“Getting into action generates inspiration. Don’t cop out waiting for inspiration to get you back into action. It won’t! … I leave you with one thought: It’s not a compliment when someone tells you you’re a survivor. It’s bullshit. We’re all survivors till we die. Get out there, go for it, don’t be afraid. Be a winner — that’s what it’s all about.”
See You on the Other Side was the first time a Korn album felt “different” for a lot of fans. Their seventh studio album, their first with Virgin Records, and their first as a four-piece, without guitarist Brian “Head” Welch. It was also their last with founding drummer David Silveria, who left the band as the album’s tour cycle came to a close.
Since they arrived on the scene in 1994 with their eponymous debut album, Korn have been credited as defining the parameters of the nu-metal subgenre. They peaked commercially with 1998’s Follow the Leader and 1999’s Issues. In early 2005, they were in a rare position for any band. Having completed a seven-album deal with Epic Records, they were basically free to go whatever they wanted. Partnering with EMI, they signed to Virgin Records. This deal was one of the most unique and innovative in the industry at the time. In exchange for a share in album profits, touring and merchandise revenue, as well as a thirty-percent stake in licensing, ticket sales, and other revenue sources, Virgin paid Korn USD $25 million.
And then on 22 February 2005, it was announced that Head was leaving the band. A statement read:
“Korn has parted ways with guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch, who has chosen Jesus Christ as his saviour, and will be dedicating his musical pursuits to that end. Korn respects Brian’s wishes, and hopes he finds the happiness he’s searching for.”
If you weren’t around for this, it may be hard to appreciate what a big deal it was. It was like Geri leaving the Spice Girls! Head was gone, leaving Korn fans in a state of “What the fuck just happened?”
“Success brings an asymmetry,” the philosopher Nassim Taleb wrote in Antifragile. “You now have a lot more to lose than to gain.”
And asymmetries exist in everything. To lose a key player at this point in their career was more of a big deal than it would have been if he’d quietly left in their early days. Heaps of bands have that one member that was on a demo but either left or was fired when they get signed, right? Twenty-million albums sold, it feels a bit different.
Still, Head had his reasons. One being that he didn’t appreciate the direction the band were going in. He didn’t like the band’s video for “Word Up!,” nor was he keen on the decision to hire hit songwriting team the Matrix to produce their seventh album. And that was only the professional side of things. Personally, he wanted to be the kind of father his daughter could respect, and he felt his role in Korn wasn’t conducive to this. But the biggest reveal was his addiction to methamphetamines, and his struggle to kick the habit while still in the band.
“I was addicted to methamphetamines and tried everything … rehab, stuff on the Internet, but nothing helped me kick it,” he revealed to a congregation at Valley Bible Fellowship in Bakersfield, California. “I was trying on my own to quit and couldn’t do it. I wanted to die. No one knew what I was going through. I could not quit. Church was my last shot.”
So for Head, his newfound faith didn’t mix with being in Korn. Then there was a brief back-and-forth in the media between Head and frontman Jonathan Davis, and some weird statements about rapper 50 Cent. But that all died down eventually. Following his departure, Head released two autobiographies, a solo album, and formed the band Love and Death.
He did his thing, the remaining members of Korn did theirs. They hit the studio, and keeping with their tradition of a revolving door approach to choosing producers, the band took the unusual step of hiring the Matrix, songwriters for chart-topping acts like Avril Lavigne and Hilary Duff. The idea was that the production team worked more as arrangers, working variously with individual and group members. Atticus Ross (later of Nine Inch Nails and How to Destroy Angels) and Davis himself handled the bulk of production duties. The band wanted to start fresh, and this was the best way to do it.
Previous Korn albums were conceived with the simple question of “How heavy can we get?” Fans and the general metalhead population judge an album by how the songs sound live. But this time, the band’s approach was completely different. This was a studio album. Live shows are a natural environment and you get the songs raw (you hope); studios are unnatural and allow one to stretch a little in terms of production and mixing. And the band made full use of studio technology to create their new, otherworldly sound.
And yes, beginning their first album without a founding member like Head was a challenge, but the band eventually hit their stride.
“There was a moment when I was really panicking,” guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer said in an interview with MTV News. “I was like, ‘Oh shit. Am I gonna be able to do this?’ But after a couple of weeks of writing I really focused and just poured all of my energy and all my creativity into not worrying about, ‘Is he coming back? Is this gonna fall apart?’ I just concentrated on the songwriting, blocked out everything else and started to come up with some great riffs, some great songs and the other bandmembers started patting me on the back and telling me what a great job [I’m doing]. They started to believe in my ability to become the only guitarist in the band.”
