KORN Transcript
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010–
CONFRONT: So how has your day been so far?
Ray: Fantastic!
CONFRONT: Yeah?! Enjoying any shows?
Ray: Yeah, I checked out…. Who’s that band – Oh! Airbourne! I’m a huge AC/DC fan and they remind me of them.
CONFRONT: It’s true, I was with a friend who actually said the exact same thing.
Ray: Yeah, I’m gonna go check out Avenged Sevenfold in a bit. My friend Mike Portnoy, from the band Dream Theater, is the drummer today. So definitely going to check them out. But, yeah, it’s good to bring ‘Mayhem’ out this way because it’s only been in the States. This is the only out of country thing we’re going to be doing.
CONFRONT: Oh really?
Ray: Yeah!
CONFRONT: What would you say are the major differences between touring at festival shows like this compared to venue shows?
Ray: This is like a big brotherhood. Everyone knows everyone. We’ve all been on the road forever so when you’re out here like this, it’s cool because the turnouts are amazing. We sold out 5 shows in the States and all the others are borderline sold out. We did a Jagermeister tour a couple months ago and it was great because the intimacy was there. We were doing theaters and small arenas and it’s awesome to have people right there in your face. I like big crows but I also love smaller shows too.
CONFRONT: For sure. That’s good. Just going a bit deeper into everything, the music industry has really been changing these last few years and it’s kind of going away from record sales. How does that affect you and your band?
Ray: Well, I’ve only been in this band for 3 years now, but they’ve been very successful. Having a longevity of a career like they have- 17 years and having sold almost 40 million records- that’s quite an accomplishment. To keep that going in a day and age where kids don’t even know they’re stealing stuff; they rip a record and they’re like ‘what?’ It’s kind of cool that they want it and still want to hear it, but they don’t understand that we’re working very hard to give the music. And it’s not that much! 12 or 13 bucks is not that much if you see how much blood and sweat goes into it. It’s crazy. So, to me, I really hail the people that go out and buy records. I’m a music fan, I go out and buy records every single day or I download something on Itunes, no problem. I know what the artist has gone through, but in return, they come to the shows which is great. Just today we signed 400 KORN CDs at the roadrunner booth.
CONFRONT: That’s amazing
Ray: Yeah it’s awesome that someone can hold the CD in their hand. Of course it’s affecting sales the way things are ripped, but at the same time I look at it in a positive way, the fact that kids still want to hear it and they come to the shows. If I can say anything about it though, it’s to support the bands that you love because they’re working hard for you to bring you music. Maybe they’re even altering your life, I mean I go to these meet and greets for Korn and girls are just crying in front of John. People are like “I survived because of KORN”. When music has that much power, to change and alter a life, that’s worth 12.99, I’m sorry! *laughs* But we’re going through changes. It’ll never die, though. People keep saying the industry is going to die but it’s not dying. Yeah, we’ve lost a lot of record stores but it’s the evolution of it. We’re going to the digital world, we’ve been in the digital world now for a while… But someone has to do something to make it so you’re not necessarily stealing the record. I don’t know whether that’s going to happen because it’s so easy and accessible, but we’ll see.
CONFRONT: So you don’t download records, or anything like that?
Ray: I have never ripped an illegal record in my entire life, not one.
CONFRONT: That’s very impressive
Ray: I mean, I’ve had buddies give me CDs… but I actually feel guilty like I cheated on my girlfriend or something! So I go out and I feel so bad and just go to Best Buy or whatever and just buy it. It’s weird.
CONFRONT: But you just really understand what it’s about
Ray: Exactly. This is all I’ve been doing professionally for 22 years. Sometimes an album comes about so easy but sometimes it’s such a long process… but to buy the song it’s just instantaneous. Everybody wants it NOW, FASTER. That’s great and all, but when you go to the doctors, is it free? When you call the plummer is it free when he comes to fix your toilet? No! And that’s way more expensive! I understand both ways though, I don’t downplay people who download stuff, I just say acknowledge what you’re doing.
CONFRONT: Definitely. Well just kind of in light of all of that, what advice do you have for up and coming bands who are trying to make it out there?
Ray: GO TO LAW SCHOOL! *laughs* Just kidding.
CONFRONT: Can you imagine…?! *laughs*
Ray: You have to be so passionate and it has to come from so deep in your heart. You have to be willing to sacrifice your family… Everyone gets into the business for wrong reasons sometimes. They think they’re going to be rich rock stars tomorrow and that’s not always true. I’ve had every extreme: I’ve played a Bar mitzvah, a wedding and a stadium… and everything in between, and I never took it for granted. I’m very fortunate to be able to make a living playing music. But up and coming bands need to go out and network, meet people and they have to really be on top of the game. You can’t just sit around and wait for something to happen. You’ve got to go after it, you really have to dive in. I don’t care if you’re playing a club in front of 20 people on a Tuesday night at 8PM. Somebody might see you that could spread the word to another person, that could take that gig to another level. The networking is so much of it. Also, having a good producer to work on your songs and maybe take them up to another level… There are a lot of musicians out there that want the same thing and do the same thing. So what’s going to separate your band from the other Joe Shmoe’s, you know? *laughs*
CONFRONT: For sure! So, in your opinion, live shows are really important?
