Coal Chamber, who publicly split in 2002 during the “Dark Days” Tour, announced via Twitter they have signed a deal with Napalm Records and are soon to begin work on their fourth album.
Frontman Dez Fafara has kept busy with DevilDriver the past decade, while drummer Mikey Cox and guitarist Meegs Rascón have played in the Los Angeles metal scene with We Are The Riot. Bassist Nadja Peulen rejoined the band as of November 2013. Peulen had this to say:
“It’s been a long time coming,” stated Peulen through the band’s press release, “but the wait is over. There are no words to describe how excited I am to be working on the new Coal Chamber record. I can’t wait to see all your faces when we rock this album out.”
Fafara expressed his excitement over reuniting with old bandmates.
“How many times do you get a second chance at anything in life?” he said. “We toured the world, it was insane and crowds came out in force and we had a blast! For this I’m so appreciative! Now it’s time to release a new Coal Chamber record!”
Cox and Rascón also expressed their eagerness to release new material to their loyal fans.
Last year Coal Chamber performed a successful co-headlining U.S. Tour with Sevendust and Lacuna Coil.
Lacuna Coilwill bring their Broken Crown Halo Tour dates to New York state this fall for two shows. Along for the tour will be Devil You Know and Starset. A lot of different rock genre’s are on display for this tour as all three bands have their own unique style of rock music.
From Milano, Italy, Lacuna Coil is fronted by dual vocalist Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro. The tour is named after their current studio release Broken Crown Halo, which is their seventh studio album. Coil was also one of the headliners for the Revolver Hottest Chicks Tour earlier this year. Lacuna Coil, meaning “empty spiral,” will bring a gothic hard rock sound to tour with melodic vocals.
Metal new comers Devil You Know, will be on the tour to support their debut album The Beauty of Destruction. Former Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones fronts for the band.
Cinematic rockers Starset, just seem to pop up on every show this summer. Starset has just released their debut studio album titled Transmissions. Their two singles “My Demons” and “Carnivore” are in constant rotation on Sirius/XM Octane.
The first stop in New York for the tour will be Saturday, October 11 at Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park. Doors open at 6 p.m. and showtime is at 7 p.m. Advanced tickets are $18 and $20 the day of show. Patrons 16-years old are welcome and require ID or parent/legal guardian and must be 21 and over to drink. Tickets are on sale at the club box office (518-371-0012), all Ticketmaster outlets and also at The Northern Lights Smoke Shop. Tickets on sale Saturday August 9 at 10 am.
The second stop on the tour will be Sunday October 12 at The Gramercy Theatre in New York City. Doors open at 6pm. 16 years and up with ID or parent/legal guardian. 21 and over to drink. Tickets are $24 and are available through Ticketmaster . Tickets go on sale Friday, August 8 at 10 a.m.
From the bizarre wreckage that was the breakdown of popular metalcore band, As I Lay Dying, comes Wovenwar. The band is comprised of the entire As I Lay Dying lineup, sans disgraced vocalist Tim Lambesis – recently sentenced to six years in prison for the attempted hiring of a hitman to murder his wife; taking his place with vocal and guitar duties is, Oh, Sleeper’s, Shane Blay. With so much controversy surrounding the formation of the band, could they craft an album that would cut through it all?
The lead up to this album was a bit of a mystery. Details about the band outside of the lineup were kept from public knowledge. They seemed to appear out of nowhere during all of the Lambesis news coverage. The project was unveiled with a series of short videos posted online. It wasn’t until the release of lead single “All Rise” that anyone had a clear idea of what the band would sound like. The choice to debut with that song was the perfect one as it’s the strongest cut on the record and really does sum up what Wovenwar sounds like. As the release of the self titled record loomed, two more songs were released, finally giving fans a clear understanding that Wovenwar might have something special up their sleeve. And they certainly do.
