LAUNCH joined Korn in their rehearsal studio to catch a live, exclusive performance of "It's On," which can be seen in Issue No. 22 of the LAUNCH CD-ROM. Video clips of Davis and bandmate Fieldy, excerpted from the following interview with LAUNCH executive editor Dave DiMartino, are featured in that same issue.
LAUNCH:
I read somewhere that you described Korn's style as "pretty heavy music." Can you elaborate on that?
JONATHAN:
Well, I think it is "pretty heavy music." There's a lot of melody. It's heavy, and there's a lot of different influences: hip-hop, some jazzy new kinds of things, technology. But in trying to describe it--I don't know what to say, man. I guess for that day it was "pretty heavy music."
LAUNCH:
What's your take on it, Fieldy?
FIELDY:
I guess everybody would have their own idea of what we sound like. It's like an emotional rollercoaster. You just feel like you rode on the Colossus. You laugh, you cry. I see it like that. An emotional rollercoaster. It's up and down.
LAUNCH:
Tell me how Follow The Leader differs from your previous efforts.
JONATHAN:
First of all, we wanted to take our time. That was the biggest goal of ours. We rushed too much on the last album. By taking our time, we incorporated a lot of new technology. We used new pedals, a new producer, a new studio. A lot of things changed.
FIELDY:
Yeah, this time we took the cool ideas from the last record and just did them more.
JONATHAN:
We really wanted to reinvent ourselves. A lot of people were copping our sounds and we needed to reinvent ourselves and date those sounds. We needed to one-up everybody.
LAUNCH:
Tell me how you hooked up with Ice Cube. What was it like to work with him on "Children Of The Korn?"
JONATHAN:
It was scary. He had his boys walk in and case the place two hours before he showed up. I was scared, but then he came in and he was a really nice guy. I didn't have nothing song-wise, though, and I had to step up to bat with Ice Cube. I knew that I had to be fresh. The band knew I was stressed-out. When we finally recorded, he said, "You're a really good singer." I was stoked; he was one of my idols. I still can't believe he's on my album. Ice Cube's on my album! It cracks me up.
FIELDY:
We always wanted to work with him, but we never thought it would happen. It was a good vibe, really good. People who even hate hip-hop or rap will like it after that. It's a new level.
LAUNCH:
Another guest artist was Cheech Marin. Tell me how you came to collaborate on "Earache My Eye."
FIELDY:
I was watching the movie Up In Smoke, and that song is in there. It has such a heavy kind of groove.
JONATHAN:
And we got drunk in the studio and we started screwing around with that song. I played drums, Fieldy played bass and sang. We all changed instruments.
FIELDY:
We were jamming out, and I was singing, and we were laughing because I sounded just like Cheech. Then we thought, "What if we really got Cheech down here?"
JONATHAN:
And then we did Korn TV on the Internet and we were looking for guests. We thought, "What about Cheech Marin? That would be cool if he would come sing that song himself." But we never thought he would do it. The whole time we were just laughing and going, "What's up, man?" We were hanging out with Cheech! That's really sad that that's part of our American culture! We were tripping out.
LAUNCH:
You just mentioned Korn TV. Can you talk a bit about how that got started? It's like a show on the Web, right?
JONATHAN:
We decided it would be cool if we could take the fans into the studio and let them watch the recording process. We wanted to let them see and hear how things are working out. So we made it like a TV show with eight episodes and reruns--except it was on the Net. We had guest hosts, musical acts, and telephone lines where kids could call in. There was no censorship on the Web. We had porn stars come in. We could cuss all we wanted. It was awesome. The kids loved it. We're going to take it on tour with us, put up shots after the show.
LAUNCH:
What do you think "the kids" got from the experience?
JONATHAN:
They got to see us being real--not falling into the whole rock 'n' roll bullsh-t scene. We weren't too much larger than life. I mean, we're really down with our fans; we leave avenues open for them being close to us. I remember when I was 14, if a band did that for me, I would bow down. Just to know more about the band. It's so important for us to stay true to the fans because if it weren't for them, we wouldn't be here.
LAUNCH:
It sounds like you really appreciate your fans. And it seems genuine.
FIELDY:
I think when we write music or do anything, we always refer to the kids and remember when we were like 13 or 15 and how we would act when we heard something from a band. When you turn 25 or 28, when you hear a new band, you don't really get on the phone and call your friends. We do everything based around the kids, and I think it works.
LAUNCH:
Is it accurate to say that you guys get in a lot of trouble with regards to censorship based on your song titles and your lyrics?
JONATHAN:
On our first album, there was a lot against us; we had songs called "Faggot" and "C--t." A lot of chicks got pissed off about that. The biggest thing was this kid getting kicked out of school for wearing a Korn T-shirt.
FIELDY:
Obviously the teacher was a closet Korn fan who goes home and vacuums naked listening to Korn.
JONATHAN:
We supposedly meant to offend--people said we're obscene and we meant to hurt people. But I think we just help kids. They can listen to our music and find a place for their pain. Kids thank us all the time and tell us that we've helped them. There's nothing wrong with what we're doing. I hate parents judging us for cussing. Everyone cusses. I'm in pain and I'm cussing.
LAUNCH:
Do you feel misunderstood?
FIELDY:
People think we're like a real dark and heavy, depressing band or something. It's just not true. The lyrics are depressing, but we throw it off with the music. Everything is thrown off with a balance. It's not depressing to listen to. When I'm listening to us, I think we sound more groovy and hip-hop. But if I'm in a room with a lot of people, it sounds heavy and raw. I guess that's what the fans are hearing: real raw, heavy music, and to me, I'm thinking, "You're not hearing it the way I'm hearing it, but then I'm not hearing it they way they're hearing it."