Ray: Yeah absolutely. Right before we did this massive tour I played the Viper Room in front of 100 people and I just love it. I helped out a friends’ band called The Binges from LA, they’re a great up & coming band who lost their drummer and I’m such a fan of their band that I knew all their music. They were like “I can’t afford you!” and I was like “But I’m not even going to charge you anything!” I’m a music lover and I played the show because I love them and wanted to help them out. It was just awesome because some of us out there are like that. There’s no time for egos and attitudes and all that crap. If you have an ego or an attitude, get the hell out of the music business because there is no time for that anymore at all.
CONFRONT: Definitely. Do you have any regrets so far in your career or anything you still hope to achieve?
Ray: I don’t think I have any regrets. There’s a lot of things that I wish the path had been a little bit more guided into a better direction, but you don’t really know that. Any move you make or any choice you make, you don’t know if it’s going to lead to the right direction. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes, dive in and hope that it’s going to be all good. There are some decisions that I made that I should have been a little bit smarter about business-wise but they got me to where I’m at now so I can’t complain.
CONFRONT: That’s true, that’s a good way to look at it. How do you think the metal scene has evolved in the past few years?
Ray: The metal scene…. I don’t get a lot of stuff to be honest with you. There’s a lot of bands out there that are trying to be pissed off and they’re writing these crazy lyrics and singing like cookie monster and trying to be so…. Well, I mean I’m not naming names or anything but I just don’t feel it.
CONFRONT: *laughing* oh for sure!
Ray: I don’t care if you’re playing jazz or metal or whatever, music has to move the individual. It has to make sense. It has to be something. Don’t just do it because “hey, the sound like this? We can do that too! Check this out!” you know? Have something to say and really mean it. To me a lot of the stuff has been serviced. I’m not saying there aren’t any good bands out there, there’s a lot of great talent. We’re on tour with a lot of good bands right now. I’m good friends with Five Finger Death Punch and I’ve never been exposed to Lamb Of God before, they’re really kicking my ass out here. Some bands are still around because they’re the real deal. I don’t know how it evolved, but I guess it comes in weird circles. It’s okay to emulate your favorite band or to have influences off them and inspirations, but don’t try to sound exactly like them… that’s so ‘cookie cutter’. The record labels look at it like ‘yeah, you’re that and we’ll try to put you in that category’ but it doesn’t always work that way.
CONFRONT: Yeah definitely. Well, I guess you were kind of talking about it just now, but do you have any pet peeves in the industry?
Ray: *laughs* Yeah, there’s a lot of snakes out there, like anything. You’ve got to watch your back. People are always trying to take advantage of you in some shape, way or form. Unfortunately if the world couldn’t tell lies we’d all be dead right now. It’s just the way it goes. That’s my biggest pet peeve though. Idiots in the business, people with egos or attitudes. There’s really no time for it. People come off like they’re better than someone else even though their career could be over in… 3 weeks!
CONFRONT: You literally never know.
Ray: Exactly, you NEVER know. It’s like, you’re living in your mom’s basement thinking “Awwww, what am I going to do?!” Those of us that are lifers like myself, that have done everything in between – like, I’ve taught drum lessons, played on movie soundtracks or whatever and I’m fortunate enough to be in KORN now which have been one of my favorite bands since they came out – to see someone like them, coming from such a small town, all they knew is what they played and what they had in front of them. They just played from the heart. It’s so amazing to appeal to that many people and to change lives, that’s pretty powerful.
CONFRONT: So what’s next for you guys once you’re down your current tour?
Ray: Well we’re pushing this new record right now, KORN 3: Remember Who You Are, which just came out on RoadRunner Records… We just did this crop circle thing in Bakersfield which is going to come out on DVD. HD.net and MySpace Music you can watch it, but like I said it’s going to come out on DVD. It’s got about 6 new songs on it which we’re trying to promote as much as we can. We’re also going to Europe to promote the record over there. Also going to Japan, Australia, South Africa… all those crazy places we went to in 2008. This band really doesn’t stop.
CONFRONT: Yeah, seriously!
Ray: We’re really hungry and passionate. I mean, everyone has families now so it’s not as crazy as it used to be but everyone is still into the music and we all still really want to play which is awesome.
