Korn's Munky and Head

their fourteen studio disc is something of a homecoming. The strip back sound, captured on analog equipment, cuts straight to the heart and Jonathan Davis's visceral lyrics make for this one of the most affecting releases in years, Following in the wake of the Nothing. Shaped by the emotional devastation in Davis's personal life, Requiem comes across like a Catharsis. The lead single Start the Healing is an optimistic step towards a private piece. I'm so happy to welcome twin legends,

Monkey and Head from Corn. First things first, how are you both doing? Everybody feeling healthy and good? Monkey? I know you were under the weather a bit uh health me recently, yeah, but I'm feeling better now and thank God and I'm thought wood and it's uh, it's just one of those things we're all having to live with now. Yeah, dude, Mokey got COVID twice. That is insane. Your immune system must be like It's like we're gonna test him. We're gonna make them go out in the crowd and walk

around fifteen people tonight. But I got a two weeks ago too, so I'm I'm I'm past it. Oh man. But you you're both feeling good. You're feeling uh happy, healthy, optimistic. We're happy, healthy and optimistic. Yep. Oh that is good to hear. I mean, that's so much to talk to you about. Congratulations on Requiem. I can't wait for fans to hear this. Um. It sounds like it was a very different type of album to make for a number

of reasons. I mean, part of the silver lining I guess of not being able to be out on tour for the last two years was that you could take more time on this album and really, uh focus and experiment. What was that process like? Man? For me, Um, it was it was such a relief to get in a room with my friends and make music. And honestly, it

was it was like uh. It once we were all there together and we were able to figure out how to get everybody in the studio safely, and it didn't even matter, honestly if we wrote any music, you know, because it was just we had been locked in this lockdown kind of a situation for a couple of months or maybe three months at that point, and we were just like happy to see each other and and hanging out and catching up with each other. I mean, eventually

we picked up our instruments and we made great music together. Thankfully, when we hang out, that's that's what we do. But yeah, it was a relief just to see one another and

because we didn't know what was gonna happen, you know. Yeah, that's been nice me for nothing else a change of scenery, right, Yeah, And me and Ray did not I mean, we didn't mind risking our lives for our friends and flying from Tennessee all the way to California when they they could just drive their little cars to the rehearsal and no, but there was it was during the pandemic, so there was like twelve people on each plant. It was awesome and stretch out. Yeah, no lines, no chaos, It was

just really chill and um. I remember when it happened and they locked us down. I was like, I didn't think we're gonna be able to fly. I mean it was so gnarly at the beginning, and I was like, finally, these guys like Jonathan and James Fielding, especially like they've never had time off, you know, and and and uh. I mean they had time off, but no more than probably like two or three months before something else has

to happen with Corn. And I was like, finally, nothing has to happen with Corn and they're forced to stay home, which was I thought it was a good thing, and it was, but then it turned into like, Okay, I'm losing my mind a little bit here being the teacher, dad, disciplinary and all this to their kids. So what they were just on text going we gotta go do we gotta work, I mean da, So that's it. That was.

It was like therapy for us, you know, just like music has always been therapy, and it was like therapy for us. Oh man, I can only imagine. I know you mentioned. The one thing was a little bit of different than about these sessions was that Jonathan was there from the get goes you're building the tracks, and he's been saying in interviews how cool it was to be there in real time and write in real time with you all. How did that dynamic impact the music with

him being there? Oh, it was such a nice change of pace because you know, in previous maybe three or four albums that we've done, he's been dealing with the other stuff. Uh, and Brian and I were always kind of like working um in the dark in a sense. You know, we're always kind of creating something that we think he may like, and then we're sending him three or four songs and maybe, you know, we're not sure, and there's this uncertainty that we have. And with this

we were able to make changes. And he's pairing off with Ray or he's pairing off with me helping like a chord structure or something. And it was so much fun to have him in the room and see him so engaged and just I'm seeing him, you know, whispered song melodies into his phone while we're in the room jamming. So that was really fun and different. And maybe Brian and I like, look at this guy, who is this guy?

