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Sessions · Playlists · Behind the scenes
Get more Dork
Sessions · Playlists · Behind the scenes
Feature
"We might be the old guys, but we still pay attention to what’s going on."
Korn may be onto their twelfth record, but for this one they started from scratch, seeing them return as a band renewed.
Words: Jasleen Dhindsa.
‘The Serenity of Suffering’ is not like Korn’s recent electronica endeavours, but that doesn’t mean it is a complete return to their classic, relentlessly heavy and creepy sound. “I don’t feel like musically it was a struggle, although we were kind of hard on ourselves with writing material because we wanted it to be great,” guitarist James ‘Munky’ Shaffer reflects on the initial process that would manifest into material for the band’s twelfth album, something that frontman Jonathan Davies struggled with. “We wanted to make sure that we were delivering him great songs that were going to excite him and get him creatively moving in the same direction we were. I think it was kind of a challenging to get him in that creative place, and make him excited, and I think it could have been a combination of things. He was very much into electronic music, [so] it was kind of challenging to get him to see our vision that we wanted to make a heavy guitar-driven album. We wanted the songs to be great, and we wanted it to have a sense of melody, and get him engaged. We weren’t in a rush to start delivering unfinished songs, but there were some challenges.” “We have had some struggles in the past coming up with new material,” he continues. “We can always go back to our default, which is just making a heavy album and then kind of wiping our hands clean and walking away, because we’re good at it, we know the formula. But we’re always trying to up the game for ourselves when it comes to writing creatively, which presents challenges for any writer when you’re trying to basically write sequels to a story that’s already been told.”
“Ideas we think are terrible, turn out to be our favourites.”
‘The Serenity of Suffering’, though bringing Korn into a fresh direction, has obvious connections with the band’s pre-electronica days because of the return to the heaviness that’s been missing with the band’s recent releases. “A lot of that has to do with [producer] Nick Raskulinecz. Nick kind of pushed us in a way, he said: ‘Hey, what happened to the songs? What happened to the band that I fell in love with?’ He wanted to hear these elements that were missing, and I think he was sort of the voice of the fans. He gave the fans a voice in the writing process. Once Roadrunner Records got involved, it was even more of a push to make it heavier. They have some of the heaviest bands in the world on their label, even the president said ‘you will never be too heavy for us’, which is amazing to hear from a record executive, it’s a refreshing thing to hear. So it is in a sense a nostalgia record, even though the songs are still very fresh. “We were doing what we felt was natural, I don’t think it was a conscious [return to the old sound]. To me when I listen to it, it sounds somewhere around the ‘Issues’-era in the songwriting, the sound obviously new because of technology. It was what we felt was natural, pushing ourselves to explore new guitar techniques Head [guitarist Brian Welch] and I missed on the last few records. I did experiment with some guitar sounds, it was fun to get in there and put in a lot of textures and different soundscapes throughout the record that we hadn’t done in a long time. “It was spring last year [that] we started talking about [a new record]. We started writing in this little room in Hollywood, it was this little small studio the size of a bedroom, and we started writing these songs on eight-string guitars, which was a desire to creatively grow, because we’ve written so many songs on seven-string guitars. It was inspiring, and I think it sort of jumpstarted the whole guitar creative process, and getting us motivated. We did about four or five songs on the eight-strings, and that was fun to do, but it wasn’t something anyone else was feeling except for Brian and I. It just didn’t quite translate to the rest of the band like we thought it would. “But a lot of the stuff we wrote ended up transposed, and played on the seven-string guitars like we normally tend to do; then it really started to take shape and take the direction to feel like Korn songs. It was exciting, because we had prospects of the new - we had a new management company, we were in talks of finding a new producer at the time, a new label [because] we didn’t have a label at the time, [it was] sort of this free agent kind of thing, we were actually going to create something from scratch. To watch something materialise out of thin air with just Brian and I… there’s something magic about it. You think, him and I were just sitting in a room, we don’t have a label, we don’t have a producer, but we’re going to do this thing and we’re going to create something and people are going to love it.” It’s hard not to see past the personal endeavours that were met