Korn's Davis Breaks For Solo Acoustic Set

By: Brett Hickman

Tuesday November 06, 2007

Korn's Jonathan Davis doesn't like downtime. So, when his mega-successful hard rock band had a two-month break from touring scheduled for the end of 2007, he decided to put together a band for a unique tour showcasing various material of his that has rarely, if ever, been heard by a live audience. Pulling obscure tracks and fan favorites from Korn, songs from Davis' work on the Queen of the Damned film soundtrack as well as a diverse selection of cover songs, Davis launches his solo tour at the Webster Theatre in Hartford, CT on November 09th, wrapping up on December 11th in Las Vegas, NV.

Accompanying Davis on tour will be: Miles Mosely (bass), Zac Baird (Piano), Shenkar (violin), Michael Jochum (percussion/drums) and Shane Gibson (guitar).

Korn's most recent untitled album debuted at #2 on The Billboard 200 this past summer, marking the band's seventh consecutive Top 10 album and its second Top 10 CD of 2007 – following MTV Unplugged: Korn, which was released in March. The 2007 installment of The Family Values Tour, which Korn co-headlined with Evanescence, once again sold over 400,000 tickets, setting attendance records across the country.

Davis was a bit under the weather during his interview, but was very energetic and excited about his new venture, urging us (and you the reader) to check out one of his shows and promising to return next year if he didn't make it to a city near you.

I guess I'll just ask the obvious question. Why are you doing it?

Jonathan Davis: Well the first reason I wanted to do it is I've been wanting to do it for a long time. I never got a chance to ever play the Queen of the Damned soundtrack. And I just wanted to go out, just for the sake of playing. I put together a really, really insane band. I got Shenkar, the guy that worked with Peter Gabriel and Frank Zappa. He's in the band now playing violin. And this guy named Miles Mosely, who's an amazing stand-up bass player, Jochum the drummer and Shane Gibson the guitar player just turned out to be really, really cool. And I just wanted to go out and do something special for the fans, something that they have never seen before. We work in some Korn songs in a different light, like they've never heard them and do a couple covers like "Love On The Rocks" from Neil Diamond, which I did for the Wonderland soundtrack,"The Chauffeur" from Duran Duran, "Blue Monday" from New Order. It's crazy. It's really slowed down and it's way different from the original. And I might throw in another one as rehearsals go on.

How did the guys in Korn react when you told them you wanted to go out on a solo tour?

Jonathan Davis: They were cool. They knew I wanted to do it for a long time and we've had no time because we've been just touring non-stop and so at the end of this run we had a two month break so I thought it would be a perfect time to do it.

Any plans to tape the shows for DVD or film? And also is this something you hope to do more of down the road?

Jonathan Davis: The first question, yes, I'm doing a CD/DVD of it. Richard Gibbs, who did Queen Of The Damned with me, he was the musical director for this. We're going to his house and we're going to record the whole show. We're doing a small show in front of family and friends and some press at his studio. So we're going to record it live on CD and we're doing a making-of DVD. It shows everything from when we were trying out the band members to rehearsals to the first show, and the recording of this show. It's going to be a limited run edition and will be available at the shows.

Yeah I want to do this more. I'll do another one next year some time. I'm going to jam over the band, do an acoustic thing that's so different from Korn. It's a completely different vibe.

With this being an acoustic show I'm curious why you like that format and how that sound feels different to you than playing Korn and the usual electric stuff?

Jonathan Davis: Well I'm not saying that this show's completely acoustic because I've got Zac coming in with keyboard, there's going to be ambient and other stuff going on. There's not going to be any distorted guitars, I don't think. I really liked it because it was just polar opposite from what I do in Korn, where it's intense walrus sounds, huge guitars, and you get on stage and you're rocking out and I'm really putting 100% of my body and soul into what I'm doing. This is more laid back where I'm kicking back and it's more intimate.

If you get a really successful vibe out of the tour, do you see yourself, at some point in the future, writing a Jonathan Davis solo disc? Or if you do write some new stuff in this vein, would you just take that and then re-incorporate that back into the stuff that becomes a new Korn album?

Jonathan Davis: I guess I want to do a solo disc. I've been working on several different projects that I work on when I'm on the road. I have a dance music project. Some more of a funk-type thing and then really dark Queen Of The Damned type stuff. So when I'm on the road I just love to write music, it's what I do and I take a little studio out on the road with me. So I see it happening in the future, I've just got to figure it out.