LAUNCH:
Tell me about the music you like to listen to. Who are some of your early influences?
JONATHAN:
We all really like new wave, '80s music. I don't know. Kids would freak out if they knew I was into Hank Williams, but I think that old-school country is so punk. It's so rife with pain and suffering. I really liked Duran Duran, A Flock Of Seagulls, all those wimpy bands. The only reason I got into heavy music was because I listened to Pantera and I just thought "Oh my God, I want to do this." The rest of the band were all into hair metal. They were all hair farmers...hair out to here.
LAUNCH:
Has the band changed a lot since your earliest days?
FIELDY:
At first, we were doing more thrashy funk, like a cross between old Chili Peppers and Sepultura. It was just out there, kind of wacky stuff. We didn't know what to do or what direction we were in. We were just having a good time.
JONATHAN:
When I got in the band, they were called Creep. It had the same kind of vibe, upbeat grooves, but it was kind of happy with more of a funk edge. Then I got in the band and it turned darker, and totally took on its own life. There was a dark vibe with me; those guys sucked it up. It was something they had in them already and I just brought it out. It was quick for us: two weeks after we formed, we did our first demo and we got signed in a year. There was a lot of growing from the first album to now.
LAUNCH:
Tell me some bands you dig right now.
JONATHAN:
We really admire Limp Bizkit. They're doing some cool stuff. I like Orgy, this band we signed to our label. Another band, Dead Sea, which is Elijah Blue's band, plays some great death '80s pop.
FIELDY:
Another band we signed called Cradle Of Thorns. I'm producing them. It's a crazy sound--like dark dance.
LAUNCH:
What's in your record collection, Fieldy?
FIELD:
My record collection? It's all hip-hop, I don't even listen to anything heavy at all. I don't even own a CD that has guitar in it. Maybe that's surprising, maybe not. I don't know. That's all I listen to. I've had my days of heavy music, and I play it now. When I get in my car I like to listen to other things.
LAUNCH:
Do you put much stock in what the critics say about you?
JONATHAN:
There's a lot of critics who hate us. But we get our street credibility, our props. I don't really care about those stupid artsy magazines. They'll be into Jewel or something.
FIELDY:
Critics sometimes bash us, sometimes they like us. Whatever. We're word on the street, pretty much. All the other stuff doesn't matter anyway. It all matters for the kids, they're the ones buying the records.
LAUNCH:
But do you ever worry that something you do on an album or in concert will get you into trouble?
JONATHAN:
Nothing will get me in trouble. I'm buff, man. People can complain or try to slag us but they can't throw us in jail for cussing or saying something bad about somebody. I've seen some weird stuff though. Once a kid murdered someone and he was wearing a Korn T-shirt. But that's not our fault. That's a crazy kid.
LAUNCH:
How do you guys view yourselves in the grand scheme of the music landscape?
JONATHAN:
We're an independent band. We're changing the rules. I wouldn't call it punk, but I call it something. It's really diverse. Kind of like Led Zeppelin. Those bands came out, didn't take nothing from nobody.
FIELDY:
It seems that no matter what we do--I mean, we can do something with Ice Cube or whatever, and we just always sound like Korn. There's no way around it. We have a distinctive sound, like back in the day: Black Sabbath. Groundbreaking bands back in the day, that's what we are today. You can just tell. We have a sound, you know?
LAUNCH:
Let's pretend you got nominated for a Grammy: what category does Korn fall into?
JONATHAN:
Metal? Hard Rock Performance? Maybe fusion or something. That metal word, man. Metal is Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. That's metal. In Paris, they call us "fusion." That's kind of cool. They need to come up with a new word. Something dope. "Pimp-rock." I don't like being labeled a metal band. We all hate it. But we're lumped in that category because we're heavy and we could only get metal tours like Ozzy, Danzig. They did good for us, though, and we love our metal crowd, but I think we're something more than that.
LAUNCH:
Do you ever fear that as you get to be more successful--in other words, richer--that you will lose your edge?
JONATHAN:
Money will always be a priority, as well as my son. A lot of things make sense to me now. But me losing my edge? Never. There's Dad at home, and me onstage. I'm good at home, and once I walk out that door, Jonathan Davis is turned on. I've got a total Peter Pan complex.
LAUNCH:
Being a father, do you worry about what kind of music your kids will listen to? Would you want your kid to listen to Korn?
FIELDY:
I'm not like the type that would be controlling and telling my daughter what to listen to and what not to listen to. My dad was a musician. I grew up around music my whole life. I don't care what she listens to, it's just music. If she's listening to something Satanic, I might say, pull back. But if it's cuss words, I don't care. That's what we're all about, cuss words. John's singing about very emotional stuff. Everybody can relate to what he's singing about. Even if my daughter was listening to Marilyn Manson, I wouldn't care. Now, Iron Maiden, Number Of The Beast, would scare me...
LAUNCH:
Well, what's the ultimate goal for Korn?
FIELDY:
A long career. That's the goal here. I don't want this record to blow up and be gone next year. It's a hard goal to keep in this business. We'd like to be like some of the older guys that are still going and playing arenas. Like Ozzy. Only a handful of bands have been able to do that. I don't know if I'll be playing music when I'm as old as Ozzy, but it would be nice to have the option.
JONATHAN:
I want us to be the biggest rock band in the world. Like Led Zeppelin. We want to get superstar status and still have our credibility. Be Led Zeppelin. Something like that. We can do it. We're going to try our hardest.
