Korn's Jonathan Davis Discusses The Paradigm Shift ::Korn News ::antiMusic.com

Korn's Jonathan Davis Discusses The Paradigm Shift

09/12/2013
. (Radio.com) As Jonathan Davis prepares for the October 8 release of his band, Korn's newest album, The Paradigm Shift, he's cool as a cucumber. After two decades of making aggressive and often polarizing hard rock, he's realized there's not a damn thing he can do about his critics so he's stopped worrying about pleasing them.

Nowadays, the leader of the '90's Nu-Metal movement is concerned with only one thing: writing songs that he wants to hear. This was never clearer than on the band's last release, 2011′s The Path of Totality, which pit Skrillex-produced dubstep beats against the band's signature guitar riffs. Although that one received mixed reviews, the band is sticking to their guns and that same style for their latest full-length.

Speaking to Radio.com while literally taking a relaxing walk in the park, Davis discussed the band's growth over twenty years, how the unexpected reunion with guitarist Brian "Head" Welch has brought a smile to his face and why their 1998 album Follow The Leader changed their lives forever. Not to mention why The Paradigm Shift is Korn's best album "in a long long time." Here are some highlights:

Radio.com: The first single, "Never Never" has a big electronic breakdown toward the end. Is that indicative of the rest of Paradigm Shift?

Jonathan: We wanted to do what we did on Follow The Leader when we infused hip-hop with rock. We wanted to write for fun, do interesting music and just see what happens and then add electronic elements after. "Never Never" is probably the most electronic one on the album. On this record there's a song for everybody. There's a song for old school fans, a song for new school fans, it's all over the place. I think it's the best album we've done in a long long time.

Radio.com: In the trailer for The Paradigm Shift, there's a focus on six words: money, fame, fortune, separation and depression. How does each one come into play on the album?

Jonathan: I think money screws things up. I think money takes away from your creativity. If you get anything you want than your creativity goes away. It's an easy out. Fame has changed our lives. Being able to go and do things� do what we used to do. I remember when my oldest was out with me and people would come up to me, it would scare him and really freak him out. My other kids love it, they eat that s*** up. I've bought everything I could dream of. I remember when I bought my first Bentley. I always loved those cars as a kid and growing up and I could finally afford one. And then it became the stupidest thing I ever bought. Over the years� I think money ruins everything. It's nice to have it and not worry about but it also brings a lot of problems. Addiction. This is pretty self-explanatory. I'm sure [Brian Welch] was depressed through all that, but I've always been battling depression so it's a part of our band. When he [Brian] was going through all that stuff, he had to separate himself from us in order to go get his head together again. He was a single dad. He had a daughter to take care of, he had all kinds of things going on in his life and he couldn't be in a band and deal with all that. Read the rest of the interview here.

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