Do you have anything special planned for this tour in terms of the visual presentation?

Jonathan Davis: What I wanted to do is just keep it really basic. It's just going to be us in suits and basically candles on the stage. I didn't want to go too over the top right now because it's basically really intimate. It's meant to be just me and the band and I didn't want to do a huge production. Right now it's just going to be very minimal. If I do any in the future I might expand on that a little bit, but for right now, the first run, it's more about the music because the band's so good. I'm not going to need lights or any of the other stuff to be entertaining anybody.

Looking ahead, possibly to doing a CD with all the different styles you mentioned in your background, are there any artists out there you would like to collaborate with that you couldn't while being in Korn?

Jonathan Davis: I'd like to do stuff with any of the old school 80's producers. I'd love to do something with Peter Gabriel. Roger Waters. Trent Rezner. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Any of those kind of cats. I really dig and respect what they do.

What role did the fan reaction to the Unplugged album play in your decision to go out and do a solo tour? And have you found your songwriting to have adjusted to your love of acoustic playing?

Jonathan Davis: I feel that the Unplugged Tour just opened my eyes to a different way for me to go out and do something solo and really cool that wouldn't be like Korn, you know what I mean? I feel weird going out playing Korn songs or doing all that stuff plugged in without Munky and Fieldy. They're my spine. Those guys are everything to me when it comes to Korn stuff. Playing Korn songs that we don't play live, incorporating them into an acoustic format and doing different stuff was fun to me and it was challenging putting a band together. I've never played with a stand-up bass player. This guy Miles, he's an amazing jazz player and he does all this crazy stuff with his pedals. It's acoustic bass, but a lot of different things are going on. I've got keyboards and there'll be piano and I've got Shenkar playing with me now and he plays this crazy double violin and if people aren't familiar with him, he did stuff with Peter Gabriel on The Last Temptation of Christ, and he played all the violin stuff on the Queen Of The Damned for us. And he's done a lot of crazy stuff like Frank Zappa and he's done albums on his own and it's definitely going to be something different that people have never seen before.

How did you find the band members?

Jonathan Davis: We did an audition where I got Richard Gibbs, who did Unplugged with me, who did Queen Of The Damned with me. He's my best friend. He is also a musical director, so he got together a bunch of players, called a bunch of people and we had auditions. I was out on the road on tour so I hooked up to a studio through iChat and was there through all the auditions and we picked out the players. We had people try out, lots of people, and we found the most amazing players and put this band together. It's pretty ridiculous how good it is. I'm really excited. I want chicks to come out and see it because it's definitely going to be a treat.

Just how does it feel to be doing this? Does it feel weird to be on your own? Is it intimidating to go out there under your own name?

Jonathan Davis: It's kind of intimidating, but I'm just excited, man. I'm excited to do something different, and go out and just play. Other people were asking me, like why are you doing a solo tour? You don't have an album out. You don't have this and that and it's like, to me I'm like what happened to when people just like to go out and play music and go out and just play a show? And that's all I'm doing. I want to go out and play some shows. This is not to push an album and the only reason behind it is I want to play music and I want to do something cool for the fans. And that's my reason behind it and I'm just really excited just to go out and do that and play for people and do something different that they wouldn't normally see me doing.

Because Korn has built up and when I get out of my bus in the morning I'm looking at 50 fucking trucks and buses and 800 employees, it's just a big operation, you know what I mean? This is just, I'm in a club, on one bus with my band and there's just something really cool about it to me. I'm not saying that I hate Korn and it's all just a business and all that stuff. This is good. I'm really excited about it. I'm really feeling there's no stress and it's just for the love of music.

You've been sober from drugs and alcohol since '98. So that's give or take 10 years. I'm wondering if playing gigs like this, do they mean more to you clean these days than they did in a past, shall we say, haze?

Jonathan Davis: Oh yeah, definitely a good question. You know when Korn was at that point, we were playing close like this, I barely remember, bro. I was a complete out of control alcoholic drug addict. I was going around trying to be a rock star, thinking of what a rock star should be. I was really out of my mind. Going back to these places now and playing in an intimate setting, I think it's going to be special for me because it's pretty much a first time again for me because I don't really remember a lot of that. So I think it's going to be really fun and scary at the same time.

What made you turn the corner?