Look out? He's like a different person almost, you know, he's still Jonathan, but he's just in such a great place emotionally and and and it's just nice to see. I must be encouraging too, just to see him like talking into his phone, putting up parts. It's like, oh, yeah, what we're doing. This is good, Like it's been sting

on everybody else in the room too. Usually and prior albums, like when I came back, we were always good, but there was kind of a tension, at a slight tension with what like we wanted to do this guitar heavy corn like we would did in the beginning, and I think he wanted it, but Jonathan like other genres too, and so it was like, you guys, good to your thing, and I'll do my thing. And then our producer would play him what we wrote and he would go, I

like that song. I don't like that song. That one's cool. And so now he comes in and it's like he fell in love with that heavy guitar stuff again, and he like sometimes he's like, let's do doom death metal right here. You know, it's so awesome. And then um and he's in there every day. Just it's like I said, he was always down with us, but he would listen to the songs that we did, and so with his hand involved with what we're doing, he's got more like uh energy and hard into it, and it just works

better that way. That's how we started the band, just doing it this way, everybody in the room together and and it's just uh, it took a minute, you know, once I came back to get back there. But I love it now. I love how it is with him coming in. Yeah. I love the nothing, but this record felt it felt more personal in a way. I mean if it more stripped back or reminded me of the Untouchables. Yeah, yeah,

I definitely had. It was important for us to um well that that era, I think because at the time we had this doucer, Michael beIN Horn, who demanded such a high bar for us to meet with with with sonics sound, the techniques that he used. Um also he made us kind of you know, we've learned a little bit from each producer, I think, and we've kind of collected all of this along through the years too. Um used now today and in how we compose a song.

And I think Brian and I are so much better and Jonathan than at telling a story now in a song and what what we want to hear and what we want the listener to kind of get out of the song, and we never know until it's finished and we let people hear it. But for us on on the creative side, UM, I think I don't know if I answer your question, but it's a but it's an

awesome what you're saying. Thank you. Um. Yeah, But it was just a process that we uh, you know, adopted from all these producers and we're able to kind of put them all to use in this in this session. Yea. Ever since Ross Robinson, producers have been just like teachers to us, you know, because they they're in the studio for a living over and over and over again, so they know a lot and they and we learn a

lot from them. And uh, I mean, I'll tell you what each band that all these fans that listen to music and every band that they love, if if that band didn't have a killer producer, they would sound like ship. So producers are so important for all these records that the world's are the world here's yeah, and you know, on this record, we had our producer, our friend Chris Collier worked with us and he is so talented he's such a great year, and you know, he's had his talent.

One of the talents that he has he can play drums and guitar, bass, He can run the computer and edit and mix and I think one of the talents that he is really strong at and was telling us, uh, you know what, I've heard you do that before, and in a creative, constructive way where it's not like no, that sucks, but that's not a producer's job anyway. But you know or I've heard that I've heard you guys

do that before. Um, can you know, And it really kind of pushed us to get out of our our comfort zone, which you know at this age is like you you kind of dig in and and you you get a little bit uh said in your ways, and you know, so for him, he was able to kind of like, if you want to do something new and different. You know, I'm not trying to make you guys upset.

I just I want you to sound like old corn, but today what people want to in you know, well at the time, but I mean you mentioned all that that you've learned from all these producers that you've worked with, and this is your think fourteen studio album and you've been doing this a long time, You've learned so much.

How do you keep these records sounding so fresh and excited and that that raw spontaneity that you have when you're first starting out is because I imagine it must be tempting to over over intellectualize so much stuff when you know you you you've learned your your studio pros. Now you know kind of what you want the sounds

to be, like structure of the songs. There's a lot of musicians who, you know, Paul McCartney doesn't know how to read music, and he doesn't want to because he thinks that would take some of the spontaneity out of it. How do you kind of strike a balance between knowing how to achieve the sound you want while keeping it, you know, something that's really fresh from your soul. I think to uh two points A. Our love for music.