Wovenwar have unleashed one of the most impressive debut records in a long time. Where As I Lay Dying was marred with stagnation, Wovenwar feels fresh beyond fresh in a metal landscape where everyone seems to be competing with each other to create albums that sound like their chosen genre and nothing else. Wovenwar certainly have ties to metalcore but to label them as such is unfair. The guitar work is split between the lead going off on wonderfully catchy noodily melodies with the rhythm section absolutely holding down the fort with driving force. This is guitarists Nick Hipa, Joe Sgrosso, Shane Blay, bassist Josh Gilbert, and drummer Jordan Mancino at their best. One has to now wonder if they felt limited within the confines of As I Lay Dying, because this album plays like these guys felt like they had something to prove. The songs on Wovenwar’s debut are full of melodic layers, the right amount of aggression, and riffs and lyrics that will stick in your head for months to come.
Despite the masterful instrumentation, the star of the album is vocalist Shane Blay. This guy has pipes for miles and can start laying claim to being one of the best vocalists in modern metal. He has a dynamic range that flows with the music and proves that the decision to go with predominantly clean vocals was the right move thankfully avoiding the good cop/bad cop clean/screamed vocal trap bands like Five Finger Death Punch suffer from.
Wovenwar will satisfy both metal fans and fans of radio friendly hard rock which open them up to the chance for the mainstream success their former/other bands never reached. Time will tell if the buzz around the band will switch from bizarre curiosity thanks to Lambesis’ predicament to praise for creating a phenomenal album, but Wovenwar deserve to be at the top of the metal/hard rock world. If Avenged Sevenfold can do it with an album that sounds tantamount to a cover album, Wovenwar can do it with originality, creativity in songwriting, and the ability to create catchy music you can’t, and won’t want to get out of your head.
On Wednesday August 13, Origin and King Parrot start their month-long adventure of bringing crushing metal to the masses of America. This first show is also a homecoming, of sorts, for some members of Origin, as it is close to their stomping grounds and is the only East Coast date on the entire tour. Playing within the intimate confines of Trickshot Billards in Clifton Park, N.Y., all the bands featured on this bill will be in rare form, showcasing metal all night long.
ORIGIN. Photo provided.
Starting at 6 p.m., Declension, and then The Killing Condition, will bring serious hometown metal to the stage and should not be missed. Origin cut their teeth on stages much like this one, and it is always a treat to see what the local music pool has to offer. Brutal local flavor, served right up front.
Following them is Abolishment of Flesh, on loan from Texas, who aim to bring the full performance of their combo of black, thrash and death metal to the stage. Beyond Creation from Quebec, Canada unleash their relentless assault of progressive death metal next, and by then the show will be almost ready to hit its boiling point. King Parrot will surely tip the scale right over with their heavy Australian brand of thrash metal tearing the final pieces off the roof, and setting the stage for the headliner.
Origin, hailing first from Kansas, the band was the incredible brain child of Paul Ryan (guitar) and former member Jeremy Turner (bass), later eventually replaced by Mike Flores (bass/vocals). Through different line-up changes, the four piece now features Jason Keyser (vocals) and John Longstreth (drums). Jason and John both call Upstate New York home, and seeing this powerhouse band come to this area is a rare treat. Their new album, Omnipresent, has been getting great reviews since it’s release on Nuclear Blast and Agonia Records in July. A mix of the great grind and death metal tropes that Origin is known for, along with fresh melodic and majestic musical ideas, songs like the tour title ‘All Things Dead’ will be a high point in a night of great metal moments.
King Parrot. Photo Provided.
This show is a product of the ever-growing Joelggernaut Productions and champions of the local scene Needlewurks Tattoo and Body Piercing in Clifton Park. The crowd attending Trickshots August 13 will be in for a night of awesome metal, savage brutality, and the chance to tell others that they were there to witness it all. Doors at 5pm. Hail Space.
In 1994, Grunge was at its peak, fans of music were wondering where metal was. When Pantera started to make a name for themselves in the early ’90s, another metal band started emerging out of the California bay area metal scene. Vocalist/guitarist Rob Flynn from Oakland, left his original band Vio-lence and started Machine Head. Teaming up with lead guitarist Logan Mader, Bassist Adam Duce and Drummer Chris Kontos. On August 8, 1994 Machine Head unleashed their debut and arguably their best album Burn My Eyes. Combining elements of thrash metal, street metal, hardcore, and groove metal. Machine Head became a force to be reckoned with.
