Korn's Jonathan Davis on unleashing demons, ABBA vibes & why humans are a virus

In-depth interview with Kerrang! Radio's Loz Guest

Korn's Jonathan Davis Author: Scott Colothan Published 19th Sep 2019

Last updated 23rd Sep 2019

To celebrate the release of Korn’s phenomenal thirteenth studio album ‘The Nothing’ last Friday (13th September), ever-genial frontman Jonathan Davis dropped by Kerrang! Radio HQ for a wide-ranging chat with Loz Guest about his glorious career with Korn as part of our Kerrang! Radio Hall of Fame series.

Reflected upon ‘The Nothing’, which is already the most critically-acclaimed album in Korn’s distinguished back catalogue, Jonathan explained to Loz why it is “hands down” his favourite Korn album – even surpassing 2002’s ‘Untouchables.’

“I went through a very difficult time, things happened in my life and this is an album for me just going through all that stuff and sifting through it,” Jonathan said.

“I called it ‘The Nothing’ because The Nothing is an unseen force. It’s good and it’s bad. It’s that thing that I think has messed with me my whole life. And me confronting it is basically the concept through the whole album. Me dealing with the loss of my wife (Deven passed away in August 2018 aged 39) and my children’s illness (son Zeppelin has Type 1 diabetes) and all that bad things that happened to me. So, it’s a very emotional record but it needed to be made, and you can listen to me heal.”

For Jonathan, key to creating such a powerful and personal record was taking his time. With his multi-layered vocal harmonies, he also took influence from a surprising trio of bands.

“I’ve never really had the chance for years to have the time to really sit down and focus and hone my craft the way I can do it (now) on this. I took a long time,” Jonathan explained.

“There are some tracks that have got 20 vocal tracks on it. I used four or five different mics! Not one vocal is doubled on the same mic. There was a lot of labour-intensive stuff that I took my time and did it like they did back in the day. So, you get those vibes of ELO, and Queen and ABBA, those huge vocal bits. I really wanted to take my time and do something special like that.”

“It’s not easy doing that. It takes time. I love those bands from back then because they did that.”

Commenting on the shorter tracks that appear on ‘The Nothing’, Jonathan insists they’re vital to the flow and feel of the album: “Those are the little interludes. I don’t think I really got across how much… pain and stuff I was going through, so they kind of put the pieces together.”

Nowhere is this more evident than on rousing opener ‘The End Begins’, which Jonathan says sets the tone for the whole album: “The opening line is ‘why did you leave me?’ I lost my wife and the demons are unleashed and here goes the ride. It was very hard.”

Jonathan told Loz the artwork too is haunting and perfectly reflective on the album’s sound and oft hard-hitting subject matter.

“It’s a very uncomfortable suspension and the wires are very schizophrenic I could call it. If you look at the pictures it makes you feel uneasy,” Jonathan explained.

“At first when we were doing the artwork, I’m like ‘(sighs) we’re getting this company to do it, this is not going to do, this is going to suck’. But when I saw it I was like ‘oh, they got it!’. That is ‘The Nothing’. That is that dark intermingling s--- around you that tugs at you and makes you feel uncomfortable. When you’re going through anything bad with all those bad thoughts coming in – for me ‘have a drink!’ – and you got to battle all that stuff.”

Asked by Loz if ‘The Nothing’ is his proudest work with Korn, Jonathan concurred: “I got to take my time and show the world what I can really do.”

Korn return with 'The Nothing'

You can read more excerpts from Jonathan Davis’ candid Kerrang! Radio interview below:

How Korn’s self-titled debut album ‘Korn’ lit the spark for the nu metal genre:

“It changed everything. It was (the spark for a new genre) and for just a different time in heavy music. It sparked a lot of good stuff for us, a lot of weird bands – and some that wasn’t that good, some that was good, but overall it gave heavy music a new voice. It set it on its way... a different path. It brought it back and it became mainstream again. I’m very proud of that. Like it or not, we did do that.”