We love what we do still and be it's our vulnerability, and we get nervous every time we do a record because we want to do the best things. So it keeps us humble kind of like being like, oh, you know, I hope we can deliver this time. You know it's been you know Are we gonna run out of tricks? Are we gonna run out of melodies or ideas and risks? And that's a combination of the humility and the unknown

and the love for writing and creating. And I'll add to that and say, see, um, we we tend you know, we trust each other so much creatively when we Uh, when Brian has a riff idea or I have a riff idea, or Jonathan has an idea, you know, it's like huh. We try to look at it from their perspectives and think, Okay, hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna step, I'm gonna step outside of my carverent, I want to learn. I'm gonna teach me what it is you're saying, like,

I really want to understand it, you know. Um, So creatively, we've always we've always trusted each other when somebody has an idea, and it may feel uncomfortable at first, but some of those songs I think of songs like Got the Life, some of our biggest songs, it was like, oh this feels uh, I don't know man, And even like start the Healing Um that song. Uh, these guys

were like what you want? What do you want to do um and then and that's almost a number one song though, But it's amazing, like just yeah, having that having that trust and that mutual I mean, every time we were like skeptical and then we go out on a limb to kind of like meet each other in the middle, it always brings like an amazing song and

something really unique. Oh, I mean, Start the Healing is is such an amazing track, Such a great way to kick off, you know, I was the first single from this record, Such a great way to bridge, you know,

as the bridge from from Nothing to Requiem. The title takes on such a meaning just knowing what you know what the Nothing had a lot of darkness to it, and so starting Heeling I feel like that, you know, it takes on a whole new level of meaning when you view it in juxtaposition with the last record you did exactly. It's it's like, you know, I look at

Jonathan as like the voice and the leader. Of course we're all like, you know, equal, we've created this together, but like I don't know, his life kind of parallels to these records because it's his lyrics, you know, he does the lyrics, and when we came to us he was given lyrics to sing by his band that he's working with, and we encourage him. Man, right, you're you know, you're you're a songwriter, you're a you're a vocalist. You know.

We encourage him to become an artist, and he's been doing it ever sense and uh, yeah, it just feels like a natural progression what happened on this record. It's it has a lighter feel with the with the song um subject matter, and it's still corn it's still intense, but it feels like there's more hope and and less hopelessness.

You know. Last record was just like heavy and very dark. Yeah, and that's how he felt, and he was going through it with his loss and and you know he's he's healed and and he's healing and and and so it's it's just it's what's coming off of this record and through all of us, I think we've all had some healing. You know, we're all going through stuff. Everybody in this world is if you're not going through something really heavy, then it's coming around the corner. So you know, we're

all in this together. Yeah, And you know, one of the things I wanted to say, well, that's on my mind is UM when early records, when you know you have ross and and he's teaching us this on then in particular, he's teaching all of us how to sort of express this anger and this and lay your your your heart on your sleeve and that's how you make

a great record. And when we didn't quite understand that UM in the beginning, but uh, seeing him work with Jonathan on some of those early albums and him opening up and being able to access the that hurt and pain throughout the albums, throughout each album, UM has been such a strength for our our band UM and it's longevity and I really feel like Jonathan helped kick the door open for people to talk about mental health. And I don't think at the time, I don't think a

lot of people were talking about that. And a lot of people gravitated probably towards the band because they felt like they weren't alone and here's somebody that's just laying their heart out for everybody and exposing his, uh, his inner demons and and you know a lot of people

was they were able to relate to that. And now twenty some years later, UM, you know, I can see the progression of you know, people open and willing to talk about like when they're not okay, you know, so I I definitely feel like he helped pioneer that you know early yep, oh absolutely, I mean your music has helped a tremendous amount of people. Is there something that a fan can say to you where you think, you know what, I I know that the hell that went into this song and now all hard it was for

