With two guitarists sporting 7-string electrics, a rhythm section that lays down rap and funk grooves, and a lead singer who is an accomplished bagpipe player, KORN is not your ordinary thrash band.

Like Pantera and Primus jamming with Ice Cube, Korn's music is heavy, quirky, and controversial. Singer Jonathan Davis' dark lyrics and tortured delivery, already disturbing, are given aded punch by the bands aggressive grooves. "We feed off of Jonathan's energy." remarks J. Munky Shaffer, who shares guitar roles with Head. "Then we give him the heavy music right back."

Munky and Head are strictly rhythm players. "I practiced lead so much when I was younger that I'm sick of it now," says Head. The guitarists, who grew up together in a small town near Bakersfield, California, before relocating to Orange County, remark that their biggest influences have been each other. "I bought my first guitar from Head, and he ripped me off," laughs Munky. "It was a Peavey Mystic that looked like a big wisdom tooth."

Both players use Ibanez Universe 7-strings, which they tune down a whole-step with the bottom string at A. "You can really crunch on those heavy strings", notes Head. Munky plugs into a Mesa Triple Rectifier, while head uses a Hughes & Kettner Attax amp. Both share several vintage stomp boxes, including an Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phaser and Big Muff fuzz, Mu-Tron Bi-phaser, Ibanez Chorus and Tube Screamers, and various MXR and wah pedals. Other tone toys include a Sears Silvertone electric used on the intro to "Blind", a Leslie that can be heard on "Lies", and several custom "Bigger Muff" distortion boxes made by Richard Kaplan of Indigo Ranch Studios, where KORN recorded their Epic debut.

Opening for House of Pain, 311, Danzig, Megadeth, and KMFDM, Korn has played in front of rap, metal, and industrial audiences, earning themselves a diverse fan base. "We've tried to hit everyone," says Munky. " We wrote these songs, got signed, and then the tour bus pulled up in front of our house. We haven't looked back since."

Guitar Player, Unknown