‘Korn’ still standing the test of time a quarter-of-a-century on from its initial release:

“It was definitely ahead its time and just different. Nobody sounded like us, no one sounded like me. Head (Brian “Head” Welch) and Munky’s (James "Munky" Shaffer) guitar playing as a unit – them playing off each other – Fieldy’s (Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu) bass tone. Everything about it was just different. And the way we looked, the whole package. We never considered ourselves a metal band to begin with; it was more a hard rock, groove rock kind of thing and then BOOM! this thing blows up and we’re the Godfathers of nu metal, or whatever you call it.”

The secret of Korn’s longevity:

“It’s a family. You’ve got a lot of different opinions and a lot of having to compromise. We all compromise on ideas and we all do it well. A lot of bands break up over creative differences and stuff like that but we’ve learned to just twist things and make it so everybody’s happy.”

Whether he craves the spotlight like some frontmen:

“I don’t care about that, I just try to do my thing. That’s just me though. There’s other frontmen that are just overbearing and got to be the centre of attention and got to have it, and that’s just not me.”

Would there have been a darker path in life without music?

“Probably. If I didn’t have Korn I’d been in a mortuary somewhere or a morgue doing that, that’s what I did before this (Jonathan Davis worked in a mortuary before Korn). This is way better.”

The gargantuan cost of 2002’s 'Untouchables':

“That was my favourite record to make. We took two years, spent a gillion dollars. Working with (Michael) Beinhorn was insane, he’s just a perfectionist. He hears things that I don’t understand but once it was all said and done I gave him a big hug and said ‘thank you, we made the best Korn record.’ I don’t think a record like that could ever be made again, the budget was over $4millon, man.”

Why ‘Untouchables’ was so mind-bogglingly expensive:

“Just all the studios we used, the technology at the time – we used the first 96k recording. We had a different kind of digital recording system with these new converters. It was the most high-fidelity way of doing things at the time.”

Why Korn delved into dubstep and electronic music on 2011’s ‘The Path of Totality’:

“It was trailblazing new stuff. I was like ‘let’s do something new, it’s time to change things up’ and that’s what we like doing is experimenting. A lot of people hated it and a lot of people loved it because it was a melding of both those worlds. I love experimenting, I don’t want to repeat myself. Luckily everybody (in Korn) is comfortable with trying to experiment and taking chances. And we’ve always done that. I don’t think we’ve done the same album twice and we just always try to keep evolving and doing stuff different.”

How Jonathan Davis has changed as a person over the decades:

“I’m just a lot wiser. I’d like to go punch that (younger) Jonathan in the face. I would definitely have words with him and stick his ass on a wall and tell him what’s up. Just give him advice. You learn it with wisdom from living, from being on this planet longer. You learn how to deal with things and you’re not really in control anyway so you’re on this ride, you’re here for a short moment so enjoy all of it. Try and make the best of it.”

The impact that Korn’s music has had on people:

“That’s the reason we’re still here doing it. It has helped so many people. Every time we do meet and greets talking to fans, tonnes of people say ‘you got me through this hard time. You helped me here. Helped me there’. And that’s a reward.”

On the hard-hitting lyrics of 2014 single ‘Hater’:

“I (originally) called that ‘Faget 2015’ ‘cos there was a song on the first Korn album called ‘Faget’, which is about people calling people ‘freaks’ or ‘faggots’ or whatever, just (because) they’re ‘not normal’. (It’s about) being picked on because you’re different. I wanted to make those songs for people that go through that. It’s fine. Who wants to be normal?!”

His view of mankind:

“Humans are horrible f---ing creatures. (laughs) We are! We’re a virus. I’d love to be an animal.”

Jonathan Davis and Loz Guest

While visiting us, Korn were officially inducted into the Kerrang! Radio Hall of Fame for their services to music.

Picking up the gong, Jonathan told us he's truly grateful: “This is the pinnacle…. I don’t know, it’s so cool. Being recognised for anything is really awesome. The amount of work that goes into making records and what we do, things like this mean a lot."

Kerrang! Radio veteran and music-guru Loz Guest takes to the airwaves every weekday afternoon from 2pm - 6pm! Loz also presents The Official Kerrang! Radio Rock Chart, every Saturday 10am - 2pm