It's certainly not firing up the rock and roll rumor mill to state that Jonathan Davis is a unique kind of star.The manner in which he approaches his music, his band and his life marks him as a guy who proudly breaks the cookie cutter mold of contemporary hard rock heroes. Korn's charismatic vocalists also isn't someone who gets particularly upset over various trials and tribulations presented by contemporary music life. Oh sure. Davis will moan and groan with the best of 'em if things don't happen to go his way. But, in all honestly, he'd much prefer to take each and every aspect of life to slow, steady, in- control pace then find himself getting all hot and bothered over anything...perhaps, when the subject at hand is his band's latest album.
When it becomes time to offer some in-depth analysis of this California quintet's brand-new, quick-release opus, Take A Look In The Mirror- which hits the street only 18 months after the appearence of KoRn's previous effort, Untouchables- the sad-eyed singer can barely control his enthusiasm. He senses that this time around he and bandmates James "Munky" Shaffer (guitar, Brian "Head" Welsh(guitar), Fieldy (bass) and David Silveria (drums) have come up with something very special. In fact, as soon as Davis starts discussing the events and activites which surrounded the writing, recording and producing (haled by the KoRnStErS, themselves) of the band's sixth magnum opus, his energy level practically shoots off the charts- at least in contrast to his traditionally laid back approach to the world around him.
"We felt the need to get back into the studio and record this music, " Davis said. "There really isn't much more to it than that. Everyone likes to ask us about our 'motivation.' Well our motivation was that we had written a bunch of great songs and we wanted to record them as soon as we possibly could. We were so stoked by what we had come up with that our enthusiasm took over. We didn't care if we weren't 'supposed' to make another album so soon. Who cares? We felt motivated. We really wanted to make this album. Thats what matters to us."
Attacking their material with passion and power has been among KoRn's most recognizable trademarks ever since their self titled debut disc first introduced them to the rock world back in 1994. Back then, hard rock - let alone heavy metal- had fallen into a precipitous decline, with the few new bands then willing to turn their amps on- high often falling into the now sorely dated catergory of "grunge." But as soon as KoRn hit the contemperary music scen. things began to change. The band'd heavy handed instumental work, as well as Davis' biting, often autobiographical, lyrical, forays, helped lay the foundation for the New Metal revolution that would soon begin. Indeed, while a younger generation of bands ranging from Staind to Slipknot_ have now emerged in KoRn's wake to assume control of the 21st century metal empire, there's no question that in 2003, the metal scene's most influential and important force remains this fivesome from Bakersfield CA.
"It's great that a lot of other bands have recongnized what we've done and shown us some respect," Davis said. "But that was never our goal. All we've ever wanted to do was make good music. I really think that this album is going to blow everyone away- it's that heavy and that good. At this point, I know I probably sound like a broken record because I always think our lastest album is the best we've ever done. But this one really is. We had built up a lot of energy before we ever began working on it. Working so fast, and having production control in the studio, really made things very interesting for us."
It's true that Davis does tend to wax poetic about each and every album that KoRn produces. But that's just the kind of guy he is. After pouring his entire heart and soul into a project, he's not likely to suddenly turn his back on the proceedings and dismiss it as "just another day's work." Having written much of the new material in the back of his own specially designed tour bus, this is a partculary meaningful disc for Davis. But he knows his artistic efforts won't necessarily dictate the album's commercial fate. The final decision concerning wheather or not KoRn's new disc is truly a "great" collection will be made to a major extent by the group's ever loyal legion of fans.
The band is the first to acknowledge that their followers are the ones who've patiently waited for the group's return to the apex of the music world. They're the ones that helped turn the band's summer-long Ozzfest run into a total triumph. They're the ones who kept the group's music on-top while countless young metal pretenders entered the scene to challenge for KoRn's hard rock throne. And, as the group well knows, they're the ones who will be the definitive arbiters of KoRn's commercial fate this time around. Even the knowledge that there"s currently a bit of industry pressure on the band (considering that Untouchables sold barely half the copies as predecessors such as Issues and Follow the Leader) has done nothing to deter this group's faith in their followers. As far as Davis is concerned, there's no one else in the world he'd quicker trust with such a decision than KoRn's incredible fan base.
"They're st the core of who we are and what we do" he said. "Without them, things would obviously be very different with this band. But we think we've done something to win their continued support with this album. They know what I mean when I say it's one of our 'special' albums I don't mean to make that sound like it's strange, it's just that some people believe that certain of our albums have a special magic about them. The vibe sround the band was so good this time- no one was coming back from an illness or injury, and no one had a major problem in his life. We were able to just focus on the music and make sure this album rocked!