Jonathan Davis: For me it was me coming home and my three-year-old son seeing me drunk and I was all fucked up out of my mind and he gave me a look that I'll never forget. It made me feel like the biggest piece of shit. And my grandfather passing away. I think the trauma in both of those really made me think I need to be here for my kid and I need to be a positive role model for him. I don't want him growing up seeing me being a drunk, stupid idiot and I really did it for him, just to be around him and be there because the way I was going I was going to be one of those statistics man. I was going to die. I was going to overdose definitely or have something bad happen to me. On August 22nd, 1998 I had my last drink. The band was there, everybody's laughing at me and I'm going, this is my last drink, this is my last cigarette, I'm done. And they're like 'oh whatever J, sure, okay whatever'. I haven't touched it since. I just stopped cold turkey.

What was that last drink?

Jonathan Davis: My last drink was a Jack Daniels and Coke. That was my favorite drink and I smoked my Marlborough Light Cigarette and I haven't touched anything since. Almost 10 years, bro.

Well that's fantastic, in this business that's fantastic. Congratulations.

Jonathan Davis: Thank you very much.

I guess there are some songs in the Korn catalog that are better suited to acoustic versus electric, thinking you know "Hollow Life" is probably better for acoustic, where "Got The Life's" better electric. Is it more interesting for you to try to rework those songs?

Jonathan Davis: The whole thing behind it is trying to rework those and making them work. It's like figuring out a puzzle. With us we're really hopped up on musician shit and you know the backing men that I've got is all kids that went to Berkley and stuff like that. Really, really great musicians. So getting in there and tearing apart a song that Korn wrote and making it different and reworking it acoustic is really fun and challenging. Basically we're up to the challenge. I'm using the electronic element. I've got Zac doing more ambient stuff, playing the strings and ambient sounds and Shenkar playing his violin. It's acoustic but it's plugged in and he has pedals. And Miles plays stand-up bass, but he's got distortion pedals and chord pedals. It's just a hybrid I guess.

Will David ever come back and drum for you guys?

Jonathan Davis: Right now, no. He's doing his thing. He's burned out on playing and he's home with his kids. So I just said the door's always open for David to come back when he wants to come back, but right now you know we're just pushing on. So, we're going to do records, you know with whatever drummer we find. Joey left us because he's going back to do a Slipknot album so we have a new drummer for when we play in Europe and stuff like that.

There's been a lot of speculation and rumors, mostly on the Internet of course, lately as to the health of Korn and the status of the band. Basically with the band being done with its label contract, losing Head a couple years ago, David on his indefinite hiatus and now you on a solo tour, is there anything you can say to kind of reassure fans that Korn will continue to live on and…?

Jonathan Davis: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah man. You know anytime you do anything solo or something like that it freaks people out. No dude, we're tighter than ever. You know the heart of this band was me, Fieldy and Munky. Unfortunately losing David and Head really hurt us and we missed them and it hurts more emotionally than anything. I wish Head the best of luck. I love him to death. I'm really happy David's taking time off and spending time with his kids and hopefully he'll rekindle that love for playing drums. But for right now, us as a band, Korn, we're stronger than ever, man, as brothers and creatively. You know we right out on the road sometimes and just messing around and we're really excited to get in a do another record. And you know after this solo tour, Korn as a band are just taking two months off at the end of the year because we really need it. We've been going 14 years without really a break. So that gave me a chance, well I'm not doing anything, I'm going to go crazy. It has nothing to do with Korn breaking up or any of that stuff. I just like playing.

How is your solo tour rider different from a Korn tour rider? And within that, what do you do to protect your voice when you're going non-stop like that?

Jonathan Davis: You know my rider's way different than Korn. Korn's got you know a gillion zillion things on it. My rider's like water, Gatorade, just really basic stuff. Maybe some chips, I don't ask for much.

And for my voice I got taught by the best, Ron Anderson. I had him out with me for a year and I warm up, warm down, warm up, warm down, wake up do vocal exercises, all this stuff to keep my instrument strong. So that's how I can tour and do what I do night after night and not lose my voice.

So it's just proper training?

Jonathan Davis: Yeah, it's just the proper training. Right now my voice is gone because I'm sick, but it's just training and having the discipline to do it. A lot of singers don't do it. I always give the singers I'm on tour with shit because they don't warm up or they don't have the proper discipline. I'm like, that shit's going to bite you in the ass, that's why you're canceling shows or you're losing your voice, it's because you're not taking care of it. It's just the regimen I have to do if I want to keep my voice healthy.