“We still wanted to be Korn,” Davis said. “We just wanted to look at it a different way and have some outside people come in — people who are musicians and could help us do things we know we wouldn’t usually do or hear things that we wouldn’t usually hear and make an album that would trip people out.”
Recording took place in Davis’s home studio, where the band had recorded Take a Look in the Mirror. Davis had also scored the Queen of the Damned soundtrack there with Richard Gibbs.
Still rocking his Ibanez K7 and prototypes for future APEX models, Munky would do all the guitar work for the album. Certainly a leap forward, since he would have been so used to writing with Head. But then, being the sole guitar player in Korn gave Munky more room to get really freaky with different amps and effects; you can hear all kinds of synths and modellers in addition to the requisite wall of Mesa Boogie and Diezel amplifiers. Tight, angular, and experimental are words I use to describe his overall tone.
Davis explored themes of death, excess, addiction, and disillusionment, in a more theatrical manner than previous releases. He also made heavy use of vocal processing and multi-tracking in the mix, reinforcing the album’s “nightmare carnival” atmosphere.
David Silveria combined live drums with triggered samples to create an otherworldly sense of precision, like a hybrid of organism and machine.
Bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu’s rhythms were juxtaposed with walls of synths and loops, among other forms of studio wizardry.
The product was an album that was more experimental and far more theatrical than anything they’d done in the past. If the band’s early material was a mix of Faith No More, Helmet, and Prong, then See You on the Other Side was strongly influenced by Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral and Marilyn Manson’s Antichrist Superstar.
“It’s funky, it’s heavy, it’s dark, and sometimes, industrial-tinged,” Davis said of the album’s musical direction. “Working with so many different people and everything, it’s made it out to be a really well-rounded album of a lot of different things. It’s definitely Korn, it’s definitely groove-oriented. But it’s our most experimental album to date. We’re very excited. We’re all sitting around, when we listen to it, looking at each other going, ‘I can’t believe that’s us.’ I think people are really going to dig it.”
“Twisted Transistor” was the lead single, catchy as hell. The music video — featuring rappers Lil John, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and David Banner — parodying the band in the confines of a musical climate where sales and image take precedence over art. “Politics” takes aim at all manner of moral hypocrisy and societal manipulation, not explicitly directed at any one party or ideology. “10 or a 2-Way” and “Love Song” showcase the album’s “studio as an instrument” ethos, with densely layered production, and lyrics that combine dysfunction and catharsis with introspection and the weirdly sexual, a constant back-and-forth of pleasure and pain. What really stood out about those tracks is that the drums follow the bass, whereas in the past it was the other way around. Maybe the combination of live drums and trigger samples changed things, I don’t know, but I thought it was very cool. “Tearjerker” was the album’s closer, stripping away the electronics for something more personal. A nice way to bring things back to Korn’s signature, angst-fuelled sound.
But it was “Coming Undone” that was the album’s biggest hit. Built on a stomping, hypnotic groove, it calls to mind the sound of “We Will Rock You.” In fact, the band have often segued from their track into a cover of Queen’s mega-anthem, to soaring cheers from the crowd.
“What looks so strong’s so delicate” is the chorus hook from Davis. Progressing beyond a fixed sound and venturing into new territory often alienates fans, but Korn have always seemed to thrive on the path less travelled.
“Everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist,” Marcus Aurelius said almost two-thousand years ago. “Think of how many changes you’ve already seen; the world is nothing but change.”
Think of the fickle nature of the music industry. Korn’s grip on the mainstream gave them superstar status at one point, but it lasted about as long as teen pop, boy bands, or grunge. By 2005, nu-metal was well and truly dead and buried.
“Assume formlessness,” Robert Greene says in The 48 Laws of Power. “By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed.”
Nothing was certain for the boys from Bakersfield. Key players leaving, radio and television shifting their gaze elsewhere, and the general attention span of audiences… you had to be on the move, constantly. To “assume formlessness” is to give yourself room to manoeuvre, and not be locked into a single system, process, or strategy.
“You need perfect robustness for a crack not to end up crashing the system,” Nassim Taleb wrote. “Given the unattainability of perfect robustness, we need a mechanism by which the system regenerates itself continuously by using, rather than suffering from, random events, unpredictable shocks, stressors, and volatility.”
And that was precisely what Korn did as a four-piece with a new-ish sound. On 6 December 2005, See You on the Other Side was released, and it quickly became a commercial success. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, with more than 220,000 copies sold in its first week, and ultimately going platinum with 1.2 million copies sold. Its success was driven largely by “Twisted Transistor” being placed in heavy rotation on radio and music television.