all of us. But you know what, hearing this fans say this to me makes it worth it? Or is that something that is that a validation you can even get externally? Is it just something in you having put that song out in the world. And there's no one thing that a fan can say, I mean for when they if they come up to us and say, you know this song or you guys helped save my life. You know, we get that more often than not, you

know lately. Um, It's it's just you know, when we were kids, we grew up and we're like, yeah, we want to be rock stars and make music and songs and tour all over the world. But we didn't know we were gonna have this extra golden caveat that you know that having Jonathan able to access and and put out his his heart that this this was gonna be an extra like added icing on this cake, you know, to help people. So we're so grateful for that on

top of everything. Yeah, they're they're just the depth on these tracks. It's such an amazing album. One of my favorite tracks is Lost in the Grandeur. I love the dynamics at play when it speeds up and slows down. And I think you said that the riff has been around for a while. How did it finally find a home on on this record. I don't know, man, I think you know, Hed and I. We've been trying to get this uh this song in this riff, which is

the scratchy guitar thing. UM. We've tried it on a couple of albums, but we never really knew where to take the song from there. And then we found this uh this verse idea which totally turns left and then builds up into this really melodic chorus. I think the chorus came first, and once we once we had that, we knew we had found found a home for the song and a record for it to be on. UM. But oh man, it's it's definitely one of my favorite songs on the on the record, you know what this is?

This is what happened last record. We had it and it was good and it it was didn't get kicked out, but it just didn't get recorded vocally. And we listened to it this record and we were like, what it sounds cool. Let's why didn't we use it? It's really cool. And then at the last minute we recorded a new chorus. Yes, they're like, We're like, the course is why it's it's stumped. So we put a new chorus on it and it changed everything. What is it like between the two of

you when you're working on guitar parts? How do you divide up the roles between you both? Do you start with the rhythm and then embroider it with some melody or or is it just different every time? It's pretty different every time, which makes it fun and challenge. This guy is always challenging me every I can think. I can actually I could think all the way back to like high school when he's just playing all these killer RIfS and I'm like, how do you play that? What

do you do? How are you doing that? And the court is that? And I'm still doing it today even with all of this new stuff through the albums. But um, I think it comes organically, like he'll write something or we would kind of write stuff on the spot when we're in the rehearsal or the writing room, and if I write something, he'll add to it or he'll help make it better, um and make it feel like it's actually there's a beginning and the end to the riff.

And if I'm writing something that or he'll add a really killer melody that just brings out the chords and everything. Um. So it's just an organic process. Really. I feel like lately it's been this guy coming up with stuff. He's like a machine. It's I mean, I'll have my moments too, of course, but every day I'm like, oh my gosh,

another one, another one, and uh yeah, it's crazy. It's cool to see because every record is different, right man, and we just we just want the best song that's it, and we don't care who writes it, you know, we don't. Sometimes Freaking Chris, the producer, we come in and he's bored because we we roll in at two pm and he's up at freaking seven. And it was like, hey, I was just fendling around with this and then we'll change it a little bit, make it, you know, our

own or whatever. It's just like we have a friend that that had a a writing thing on one of the songs. You know, we're just we like to collaborate nowadays. Before it was you know, it's mostly us obviously, like, but we don't mind collaborating once in a while too with whether it's a producer or or another writer or whatever. You know, a friend of ours that that we've known for years. It's fun that way. I think I'm speaking

of the production. Mean you you use a lot of analog techniques when recording this record, of recording right to tape. What was that? Like? That's really added? You can you can sense just like there's a whole level of warmth I feel like in the sound on this thing is really apparent. Just I mean, I love all those old two vamps and stuff like that. And is that really a game changer for you when you're working on this record?