CONFRONT: You were just talking about the new album which you guys just recently released, right?
Ray: Yes, exactly.
CONFRONT: What would you say makes it different from past work of the band?
Ray: Well the original producer Ross Robinson is back into the folds, hence the name Korn 3 – it’s his third records. So the original Korn members, it’s like a family reunion. Korn owns a very prestigious studio in Hollywood and the drum room is like a gymnasium… and Ross, the producer, was like “you guys are way too comfortable, you’re going to go in the guitar booth” which is only like 13 x 12, it’s this little closet. He shoved us all in there, literally instruments overlapping instruments, and he was just jumping around screaming and punching symbols and it was brutal. It wasn’t comfortable at all. If you looked comfortable, he’d make you uncomfortable. He wanted to bring KORN back to the core roots – not to sound like the first 2 records, but just the way they did it. Hungry, in that small garage, no record deal. Drummers mostly use click tracks in the studio and I couldn’t use the click track. We went back to 2 inch tape, very old school. Personally I’m tired of all the perfect sounding records out there.
CONFRONT: I know exactly what you mean!
Ray: You know what I mean, like the guitars are all perfectly tuned and the drums are perfectly fixed and everything is just so damn perfect… and then you see the band live and you’re like “that’s sloppy as hell”… This record is like 4 guys in a small room who wrote a song all together and then 45 minutes later track it to the record. There was no drum punches, no fixes… If I played something to clean he would literally be like “let’s try that again, I don’t have goosebumps yet. If I don’t completely have chills, we’re doing it again.” It was brutal because I couldn’t stop in the middle of the song and I would BEG Ross to let me fix things. I would be like “Please, let me do this again I can do this part better” and he would be like “I don’t give a shit about your parts, you’re not going to top the attitude you just gave me on that take”. I had never thought of that because I’m kind of a perfectionist in the studio. I mean, that CD outlives us all. When we’re all dead and gone that CD is going to live on, and that just freaks me out. For someone to say: “I don’t care about the instrument in front of you. If you’re not pouring your soul into this then it’s not a keeper”. You can really hear the intensity on the record.
CONFRONT: Are you happy with it, though?
Ray: I wanted to kill him the first 2 week, but now I’m ecstatic, I love it. I’m quite proud of it.
CONFRONT: Good, I’m really glad to hear that! On the deluxe edition there’s a DVD that comes with it, that Sebastian, our photographer, actually – I don’t know how he did it- but he crammed himself in a little ball and he filmed us- so with every song you can watch the DVD with it from inside the studio.
CONFRONT: Oh yeah?! That sounds awesome
Ray: Oh yeah, it’s pretty cool!
CONFRONT: My last question for you- For the magazine we don’t often interview metal bands so we’re kind of doing this huge feature on it and we’re curious as to what bands think of how there’s a label placed on the artists who play metal and fans who listen to it. How do you feel about that?
Ray: What kind of label, do you mean?
CONFRONT: Well, just how people judge this music a lot more than any other genre that’s out there. Like, even if you look out in the crowd today, everyone is wearing black, you know?
Ray: *laughs* Oh yeah!
CONFRONT: There are certain labels that come with this type of music!
Ray: Oh yeah, for sure. Not a lot of church groups in the audience I don’t think!
CONFRONT: No I don’t think so! *laughs*
Ray: You know, definitely. It’s very rebellious, it’s a release. It’s kind of scary sometimes, and I’ve been doing this my whole life!
CONFRONT: Really?!
Ray: Oh yeah! I mean, in LA I’ll play jazz, I play whatever, but I’m a rocker and a metal head at heart. But yeah, you see these crowds and the looks on their faces and their lifers. When you think about it, if you wake up in the morning and you hate your job and you’re like “Aw man, I have to do this crap again?!” and you put that band on, and that band just takes you somewhere else in your head, and you’re just in a whole different head space, there’s just this release of exertion. It takes you away from your every day normal life. The live stuff is that, but times 10. Because now you’re getting it in your face. The musicians that you’re envying or liking are right in front of your face and they’re playing this for you. I think it’s like no other style of music. You don’t just put on some country record and go “Oh this is pretty cool”… These people MEAN it. We just did a signing and the KORN fans are psychotic. This girl had KORN so big across her chest, and Jonathans face- the most beautiful portrait of his face on her back – and she’s crying her eyes out and I’m like “Wow, really?! That’s your BACK! Jonathans’ face on your BACK” and he was just like *Ray drops jaw to show astonishment*
CONFRONT: Speechless?
Ray: Completely speechless. These people are seriously lifers. They aren’t like “oh I kinda like that band”. No, it’s really on. In retrospect, that’s what it’s all about.
CONFRONT: For sure. Well thank you very much!
Ray: No problem, it was very nice meeting you!
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