Do you have any warm up exercises that might sound silly to the rest of us?

Jonathan Davis: Oh they always sound silly. There's nothing cool about warming up, nothing at all. But like I warm up 25 minutes before a show and I warm down 15 minutes after. So, it's the last thing you want to do, but you've got to do it.

I know you guys always reached out to your fans in the past with meet and greets. Are you going to continue to do this with the solo tour?

Jonathan Davis: I'm doing meet and greets. I'm selling that CD/DVD and if they buy one, I'm going to sign it for the kids that buy it. You know I'm doing what I can to get out there and just say hi to everybody.

When you're on stage, whether it's in front of 100 people, 1,000 people, 10,000 people and music is flowing through you what does that feel like?

Jonathan Davis: Take an orgasm and amplify it like 1,000 times and that's what it feels like. It feels amazing dude. I call it a stage-gasm, where I just jump out of my body and look back at myself. It's the most...it's a trip. It freaks me out but it's so frigging intense and killer, it's just when I think the band reaches the peak and the crowd's going off and the band's going off and we all peak at the same time, it's just bam! That shit happens and it's an amazing, amazing feeling.

You said that you just went cold, like cold turkey on stopping drugs and alcohol. And I was wondering if you've replaced any of those vices with any new ones?

Jonathan Davis: Well I went crazy for about a year and that was me detoxing. For about six months I went nuts. I was having all kinds of anxiety problems. My body was just freaking out because it wasn't full of substances. I think I replaced the alcohol and all that stuff with music. That's my addiction. I take my studio with me everywhere. And I write songs for my kids. I've got a two-year old and a six-month old and Pirate's kicking back with me. I'll write some Mickey Mouse-type stuff and write little kid lyrics for him or have him sing. I've got to constantly keep writing and just having fun and it's just what I do, I guess that's my vice.

Are you planning on doing a kid's album them?

Jonathan Davis: A kids album? You know I never even thought of that. I do it for fun for my kids, but maybe one day I could. It's just us goofing around. You know I like showing my kids that music was a very big part of my life as a kid and so I like passing that on to them. They don't have to be musicians or rock stars or any of that kind of stuff, I just think music's a beautiful thing. So I think everyone needs it in their life and so I'm starting them young. I actually record Pirate playing drums and make songs and you know he'll be just playing whatever and he gets a kick out of it.

What's the status of the script you're working on with Clive Barker, which I believe is called Oblivion, is that right?

Jonathan Davis: Oblivion, yeah. We're in the middle of writing. Once we get the story down the way we like it, then me and Richard will start writing the actual opera. It's going to be like an opera musical hybrid. No spoken word as of yet right now, but things change all the time. So basically been recently talking to Clive and putting all the ideas in his head and letting him toss around the ideas of what it would be like at the end of the world. And the stuff we come up with has been pretty insane. So I think a couple more months until we have the whole thing written out and then that's when we start writing the music and actually plotting out everything in a musical sense.

Speaking about Clive, kids and horror, did you do anything on Halloween?

Jonathan Davis: I trick or treated with my babies. It was awesome. I dressed up like a zombie and took them around all over the place. It was fun.

I just want to thank everybody for coming out today and asking questions. If you can, come out and make it because I'm really excited about this tour and that's it really. I'm excited about it.

Jonathan Davis Solo Tour Dates:

11/09 Hartford, CT Webster Theatre
11/10 Verona, NY Turning Stone Casino
11/12 Boston, MA Berklee Performance Center
11/13 New York, NY Nokia Theatre Times Square
11/14 Sayreville, NJ Starland Ballroom
11/16 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero
11/17 Hampton Beach, NH Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
11/18 Providence, RI Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel
11/20 Norfolk, VA Norva
11/21 Charlotte, NC Tremont Music Hall
11/23 North Myrtle Beach, SC House of Blues
11/24 Atlanta, GA Roxy
11/25 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live
11/27 Houston, TX Verizon Wireless Theater
11/28 San Antonio, TX Sunset Station
11/29 Dallas, TX House of Blues
12/01 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
12/03 Phoenix, AZ Marquee Theatre
12/04 Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theatre
12/06 Highland, CA San Manuel Casino
12/07 Santa Ana, CA Galaxy Concert Theatre
12/08 Ventura, CA Majestic Ventura Theatre
12/10 San Diego, CA House of Blues
12/11 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues