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Cherry Pop

Jonathan Davis (Korn) Jonathan Davis (Korn)

'Standing Alone'

How does JONATHAN DAVIS, lead singer for multi-platinum, award-winning hard rock band KORN, plan to follow the most successful [THE] FAMILY VALUES TOUR yet? By doing something completely different, of course. Fans have come to expect the unexpected of the groundbreaking band and this fall they’ll witness another first when DAVIS steps out on his own for a solo tour.

In this unique concert experience, DAVIS will draw from a wide variety of material, pulling from the entire Korn repertoire with obscure tracks and some fan favorites, The Queen of the Damned soundtrack and select cover tunes, focusing on songs he’s rarely – and in many cases, never – performed on stage before.

Trading in amphitheatres for more intimate venues, DAVIS will launch the tour at the Webster Theatre in Hartford, CT on November 9th. Highlights include stops at New York City’s Nokia Theatre Times Square (November 13th) and Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theatre (December 4th). The tour wraps up in Las Vegas on December 11th.

So, and sticking with the obvious question first, why take on this first ever solo tour? JONATHAN DAVIS: "Well, the first reason I wanted to do it is that 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 live - the stuff I wrote for the movie."

"I've also put together a really, really insane band with some master musicians. 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. And I just wanted to really go out and do something special for the fans, something that they have never ever seen before. We work in some Korn songs in a different light, like they’ve never heard them and do a couple covers, you know stuff I’ve done over the years for movie soundtracks."

Such as? "Like 'Love On The Rocks' from Neil Diamond, which I did for the Wonderland soundtrack. And I’m doing 'The Chauffeur' from Duran Duran and 'Blue Monday' from New Order. The Blue Monday cover’s pretty 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? "They were cool. They were happy for me. They knew I wanted to do it for a long time and we’ve had no time because you know we’ve been just touring non-stop. And so at the end of this run we have a two month break so I thought it would be a perfect time to do it."

Any plans, because this is going to be so special and kind of one of a kind, to either video it or sell it on as a DVD? "Yes, I’m doing a CD/DVD of it. The night before the first show I’m going to Richard Gibbs, who is the guy that did the Queen Of The Damned with me. He helped ... 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, you know, leading up to this. It’s going to be a limited run edition. It’ll be available at the shows."

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

is there anything special planned for this tour in terms of the visual presentation? "You know what are we doing, what I wanted to do is just keep it really basic. I’m just going to be, you know, us in suits and basically candles on the stage. I didn’t want to go too over the top right now because it’s just basically really intimate. It’s meant to be you know just me and the band and I didn’t want go a huge production, over the top thing. So 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."

How did the writing of the Queen Of The Damned songs vary from Korn’s material? "They're just really, really different. I got hired to write the songs for Lestat, which would be Lestat’s band and so I’m thinking about, you know lyrically I’m thinking about lyrics from a 300 year old vampire and what a vampire’s band would sound like. So it was more like, more gothic, more you know, the lyrics pertain more to the book about hiding and that he’s a vampire and him coming out. So that’s what I was going for when we wrote those songs."

Will there ever be a solo album from you in the near future? "You know I guess I want to a solo disc. I’ve been working on ... you know, I got several different projects that I work on when I’m on the road. I have like a dance music project where I just do dance music. Some more of a funk-type thing and then like 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. I take a little studio out on the road with me so I see it happening in the future."

Having now been sober from drugs and alcohol since ’98, I'm wondering if playing gigs like this mean more to you clean these days than they did in a past, shall we say during your haze?! "Oh yeah, definitely, good question. You know when Korn was at that point, and we were playing clubs like this, I barely remember, bro. I was a completely out of control alcoholic drug addict. I was going around trying to be a rock star, thinking of what a rock star should be. You know, the stereotypical Jim Morrison. Lots to do most with the Doors and you know stuff like that."

"Growing up, thinking what a rock star should be, so I was really out of my mind. Lately now going back to these places 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 kind of and you know scary at the same time."

What made you turn the corner back in ’98? "For me it was me coming home and my three-year-old son seeing me drunk and I was all f**ked 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 sh*t. And that and you know, my grandfather passing away, I think the trauma in both of those really made me think, you know 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 so 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 get, you know something bad happen to me. So I really just, you know, said it’s time for me to be a dad. And that I don’t need this in my life. And so on August 22nd I had my last drink. Everybody, 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.' But I haven’t touched it since. I just stopped cold turkey."

What was that last drink? "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 "Thank you very much."

As always with speculation and rumor, lately the supposed health of Korn ie: the status of the band suggests it is coming to an end. Is this true? "You know, any time 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. One of the worst things that happened to us at the time of writing was losing David and Head. That really hurt us and we missed them ... and it hurts more emotionally than anything."

"And we love those guys and wish them the best. I wish Head the best of luck, I love him to death and 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 haven’t been this stronger than ever, man, as brothers and creatively."

OK, so with that in mind, when this solo tour is done and you're back with Korn ... what's next? "After I get done with this I’ve got like a month off and then we start in Europe. We’re doing a big tour over there. We're playing a proper tour. It’s been like seven years since we’ve actually went over to Europe and properly toured, like the UK and all these other places. We usually go over there and do all the festival runs every year, so that’s going to be exciting because we’re playing Saint Petersburg, Russia. We’re doing all the Baltic states. We’re doing all these crazy European dates and doing, like nine days in the UK. Stuff we haven’t done in a long time. Then right after that we’re going to do Australia and South America and South Africa for the first time ... and I’m very excited about that."

Finally, when you are on stage what does that feel like? "Take an orgasm and amplify it like 1,000 times and that’s what it feels like!"

Interviewed by Russell A. Trunk

www.Korn.com

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