The album starts with a bone crushing anthem “Davidian” which not only sets the tone for the album, but for setting the tone for Machine Head’s career, and for a new generation of metal. “Davidian” contains the fastest and most killer drum fills ever in any metal song and the power rally cry of “let freedom ring with a shotgun blast” has been cemented to fans of metal everywhere. The duel guitars and harmonies of Flynn and Logan have been unmatched ever since.
The album rolls into what would be another iconic song “Old” showcases the street side of Machine Head. The band shows off their Oakland, California background with all the crime stories and gang-life that they dealt with. “Old” paints a powerful picture with moving lyrics and insane riffs. “Old” has been a staple in every live Machine Head show.
You can’t help but feel like such as badass when you listen to this album. As you continue to listen, you get sucked in even more when you listen to “A Thousand Lies,” “None But My Own,” and “Rage To Overcome” before the album gets to the very haunting and disturbing “Death Church”. There’s no dull moment in this album. It’s a master piece from start to finish.
It’s nearly impossible to pick out a “best track” everything stands out. But the song with the most build up and emotion would easily have to be the track “I’m Your God Now”. Later on, the album showcases a disturbing take on reality with “Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies” which is montage of 1993 and 1994 news clips talking about riots, and the need for revolution against the American government. The album closes with “Block” which is loaded with a lot of catchy guitar parts which has become a trademark to Machine Head’s sound.
Overall the album is still a masterpiece. Machine Head has released many fantastic albums but not even 2007’s The Blackening matches how powerful Burn My Eyes was. The original lineup of Rob Flynn, Adam Duce, Logan Mader, and Chris Kontos were only together a very brief two years, but they made it count with Burn My Eyes. A reunion will likely never happen. After Burn My Eyes, three-quarters of that lineup returned for 1997’s …The More Things Change before Machine Head took a turning point where guitarist Logan Mader left the band before The Burning Red was released. Since then, Logan Mader has become an acclaimed producer. He even produced Five Finger Death Punch’s debut The Way of the Fist. And Chris Kontos sat behind the kit for thrash outfit Attitude Adjustment. Adam Duce and Rob Flynn stayed together until last year Flynn fired Duce from the band. Duce, recently settled a lawsuit against the band, Rob Flynn is the only original member of Machine Head left, but the band is still dishing out killer albums and putting on unforgettable shows. But it’s time for the band to start playing more songs off Burn My Eyes because more of these songs need to be heard live.
Until then, let freedom ring with a shotgun blast!
Do yourself a favor and purchase Burn My Eyeshere. It’s a must own for any fan of metal.
Thrash metal outfit Municipal Waste and New York City veteran hardcore group Madball are playing Bogies in Albany tonight in attempt to make a decent draw to potentially save the business, or at least, keep the steady stream of heavy shows coming to the venue.
Upstate Black N Blue, owned by Mike Valente, released the following statement yesterday on their Facebook page.
“Here’s the deal. If you care about hardcore and metal, come out tomorrow night (Thursday) to Bogies for MADBALL AND MUNICIPAL WASTE. This is a big tour. It shouldn’t draw less than 400 people in any city. But if we get less than 200 people tomorrow it shows a steady downward trend in attendance and bogies will have to make a decision about whether we can continue to taking a beating and lose money trying to stay open and provide a home to countless bands and people for underground music. So if you want. Bogies to stay open and you like hardcore and metal you better be there on Thursday (Aug 7)”
Municipal Waste’s latest release The Fatal Feast was released back in 2012 and has been steadily touring in support of that album ever since. Madball’s latest release Hardcore Lives was released just last month.
Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are only $18 at the door. Honestly, this show should be insane. Metal and hardcore fans need to get off their couches for this show and not only support two phenomenal bands, but help save a venue that has done so much for heavy music in the Capital Region.
Over the course of almost 21 years, Mushroomhead has carved out their place as a lasting presence in the ever-changing metal scene. Hard work, relentless passion, and a dedicated fanbase has kept this band going, and they are stronger than ever. Starting out in Cleveland, Ohio, lead singer J-Mann remembers what it was like during the ’70s and ’80s in that area. “It was such an industrial town, seeing that part of it. I remember Detroit falling apart, and signs from the police saying ‘Enter at Your Own Risk’ “. All of that led to J-Mann taking a liking to the aggressive music scene, which would in turn help shape what Mushroomhead would become. “Subversive music intrigued me, anything that challenged society, or was socially aware.” J-Mann took a break from Mushroomhead in 2005, because he was tired of the fight. “Pro-tools bands come and go, they are tourists – it’s lifers versus tourists.” He was jaded by the way the industry was shaping, but it didn’t keep him out music for long.
*Note: Quotes from J-Mann were part of a phone interview with Managing Editor/Photo Editor, Jim Gilbert, earlier in July.
Photo by Jim ‘JT’ Gilbert
Returning to Mushroomhead in 2013, the band released their new album, The Righteous and The Butterfly, which went to number 20 on the billboard charts. J-Mann recalls sitting next to Rev. Jesse Jackson on a radio show in Cleveland when he got the news. “Drinking beer out of a coffee cup at 6:30 in the morning, trying to awkwardly high-five and hug Rev. Jesse Jackson. Crazy. It’s all about the fans and their support.”
With a stint on this year’s Rockstar Mayhem Festival, Mushroomhead is looking forward to a headlining tour in the fall, and then the next record, with a lot of new material already in the works, like a track featuring Randy Blythe from Lamb of God. I got to sit down with Skinny and ST1TCH at the festival when it rolled into Saratoga Springs New York at SPAC, and talk a little about the band, and the passing of Dave Brockie of GWAR, both Mushroomhead and Gwar being very close throughout their careers.
Jeff Ayers: So, first question I gotta know. ‘Rumour Has It’. It was your idea, Skinny, to put that on the record, right? Can you talk about that?
Skinny: Usually, when we start recording a new album, we will screw around with cover tunes, just to get tones basically. When you are setting up drums, and dialing in guitars, it’s just about having a little fun with it. That one came about because of my iPod, I had it on shuffle. Dr. F, our bass player, and myself were working on some masks, and we were using it as a background. Sure enough, that tune came on, and we started talking about Adele, I think she is an amazing singer.
‘s Jeff Ayers and Mushroomhead’s ST1TCH (Photo by Jim ‘JT’ Gilbert)
JA: Yeah, not going to lie, she is a talented artist.
Skinny: Yeah, just incredible. So we were talking about it, and I said what if we put heavy guitars in it? You know like Metallica or something? Dr. F and I were laughing about it, and after a few more beers, we talked ourselves to go back into the studio and do it. We just knocked it out with some simple drums and guitars, just to get reactions from it, and everyone that came in had a chuckle. So we kept just throwing the whole kitchen sink at it for awhile. After a little bit, it turned into something interesting. You definitely know what tune it is, I don’t think we destroyed it too much. It’s very much in the vain of how we did Seal’s ‘Crazy’ in 2003. It was a lot of fun. It was meant to keep things lite during the writing process. Like, when you get frustrated or something, we could be like ‘Let’s screw around with the Adele tune again!”
JA: You need that in a recording process, to keep it fun.
Skinny: Exactly, it needs to be a good time. So when the album was ready, the label, who originally hated the song, asked us “Hey, what happened to the Adele cover?” Now they love it. It ended up morphing so many times that by the end of it they liked it. It was really for us.
ST1TCH: Yea, we almost re-hauled it again at the end too. We turned in a few different versions and that’s why I think they ended up liking it. At first we were all a little on the fence about it, too ,because there were so many other songs that were also good.
Skinny: We did like five or six different cover songs.
JA: Will we have a chance of hearing any of the songs that didn’t make the cut on subsequent records?
Skinny: Hopefully, yeah. There is a bunch of originals that didn’t make the album either, because we just ran out of time.
JA: That is always good though, to have songs in your back pocket for the next record.
ST1TCH: Absolutely.
Skinny: But like I said, the Adele thing ultimately was just for us. At 20 years in, you got have some kind of fun.
ST1TCH: 20 and a half. Mushroomhead is almost old enough to drink. Watch out!
Photo by Jim ‘JT’ Gilbert
JA: Can you guys speak a little on how the game has changed, or how the industry has changed since your beginnings?
Skinny: To bands at our level, like, we missed the ‘record sales’ portion of the industry by three years. Three years earlier and we might not even be here. But, I won’t change anything. For hard-working bands, that have been doing it this long, they are still just working. They punch in, go do their thing, and that’s all they are worried about. It’s funny how, you can get into cycles, like look at us, twelve years later and we are on another festival. Most people might have written us off, but that isn’t the case for the hard-working, honest efforts out there. People tend to know the difference. The rest of the industry though? I would hate to be in a baby band right now.
JA: Is it harder to contend with the ‘baby’ bands out there now?
Skinny: Well there is a lot of them. Oh my god, the saturation of the music industry is incredible. Sometimes, it gets tougher for a band like us. You get people saying, oh they are washed up, or they are gimmick metal. I think that you have to keep pressing on. A lot of bands don’t have that longevity; twenty years, seven albums, four labels. You know what I mean? If they do have that, they already made their millions, they are the big bands. There really isn’t a lot like Mushroomhead, and that’s why it’s always just another day at work for us. I still wake up everyday, like when I was twenty, saying ‘How do I pimp my band? What’s the next thing, how can I push it further?” I feel the exact same passion as when I started.
JA: You have done a lot in your careers, and I am not throwing this around lightly, but you have helped re-invent the idea of heavy music. You aren’t afraid to throw samples in the music, multiple drummers, multiple singers, different instrumentation. Are there any crazy things on the horizon, or things that you have always wanted to integrate into the band you haven’t had the chance to yet?
Skinny: We love working with other people, like guest vocalists on the records. So to see who the next guest might be, and not knowing is a cool thing. But knowing that I do want it, that next tone, that other texture, is exciting.
JA: Musicians are very singular beings. Is it more interesting, or more challenging, being in a band where multiple musicians fill the same roles, like vocalists and drummers, seeing as I am talking to two drummers right now?
Skinny: As long as you can sort through the bad ideas and get to the good ones, I think the more ideas the better. I’d hate to be in a room full of dudes who have no ideas, or no passion.
ST1TCH: We spend a lot of time making sure that it makes sense, too. Not like some bands, where they might have two drummers, but they are playing the same beat. What’s the point? What I do, with water drums, is more about amplifying the show, and percussion. Not muddying it up at all. Just like with three singers, everyone has their parts, and we organize it more like a play, or a theater performance rather than a band going up there and trying to outdo each other. Msuhroomhead is a show, and we are all about entertaining people
Skinny: [in his best Russel Crowe voice] “Are you not entertained!!” That is how I feel up there. We are not rockstars, we are entertainers.
ST1TCH: As soon as that mask goes on, I am not me anymore. I am the character I snap into.
Photo by Jim ‘JT’ Gilbert
JA: Mushroomhead was brought up by GWAR, can we talk a little about Dave’s [Brockie] passing. You guys were close right?
Skinny: Yea. The whole GWAR camp gave us our first national anything. Three days after our first show, we were called up for an opening slot at the Cleveland Agora for those guys. So our second show ever was with GWAR. We got to know Dave and Brad and all those guys, and they asked us to do some support stuff the following year. Regional stuff, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania.
ST1TCH: They were in town filming for the Jerry Springer show then
JA: I remember that!
Skinny: I think that was a few years later, but I don’t know. I remember Jerry introducing GWAR on stage and getting hit with a beer in the face. He was so pissed, he got in his limo and left. [laughs]. But anyway, those guys were really nice to us. We were fortunate to spend some time with Dave on Soundwave 2014 in Australia. It was like a high school reunion. They were on at two o’clock, we were on around 11:30 in the morning, so we shared the same dressing area. So we started drinking, you know, ten in the morning, GWAR and Mushroomhead. You gotta start then! I remember eating kangaroo jerky and drinking jagermeister with Dave.
J-Mann (from phone interview): There were shuttles between all the stages, and Dave joined us for every show. He was brilliant, quick-witted, well-rounded, and that all gets disguised in a big rubber suit. He was such a wonderful guy.
Skinny: On our day off, we all got together and went to visit Bon Scott’s grave [AC/DC]. We went to see his memorial down at the harbour in Perth, and some of us even went to the Indian Ocean together. It was so great to see Dave, and we were very fortunate to spend some of the last days with him. We have some many good memories and great footage of hanging out on stage, and personal photos as well.
JA: It’s great to hear that you got that opportunity with him right before he died.
Skinny: Yea, would you like to see the photo of us at Bon Scott’s memorial? It’s pretty heavy man.
*At this point he took out his phone and showed Jim and I this haunting photo. Skinny was gracious enough to let us use it, another piece of the lasting legacy that Dave was a part of, and a testament to the bond between the two bands.
Mushroomhead and GWAR’s Dave Brockie in Australia at Bon Scott’s (AC/DC) memorial less than two weeks before Dave’s untimely death. Photo by Steve “Skinny” Felton.
Skinny: But, anyway, he was a great guy, funny, talented as hell. He left this earth a better place. We were very fortunate to have him for the short time we did. Because, goddamn, I can listen to those records and laugh my ass off still to this day. Like, we were singing ‘Sexecutioner” out loud the other day, and everyone was taking turns, it was pretty funny.
JA: Have you ever thought about doing a GWAR cover for a Mushroomhead record?
ST1TCH: We were just talking about that actually.
Skinny: Yea, because we were just singing that song recently, we started arguing about which song would be better. So you never know, whenever the time is right maybe we can do something like that. But again, God bless those guys.
JA: So what is the next thing in store for Mushroomhead, then?
Skinny: Touring. We are taking a few weeks off after Mayhem, then we will start getting ready for the Halloween season. That time of year is just us, we have to do that. Probably a nationwide tour, and we are also working on four cities in Russia right now.
JA: Have you been out to Russia recently?
ST1TCH: We were just out there in May.
JA: Well with everything that’s going on over there, be careful.
Skinny: Oh yeah, absolutely. But it is insane for us over there, the fans are great.
ST1TCH: They make us feel like the Beatles.
Skinny: That is no bullshit, they are shaking and crying to get into the shows, it is so nuts.
New Jersey thrash metal outfit Overkill unleashed their 17th album, White Devil Armory, a couple of weeks ago and could possibly be the best metal album of the year. It is a nonstop thrill ride from start to finish. Overkill has been overlooked for many years because they were never considered the “big four” of thrash metal. White Devil Armory makes the argument that it should be rebranded as such.
The album starts out with the intro “XDM” which is just a short but haunting instrumental tune. Then all of a sudden BOOM! the album gets in your face and makes your ears bleed with “Armorist”. Overkill has never sounded better and showed no signs of slowing down. Armorist is a song made to be played live.
The album never slows down. White Devil Armory continues to hold the pedal on the gas with “Down to the Bone” and “Pig” before going into the six minute bone shattering anthem “Bitter Pill” which is the lead single off the album. Dave Linsk’s guitar solos are groovy as hell and the vocals of Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth are as fiend as ever. But what stands out the most is the drumming from Ron Lipnicki. My arms and legs get tired just listening to those drums pound.
Another track that really stands out is “Freedom Rings” a real thrash masterpiece as well as closing track “In The Name”.
Overall, White Devil Armory is an album that cannot be overlooked. Most deffinately a candidate for best metal album of 2014. Mabe one of the best thrash metal albums of the decade too. There are no light or slow tracks; It’s nonstop thrash, very heavy album. Overkill clearly has a lot left in the tank. It’s time to really reevaluate who the “big four” of thrash metal really are.
After countless of shows over the past decade, Orange County metalcore outfit Bleeding Through played their last show this past Sunday night in front of a home crowd in Anaheim, California. The band posted the following message through their Facebook page:
“For the last 15 years of this bands career we just want to say it has been a dream come true and none of this could have happened without your undying support to our music. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for allowing us to be ourselves and live through this music. BT has gotten to the point that our music will never die and there will always be #bleedingthrough. To the best fans in the world. You are family!”
Guitarist Dave Nassie also posted:
“I would like to thank all the band members, crew, family, managers, agents, and record companies for all the amazing memories. I always loved being in Bleeding Through with all my heart. Good-bye and thank you for all that you enabled me to accomplish. I feel blessed to have shared the stage and played music with you. Dave“
Bleeding Through finished their career with seven studio albums.
Back in 1993, ‘nu metal’ was barely a thing in the musical landscape. But five young guys from Bakersfield, California started a band that would become the powerhouse metal band Korn. From their debut self-titled album which gained instant success, to the slew of consistent chart topping albums for the last 20 years, they have been a lasting force in the heavy music scene.
The members remained constant until 2005 when Brian ‘Head’ Welch decided to leave the band because, in part, to his addiction to drugs. He then found religion, cleaned up, wrote books and started new bands. In 2013 he officially rejoined Korn, bringing the guitar double team of Brian and James ‘Munky’ Shaffer back to full strength. At the recent Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Saratoga Springs, I got to sit down with Head and talk about what the road back to Korn was like, and how it feels to be back.
Brian ‘Head’ Welch: Life is good, man. You know there is always something to do on this tour. We wake up, eat and then we are busy like crazy. I am also working on a new book, and I am way behind on it, so it takes any free second I have. There are other bands we want to see, on the small stages too. Then we have meet-and-greet, and after the show we are doing after parties. So we have like an hour to shower off, and then we meet like a hundred people every night and then it’s bedtime.
Jeff Ayers: How are those after parties? We heard that some are thrown by other bands.
BHW: Ours is more of a one with our fans kinda thing. We hang out, play some music, take pictures. It’s like a meet-and-greet, but you can buy drinks and hang out in a different atmosphere. There is a Q and A too.
JA: That sounds cool.
BHW: Yea, I don’t really like it. It’s a cool thing, but I was under the impression it was going to be the whole band there. Jonathan [Davis] has his kids out [on this tour] so he is never there. So the vibe is always, “Where’s Jonathan? Where’s Jonathan?” So I am not going to do it again, unless he signs an agreement that he is going to be there. I mean, I understand, he has his kids. But you know, I got a different impression about these after parties.
JA: What’s the new book going to be about?
BHW: It’s about my eight years away from Korn, and my road back to Korn. So it is about me, trying to be the normal person, trying to be dad, and getting my life together while breaking apart a few times a year. I was always wasted the whole time before, and I couldn’t run to that stuff anymore, but I wanted to. A few times. I went through a lot of stuff, and I am writing all that stuff down. It’s flowing out of me, so I think it’s meant to be.
JA: It has to be cathartic, too, to be able to get that onto the page. I am a writer myself, and getting hardship, pain, and loss written down can be helpful and help with the healing
BHW: Yea, you are right. But it is hard too, I mean, I’m feeling it too. I had this episode with my daughter, during the time we [Love and Death] were fighting with this label. They were stringing us along, and they had done it a few times before that, and then they were like “We are going to pass”. So I said “I’m done!” and threw my phone and broke it, but I had this episode with my daughter because she got hit by the phone on accident. It was the worst day, I felt like I might lose her. It has been hard at times, too.
JA: In that eight year recovery, is there a defining moment? That pinnacle moment that smacked you in the face and made life clearer?
BHW: I’d say when I finally hit the day, well I don’t know if it was a day or a time period, but when you hit a place in life where you step back and go, ‘Everything just changed right now’ whether it is a new a career or something. When I went through my bankruptcy, I hit a place where I realized ‘I just went through all of that for a reason.” I faced every fear that I had in life, I faced every emotion that was caused by my drug addiction, every bad thing that I could face, I did, and made it through. Facing those things actually cleansed me from them, so I am new man. It felt like for a time there was a curse on my life. I wrote my first book, and that was cool, but I then started a label, which failed, then I lost my house, then people were trying to sue me left and right. Then I moved to Nashville, I started a new band that wasn’t successful, and it was just like ‘C’mon man!’. But [looking back], it was all a process to make the person I wanted to be, this new man. Then I entered into peace right there, and I have been good ever since.
JA: Can I ask what happened recently in Europe? You guys, Love and Death, were just on tour and you had to cancel dates, didn’t you get sick?
BHW: Yea I had a kidney stone, and had surgery. I was in three different hospitals, called the paramedics twice, once in an airport, once in a hotel. Right in front of the Russian fans, it was just bad. I didn’t know what was going on, because they initially told me I didn’t have a kidney stone, but then my gall bladder started failing. Then my kidneys started hurting really bad. The doctors were just messing around, and I ended up having surgery. I had to Google translate with my surgeon. I asked, “I still feel like I am going to die, we had the surgery, what’s wrong?” Then he would Google translate back to me, it was rough.
JA: Wow, that sounds crazy!
BHW: Yea, remember how I told you everything got better after that certain day? Well that was challenging. But, after going through everything I had before, when I faced the kidney stone I was O.K.. Even though I was in extreme pain, I was fine inside, I knew I could get through it.
JA: You took those eight years off from Korn, now that you are back for a little over a year, how has it been?
BHW: 2014 has been great. 2013 was a little challenging. I came in from running the show at Love and Death. Even though it was a tiny show, it was my show, so I was making all the business decisions, saving tons of money on flights, and hotels and stuff. So I came back here, and I was all about trying to do things different, business wise. I talked with the guys, and was like “Why is this happening? You know how much money we could save, etc?” So I would let it eat me up inside. I was treating the tour manager pretty bad, and he’s been doing this for fifteen years, and he has his ways. He doesn’t work on the things that save nickels, he works on the things that save lots of money. I was sitting there worrying about the nickels, so it took me awhile to balance that. I had a conversation with him eventually where I apologized, because this was a big change for me and had to adjust. Once I got past that though, I have had a good year.
JA: Your new record, The Paradigm Shift, is doing great. You just came out with that the end of last year, what is the plan for after Mayhem Fest?
BHW: Well, I wish I had confirmation to tell you about this thing we are working on, but I can’t say it yet. We are looking to do a really nice tour in the fall. I thought it was just going to be a few shows to close out the year, festivals and stuff like that. But this thing came up, and I am really excited for it to come together. So big tour in the fall, and then I don’t know about next year. We haven’t really gotten that far yet. I think it would be good to take a couple of months off [from touring]. You know, do a couple of cool shows, but everybody just go away for a little bit. Give everybody a break, the fans a break, the band a break, and then start writing the next record. We will see what happens.
JA: Do you guys write music individually and then bring it together or is the writing process a collaboration?
BHW: The big thing with Korn, is we like to get into a room, and flesh it all out together. But we also write at home to bring ideas to those sessions. Definitely have to do that, because the famous thing we like to talk about is when we are holding our guitars and staring at our feet on the floor, and we try to do stuff and it sounds like we are beginning teenagers all over again. Looking around the room asking, “Is this cool?” [laughs]. That’s desperate, so playing on our own helps to stop that.
JA: You guys have been playing now for a long time, and being on the road with the same guys over and over again, it can put strains on dealing with each other. Do you guys handle that pretty well as a band?
BHW: Obviously, humans are humans. Even the people you love will get on your nerves, and it will happen out here on the road too. But you learn to just walk away, and then come back. That’s all is. There are some days, like four weeks into the tour, and you have a great night with everybody and you are on the bus just laughing. On the hard moments, you just walk away and try and go refuel by yourself. At this point, we all know how to do that really well.
The lead up to this album was a bit of a mystery. Details about the band outside of the lineup were kept from public knowledge. They seemed to appear out of nowhere during all of the Lambesis news coverage. The project was unveiled with a series of short videos posted online. It wasn’t until the release of lead single “All Rise” that anyone had a clear idea of what the band would sound like. The choice to debut with that song was the perfect one as it’s the strongest cut on the record and really does sum up what Wovenwar sounds like. As the release of the self titled record loomed, two more songs were released, finally giving fans a clear understanding that Wovenwar might have something special up their sleeve. And they certainly do.