with ‘The Serenity of Suffering’, but this makes the record ever more one to resonate on new levels with the fans. “I think for Jonathan it was a personal [endeavour], lyrically it was something he needed to personally get out. For Brian and I, and the rest of the band, it was definitely a record that we hoped the fans enjoyed. We want to lose energy when we play these songs live, because a lot of times in the past, we write songs and it looks like it looks good on paper, and then when you put it in front of an audience it doesn’t do anything, they all just stand there, and we don’t want anybody standing there during the show. “You don’t want to be out there having to fake it, so with Nick in the room pushing us, and the energy level high on each song, [we] just imagine us in a live situation, which includes the fans - so I would say it’s a record for the fans. Even the title that Jonathan came up with… I know the lyrics and the title are very personal to him, but I think that that’s another reason why the fans can relate to what Jonathan is saying, because a lot of them need it when they’re going through the hard times, there’s actually somebody that has the courage like Jonathan to stand up and speak about things and feelings that they want to hide, so I think that many fans can relate to feeling like that. I think the serenity would be that you’re not the only one suffering.” “A lot of us push each other to go out of our comfort zone,” he continues, on how Korn find new inspirations this far on in the band’s career, “because we could all have different influences, and sometimes we want to try and persuade each other in a direction that the others aren’t so comfortable with. “But after being a band for so long, you compromise - you want everybody to be happy, you don’t want anyone to be bummed out. Initially, the first ideas that come into the amps or drums can not be great, but once there’s vocals and bass and it’s mixed, it’s like, ‘Wow!’ A lot of the ideas we think are terrible, always turn out to be our favourites because it feels so new and fresh. There was one song on the album Brian and I were thinking, ‘Jonathan is never going to go for this…’, and he listened to it and he didn’t like it, he even pulled me aside and said ‘Can you just get rid of that song?’ and I was like, ‘Well, yeah - are there parts that you don’t like about it? Maybe we can change the tempo?’ You know, I’m trying to offer compromise.”
“If you want to make music and make a living at it, you can’t be a fuck up - you have to have your shit together.”
Compromises aren’t the only thing that the band have to face, the new breed of metal bands that are all seeming to explore a plethora of other genre influences also add a slight edge into the writing process. “I love what’s going on in metal [currently]. I’m just trying to stay up on it. We might be the old guys, but we still pay attention to what’s going on. You have to, especially in this industry you have to know what’s going on in your genre. New bands influence us definitely, we love new bands and go see them when we’re out on tour and especially when we’re doing festivals, bands we like to check out on the side of the stage. “You have to be really smart and know what you’re doing these days, because if you want to make music and make a living at it, you can’t be a fuck up - you have to have your shit together, you have to have a focus. The band has to have their shit together, everybody has to pull together to make that happen. Back when we were growing up, the record companies enabled you to sort of try not to be losers, you could write songs… but there was just so much money they could throw at you, and it was just damaging to a lot of personal lives. Now you have to be smart, there are so many bands that are educated, back then there were just so many bands from the streets, creating great art, but unfortunately they didn’t have a lasting career because they got involved with addiction and stuff, and just excessive behaviours and really thought music was secondary, partying became primary. I think people that really want to do this, have to have a real focus. Musically I see things reoccurring, history always repeats itself and art always repeats itself - art inspires art, [there are] circular patterns to song writing. Like Avenged Sevenfold sounds like old Metallica, it sounds familiar.” Yet there is still a band to be compared to Korn in the same way, because of the innovative approach to their songwriting, and always being the first band in the metal giants’ scene to reach unchartered territory - which after the dubstep era, is almost seemingly impossible to repeat. But somehow, ‘The Serenity of Suffering’ has achieved this after the struggles faced. The energy of the much-loved heaviness is back, with Jonathan’s signature nonsense vocals making a long-awaited appearance, too. Despite art repeating itself and the patterns in songwriting - the band have never felt fresher than today.[icon type="fa-stop" size="icon-smallsize" ]Taken from the October issue of Upset. Order a copy here.Korn’s album ‘The Serenity Of Suffering’ is out now.
