think of Korn] I don't get hardcore at
all. I read that you toured with Sick Of It All and I
thought, 'what?' What was that like?
It was cool.
What do you think of
the diversity of all the bands you've played with?
Megadeth to 311 to Marilyn Manson to Danzig....
Primus, KMFDM...
Has that expanded your
scope personally?
Yeah. I love all of them.
Do you think the
audiences for some of the bands you've toured with truly
'get' the Korn vibe?
Yeah, After we went on all of those tours, our album
sales went up. We hope it goes gold after this tour.
I read that you don't
listen to much rock 'n' roll growing up. Do you think
that your lack of a 'rock' influence has played a part in
why your sound is so different?
Yeah.
What are you into?
What did you listen to as a kid?
I'm really into classical music. I was into Duran Duran.
that's my favorite band. I wanted to be all of them. I'd
fall over if I ever met them, they're my favorite band
ever.
That's fascinating.
What's your favorite [Duran Duran] song?
'The Chauffeur.' The fuckin' Deftones recorded it as a
B-side! I was so pissed off at 'em, the fuckers, 'cause I
wanted to do it. I was even into Arcadia and stuff. Love
that shit.
Did you like the whole
'new wave' '80s thing?
Fuck yeah! the '80s thing was dope. I loved it.
You weren't into metal
at all?
(Laughs) Noooo.
Are you into rock now?
Yeah! I got into it later and started listening to heavy
bands. Now I hardly listen to heavy bands anymore at all.
There hardly are any
anymore.
I know there's hardly any. I listen to it whenever, but
I'm always searching for a new hand, new music.
What do you like
that's brand new right now? And don't you dare saying
Tripping Daisy or the Toadies!!
Fuck that! I like the new Marilyn Manson EP. They're
great. Manson are my buddies.
Are they as whacked as
they portray?
(very firmly) Yes! I love hanging out with those guys.
Every time we go out, we get in trouble.
What kind of trouble?
Just nutty, crazy shit. (Sheepishly) I get in trouble.
(laughs).
Are you like a 'bad
kid' underneath it all? A troublemaker?
Not a troublemaker, bit I do things I shouldn't be doing.
I like Silverchair. I just was out with them at their
acoustic Christmas show they played here (California). Me
and David, my drummer, always try to get 'em drunk and
their parents always bust us. They each travel either
with their mom and their dad. I always try to slip 'em
drinks but I always get caught. I'm going to get them
fucked up one day.
What is it like having
to go out and sing about your demons every night? Do you
still suffer from that of which you sing or does putting
it on a record and singing about it every night help you
exorcise it?
It helps me exorcise it.
So because you sing
about it every night, you don't have to think about it
every day and let it get you?
Exactly. I get it out every night so I’m a really
happy, cheerful person all the time.
I won't dig into this,
but I really want to know... is the song 'Daddy' autobiographical?
Yes. I don't like talking about that song.
I'm sure not. Every
time I hear it, I start crying. I know what that kind of
crying is like, not about the same situation, but that
gut-wrenching, emotional release...
Yeah, all the fuckin' shit you got to deal with. I had
that shit built up....
It's good that you got
to deal with it.
I dealt with it. I recorded it.
Are you on good terms
with your dad now?
Yeah. We're good friends. He's my father and I love him.
Does your family still
live in Bakersfield?
Yeah. I live in Long Beach now.
What's it like to go
back to Bakersfield and spend any kind of time
there?
It's cool to go back and see my old friends and
everything, but I hate that fuckin' place with a passion.
It's horrible.
Is it sheltered? Is
that why it's so bad?
It's just fucked up. It's horrifying. I don't know why
it's so whacked. there's nothing to do there for kids.
the only thing you can do is join a gang or get fucked up
on drugs or get into music. I used to go to parties and
get into trouble and fights. Everybody fights. that's
what you do for fun, go beat the shit out of each other.
So there's a lot of
tension in the city?
Oh yeah, it's a country town, there's a lot of hicks.