I bought my copy on CD at JB Hi-Fi in Melbourne’s CBD, back in the days when JB was actually a music store, and not just another outlet for Funko Pops and air fryers. I got the special edition with a Korn patch, and a second disc with five really cool bonus tracks — “It’s Me Again,” “Eaten Up Inside,” and “Last Legal Drug (Le Petit Mort),” and two remixes of Twisted Transistor. Also, if you played the disc on your computer, you’d find two live videos of “Twisted Transistor” and “Hypocrites.” Remember, this was before the YouTube revolution, when quality copies of this kind of media was hard to come by. So it made the physical copy all the more worthwhile.
Critics were mixed as usual, but what did the fans think of the new album? Most of us loved it and were simpatico with the overall sound. One or two would scratch their heads and go “Yeah, I don’t know…” Something I never could have predicted was a few people who weren’t fans of the band really liking it. That took me by surprise, but I wasn’t complaining.
Korn and Virgin really fired up their promotions engine for See You on the Other Side. “Twisted Transistor” was a hit, riding the line between heavy music and pop. After a string of European concerts, the band flew some contest winners from London to New York City, even playing “Here to Stay” live… mid-flight… thirty-thousand feet in the air. Soon after touching down, they played a show at NYC’s Hammerstein Ballroom, the same venue where they launched 2002’s Untouchables. Four new tracks were debuted to the Stateside audience — “Twisted Transistor,” “Coming Undone,” “Hypocrites,” and “Liar.” The remainder of the setlist was a collection of hits. This concert was later released on the band’s DVD, Live on the Other Side.
And that was just a promotional leg, to stir up anticipation. The See You on the Other Side World Tour took Korn all over North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe, before going across the States again with the resurrected Family Values Tour. They went all over the world, but the overall tour cycle was actually pretty short, lasting a little over six months, as the band were eager to return to the studio to record more material.
For the first North American leg, Korn would tap Mudvayne and 10 Years as openers. They kicked off on 24 February 2006 in the band’s hometown of Bakersfield, California. They were met with a ceremony by Mayor Harvey Hall, who declared the day “Korn Day.” They even had a street named after them. Davis, Munky, Fieldy and David were joined by a host of percussionists and a keyboardist, while former Otep guitarist Rob Patterson handled rhythm guitar. Not as a full-time member, but as a touring player. Since Head’s departure, until his return in 2013, the band had a rule that any additional guitarists would only be touring members. Christian Olde Wolbers of Fear Factory, Clint Lowery of Sevendust, Shane Gibson, and Wes Geer of Hed PE all had stints playing with Korn on tour from 2005 until Head’s 2013 return.
And the shows were well-received by fans. While the new material was heavily produced and processed on record, they still managed to gel onstage with the band’s earlier material, thanks to the work of the core members, and additional musicians — Patterson on guitar, Zac Baird (keyboards and backing vocals), Michael Jochum (percussion), and Kalen Chase (additional percussion and backing vocals). These guys wore animal masks to match the album’s artwork by David Stoupakis, maybe to set them apart from the OGs by categorisation. Somehow, Korn had made the impossible possible and become an even bigger band of misfits.
Here in Australia, they came with Disturbed, Hatebreed, and 10 Years. I saw them at Rod Laver Arena, and it might be the only time I’ve gone to a show loving every band on the bill.
On the European festival circuit, they would rub elbows with the likes of Soulfly and countless other heavy acts. That was before Davis contracted a rare blood disorder that threatened to end his life, forcing the band to cancel their remaining European dates. Although, Munky, Fieldy and David manned their instruments at the UK’s Download Festival with a revolving door of guest vocalists. Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour, Matt Heafy of Trivium, Benji Webbe of Skindred, and M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold all lent their vocal talents to an abridged setlist, making for one of the more unique shows of the band’s career.
The disorder has a name, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. I don’t know if I’ll ever pronounce it correctly, but basically it prevents blood from clotting normally due to a low platelet count. It was brought on by an allergic reaction to medication.
“I started getting these weird bruises all over my body about two weeks ago,” Davis said. “If I continued to headbang on stage, I could have had a brain haemorrhage and dropped dead on the spot.”
I don’t know what it is about Europe, but for the longest time, whenever Korn toured the continent, something bad would always happen. Someone would get sick, Davis would almost die, it was always something. Not enough Pizza Hut or Del Taco around, perhaps. Davis recovered, and the band hit the road again in July for the Family Values Tour 2006.
