KORN Frontman Talks To MTV Italy: Transcript Available

KORN fan site KornTV.co.uk has posted a transcript of the MTV Italy interview with KORN frontman Jonathan Davis, conducted last Sunday (Sept. 4) prior to the band's appearance at MTV Italy's Coca-Cola Live event. Read on:

Q: There's been a lot of expectation around this gig. Tickets got sold out in no time. People wanna know about your new album, man. When is it coming out?

Jonathan Davis: "The new album will be coming out probably November 22nd. That's the date that we've picked. We need to use some time to set it up right, so we can make it the best KORN ever."

Q: Do you have a name for the album?

Jonathan Davis: "Well, you know, we have a list about this long [does hand gesture] of names, and we've gotta figure it out. We still haven't figured it out yet."

Q: Any good names on top of the list?

Jonathan Davis: "Not that we're gonna let out yet."

Q: "Souvenir of Sadness" was one of the names that we read in the music magazines, and everything. It wasn't a demo, but it was one of the songs included on the album. Is that correct?

Jonathan Davis: "Yeah, it's made it on the album, so it'll be on there."

Q: So, the producers. Is it the first time you've worked with several different producers, not just with one?

Jonathan Davis: "Yeah, this time around it was different for us because we've always worked with one producer — a rock producer, or a metal producer, whatever you wanna call it. This time round, we're trying to do something different and change it up. So we started working with a whole different bunch of people, and we wrote some songs with each one, and just picked the producers we liked the best — that being The Matrix and Atticus Ross."

Q: Also, they come from a whole different bunch of musical places.

Jonathan Davis: "Yeah. The majority of album we did with The Matrix, and they're like pop producers. They've done stuff with AVRIL LAVIGNE, stuff like that, and they've always wanted to get into heavier rock. At first when we were trying out with them we didn't think it was gonna work because they're so 'bubblegum,' but they wanted to do something so different, and it really worked out. They brought a song in, and me and Fieldy were sitting there. At first we were like, 'This ain't gonna work,' but they brought a song in they we wrote and did some stuff to it, and we were like, 'Wow!' It's really different."

Q: So you're not going pop at all?

Jonathan Davis: "Not at all, man. Don't worry about that. [laughs] [crowd cheers]"

Q: What did these guys boot into the album? How did you confront these guys musically? Was it a whole new different thing for you?

Jonathan Davis: "It was a totally different way of writing for us because we basically just sat down, and the band would jam out the songs. They would take it, and Scott from The Matrix would come back, and he would pull things that we never thought we would ever use for songs, and arrange them in munipulitive ways within the computer to sound different, and we'd bring them back in and listen and be like, 'Wow!'"

Q: What did you start from? The drums? bass?

Jonathan Davis: "This way was totally different. We started just jamming basically in the studio, and he'd pull parts. So it was really different for us, really cool. We'd mess with them more to get them the way we liked it, and we'd learn it and play it. It was an amazing experience."

Q: How does it sound. What's the sound of this album?

Jonathan Davis: "It's new, it's very different. We're basically a new band, we lost one member — Head — which everyone knows. I think everyone had to step their game up when that happened. It's a new sound. It still remains KORN, but it's totally different. It's a breath of fresh air. It's like we've had to re-invent ourselves and come up with some new things and everyone in the band was so ecstatic about it. It's an amazing, amazing album."

Q: How about working with LIL JON? I read that you have a lot of admiration for thie guy, you like this guy, and your voices work together fine.

Jonathan Davis: "Yeah. It was upsetting that we didn't get to do the song that we originally did — 'Fight the Power' for 'xXx: The Next Level' — but the guy is really an amazing producer, and we have nothing but respect for him."

Q: What happend to that song? Why did it end up being sang by somebody else?

Jonathan Davis: "Because of his label. Just red tape. Bullshit."

Q: So we're never gonna hear it?

Jonathan Davis: "Never. Probably not."

Q: That's a shame. But it exists?

Jonathan Davis: "It does exist."