Path of Totality: Korn

The metal Gods, Korn, will be embarking on their first ever India tour this year, playing in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Here’s an excerpt of an interview with Jonathan Davis, where he talks about the band’s latest album, his India obsession and what India can expect from KoRn come September:

But Davis insists Korn has always been about the experimentation. When the band first got together in 1993 – vocalist Davis, guitarist James “Munky” Schaffer and Brian “Head” Welch, bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu and drummer David Silveria – they were playing an as-yet-untested blend of hip-hop, metal, rock and groove. Their debut album self-titled album effectively kick-started the nu-metal genre, a label that they would have a long and controversial relationship with, even as they went on to influence bands like Slipknot, Limp Bizkit and Coal Chamber. In 2005, guitarist Welch, who had been battling a severe meth addiction for three years, quit the band to turn to Christianity and drummer Silveria left in 2006 to run his own restaurant and fans effectively wrote the band off. But Korn surged back with new drummer Ray Luzier (ex-David Lee Roth) and a seething back-to-basics album Korn III: Remember Who You Are before gobsmacking fans with Path of Totality in 2011.

You’ve been on the road for a while now since your latest album Path of Totality released in December last year. How are fans responding to the new material?

The fans have been just freaking out. There were a lot of metal fans that didn’t accept the electronica element, but we’ve been doing that for years anyway. But people have been going on their blogs and saying that this is a record that you have to hear live. It sounds so humongous and so huge and we play most of it entirely live. There are only a few things that are running on tape behind us – maybe two tracks that are played on keyboards. Ray’s drum set is automated and for six songs he has 45 different samples which trigger automatically. It’s used in the dance world a lot; it’s not like playing the tape at all. We constructed it to be played live and it’s definitely a different vibe and it’s amazing. All the kids have been freaking out over it.

Is that something that you have planned for India too?

Yes, we’re playing a lot of the old-school songs. It’s a place we’ve never been, we’ve always wanted to go. I love India. It’s awesome. I’m into Sikh religion really hardcore, like, a lot and I have a lot of Indian friends. I can’t wait to go there. We knew we had fans there, we had a lot of people come to see us and we’ve been playing all over the world and for tons and thousands of people. We’ve been to a lot of places but it’s really more important and exciting for me to play somewhere that I’ve never played before. We’ve been around about 18 years and I’ve never been toIndia. It’s one place that I’ve always wanted to go. I want to see the Golden Temple. I’ve got all these wish-list things I want to do there.

 Korn will be performing live in Bangalore for the first time on September 9, 2012. You don't want to miss this one!

To read the full article visit: http://rollingstoneindia.com/features/cover-excerpt-remember-who-you-are/