Family Values was a touring music festival that the band started in 1998. Ozzy Osbourne had Ozzfest, Megadeth had Gigantour, and Slayer had the Unholy Alliance Tour. Korn had their Family Values, named to poke fun at conservative evangelical types who take issue with everything people enjoy. The inaugural tour featured Korn, Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, Orgy, Rammstein, and Incubus. The 2006 instalment featured ten bands across two stages. It was also the first installment to feature co-headliners, in Korn and Deftones. Stone Sour, Flyleaf, and Dir en Grey rounded out the main stage.
It also put to rest years of tension between Korn and the Deftones’ frontman Chino Moreno. Both bands started out at the same time, forming a friendship in their early days. But as Korn’s profile skyrocketed, fans and critics seemed to make endless comparisons between the two bands. This frustrated Moreno severely, as he understandably wanted the Deftones to be their own thing, to have their own identity.
“We’ve had a crazy relationship because we’ve always distanced ourselves from Korn so we could be our own band,” Moreno said. “Their first record came out before ours, so it was always like we were following in their footsteps. And I think we had to do that, and now it’s time to just have fun. We don’t care so much about that stuff anymore. We just want to play with friends.”
Moreno even took the stage with Korn for a rousing performance of Ice Cube’s “Wicked,” which first appeared on 1996’s Life Is Peachy.
It was great everyone was friends on this tour, but things took a dark turn in Atlanta, when a fan was beaten over a baseball cap during the Deftones’ set. The victim, thirty-year-old Andy Richardson, was later pronounced dead as a result of his injuries.
“Korn are appalled at the actions of these men and are imploring anyone who witnessed this senseless act or has any information about the attack to please immediately come forward by contacting local authorities,” a statement read.
Imagine, you just want to go to a concert and have a good time with friends. And then something like this happens. These people have families, people they care about, who care about them. If you’re an artist, all you want is to play a show, connect with your fans, and do well enough to pay the bills. The last thing you want is to find out that this has happened. It shouldn’t.
The defendant, Michael Scott-Axley, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault, and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and ten years probation. Other than that, the tour went more or less fine, concluding on 22 September in Virginia Beach. That concluded the tour cycle for See You on the Other Side.
Korn saw out 2006 by performing at MTV Studios in Times Square, New York, as part of the network’s Unplugged series. The band played a complete fourteen-song set, complete with appearances by the Cure, Amy Lee of Evanescence, and a Japanese taiko ensemble. Not all songs made it to the CD release, and the album debuted at number nine on the Billboard chart, with a modest 51,000 copies sold.
To me, See You on the Other Side was fresh and exciting, to say the least. It’s not their best album, but given the place the band were in, maybe it had to be the way it was. It took a few listens, but I grew to appreciate the experimental nature and overall direction of the album. With Head’s return in May of 2013, it’s easy to see that era in retrospect as a bridge between the classic Korn we all knew, and the band that exists today.
You could see a shedding of an old identity and a creative rebirth through a combination of old and new studio technology. This carried over to the Untitled album (2007), Korn III: Remember Who You Are (2010), and The Path of Totality (2011). Some call that era the band’s midlife crisis. Maybe there’s some truth to that. If you went in looking for the next “Freak on a Leash” or “Here to Stay,” then you were better off with the classic albums. But if you listened with an open mind and ear, you may have been pleasantly surprised.
See You on the Other Side was different. So was Untouchables. So were Issues and Follow the Leader. So is everything by everyone, and there’s always that hardline faction demanding that every next thing be just like the first. But as a band, you deal with that and push through, along with all the other challenges and changes thrown at you.
“Nothing happens to the wise man against his expectation,” Seneca once wrote to a friend. “Nor do all things turn out for him as he wished but as he reckoned — and above all he reckoned that something could block his plans.”
Davis, Munky, Fieldy, and Silveria were taking a risk with See You on the Other Side, for sure. But they also really stepped up their game as musicians, and I’ve always applauded the audacity of what they’d pulled off. Line-up changes can decimate bands, and when an artist changes their sound in any way, accusations of “selling out” tend to follow. But for a band so commonly associated with a certain sound, Korn have always had an unusual ability to not only prepare for disruption and setbacks, but work all of that into their albums. And the real fans — not just the trendy ones — seem to embrace it.
How does one manage to do that? To not only manage expectations, but continue to build and thrive? Only the Bakersfield Boys could be so crazy.
Is there a lesson in all this? I don’t know, but I like to think that in times of flux and upheaval (that only increases on an almost daily basis), that kind of flexibility and the ability to keep your head on straight may be key to survival in all things.
Lawrence Deveney 