I read about your
speed addiction. Is [Bakersfield] a big speed city?
Ohhhh yes. That's where I got hooked at. That's shit is
fucked up.
What did you take it
for? Speed's not an escape kind of drug, it just makes
you go faster, doesn't it?
Yeah, it's just being up. If I didn't have to sleep I'd
love it. If I could just stay awake and there was no such
thing as sleeping....there's not enough time.
Aren't you sick of
touring yet?
No.
Really?
Well, I mean, I get bummed out, burnt sometimes, but now
I’m ready to go back out.
Are you sick of your
album yet?
No.
Do you have material
written for a second album?
No. Not yet. we're going to start writing on the Ozzy
tour. We have a little studio and we're going to start
going for it.
Are you looking
forward to touring Ozzy and Life of Agony, and then the
Deftones later?
Oh yeah, the Deftones are our buddies. they're like out
brother band. Those shows are great when we play
together. Kids walk out like, 'what the fuck just
happened?'
Are you an Ozzy fan?
I like a couple of his songs but I was never an Ozzy fan.
I never was into that kind of music at all. The rest of
my band is. Some of them were fuckin' Ozzy for Halloween.
They stoked to go out with 'The Man'. I'm stoked, too. I
respect him immensely. And he's all clean now.
What did you think
when you first got out on the road?
Oh I loved it. When we first got on the road it was with
House of Pain and had to come off speed.
Did you have a real
problem?
Yeah I got a real problem. I'd wake up in the morning and
do a line to get out of bed. Speed in the morning, I'd
have it all lined up for breakfast so when I'd lay down
and go to sleep, I'd wake up and just snort and it's
like, 'Yeah, okay, I'm up.' It was bad. It's like, you do
one line and stay up all night but then you have shit to
do the next day so you have to do another line to be able
to be able to keep staying up to get that shit done.
Eventually you start spinning out from sleep deprivation.
You get hallucinations and shit like that. After awhile,
if you keep doing it a lot, you start getting paranoid
delusions. Thank God I didn't get that bad.
Do you miss it?
Fuck yeah!
Do you really? How do
you stay clean?
I just don't do it no more.
You can just say to
yourself, 'I'm not going to do this'?
Yeah, it's no big deal. I stayed up for two years
straight which is like living through four years. You
spend half your fuckin' lifetime sleeping. I wasn't
sleeping at all so it seemed like a longer time.
Do you do anything
else (drugwise)?
Now I’m just an alcoholic. I drink like a fish.
Do you think you're
really alcoholic?
Well, I had a problem with Jägermeister. I had to have it taken off out
rider. I'd walk around and drink a whole big liter bottle
every night.
How can you do that
and not be just falling over, throwing up drunk?
Uhh, I did that. Fuck, I'd drink a whole bottle in a
night. Everybody else would be walking around swigging
from beer bottles and I'd be doing the same thing
walking' around with a Jägermeister. Now I got that off the rider and
I just drink Jack and Coke. I drink about 15 of those a
night. After awhile the alcohol starts fucking' with you
emotionally, though. since I've been home on vacation,
I've only drank about four times in the three weeks.
What do you do to
separate yourself from the intensity of the show?
I have a cool-down period where I have to get people the
fuck away from me or I'll freak. It takes me about 15 or
20 minutes to come down, then I'm just fine. Like before
I go on, I'm normal until I hit the stage, the boom, it
kicks in. Then after, it takes me a while to wind down. I
freak the fuck out when I get off the stage.
Does it freak you out
that people can identify so closely with the stuff you
sing?
Oh yeah! I had no clue! I had no clue it would end up
like this.
What do you do when
somebody walks up to you and says. 'Dude, it's like you
read my mind.'?
Oh, I get a lot of people that come up to me crying
saying they wanted to commit suicide but my song gave
them an outlet to get all their aggression out. It's
heavy. I'll sit down and talk to them and try to be as
cool as I can to everybody.
Kelly Rush, East Coast Rocker, January 1996
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