You know, Hen and I were we are old school when it comes to our amps, setups and our guitars and the way we like things. And you know, for like amp modelers that they have those are great for when we do overdubs because you can get kind of like this nice little sparkly over dub and stuff. Um. But when we set up our tape machine in the studio this time, there was just this kind of nostalgia that when we saw the red lights on and the reels rolling where like, this is what feels like. It's

because we know it's gonna be challenging. It's that you can't really edit too much in the you know, right away anyways, you gotta kind of like nail it um as far as especially for Ray, you know, because he's got to get it one or two takes. Um. Yeah, because there's no there's not you can't really edit drums as easily as you can vocals or guitar. So but just seeing the the red lights and and everything and and the reels rolling on there, it was just like

this is fun and exciting. It just it brought an extra layer of not only warmth sonically, but just like it just did something like a good we have good memories attached to those visuals of these types of equipment big time. Another standout on the record for me was hopeless and beaten. Uh. To me, it's just such a it's a different vibe. I feel like from so many

of the other tracks on Requiem. I love the juxtaposition between the darkness of the verses and then the really bright melodic chorus is Uh, it's just so potent and haunting. Can you talk more about that song. It's so cinematic to me, that's on that song. That's the two one of my old Man. There's so many of my favorite moments. But me too, I mind changed, like every other day. My my favorite song changes. I'd say the bridge parts

on these on these songs are my favorite. On um Hopeless and Beaten, that bridge it's like something we've never done, and it's like it makes me feel something powerful when I hear that, it's like it's so melodic. And then Janet John has just like background vocals where he's just going, oh so good and he says nothing soothes the hurting only time, and it's just like he meant that lyrics so much, you know, because he's been through so much

in the last couple of years. And and uh, and then the heaviness of it, it's like we were thinking, let's do a doom metal death yeah style. But on the flip side, I had the most melodic and hopeful sounding bridge ever and so one of my favorites. And and another one is let the darker the rest has that bridge to that's just something that corn doesn't do. And uh, it's and it's so refreshing and and it's one of my favorite moments. And then the other one

is the Worst is on its way the bridge. It's just like it just makes me just want to rip people's face off. Yeah, it does get it gets down and and like grinding, kind of sludgy. It's funny. The first one, I'm hopeless and beaten, like the head was saying. Uh. We started out with that song because we wanted this kind of this epic intro with these big chords and like a cinematic type of thing. Uh. And then when you get to you get to the bridge portion of

that song, it's um. We we were like, okay, let's go eat deeper and darker with the with the guitars, and I remember it was feeling like this dark death metal thing and then as soon as we heard the lyric or the vocals on it were like what the it changed like it just got like this dark melody that was just it changed the whole the whole vibe of the song and and brought it up to just a higher bar that we were like whoa, Yeah, we were thinking to take it heavier and like darker and

yeah and and but it ended up more melodic and with his vocals nona no no, no no no all that man. You know, it was like beautiful from a from like this crazy thing that we wanted to do it. It flipped and it made it even better than we were thinking. So go wait, way to go j d Oh. I mean I could just see I hope you do a video for that song because it just seems so made for it. It is so big and cinematic. I could just see a movie playing in my head or listen to it. I hope. Is there any plans to

do one at this point or not yet? Well, we keep going back and forth because, like I said, different people have you know, within the band and and uh in our management and label. They're like, oh, we should do a video for this song, and then the next week's like, oh my gosh, everyone loves this song, we should do it. I mean, we might end up doing videos for maybe most of the album, because right it's just so good I feel like I think there was

any of you. Jonathan Gabory said that it was recording this record was the best experience that he'd had making an album. Do you guys agree with that? Was it similarly fun for you? Wow? That's amazing. I think he probably, uh, just because he's so present, you know, he's so in a different mindspace. I'm glad that. You know. He told us yesterday actually he's like, I can't do it. I can't make a record any other way. Now. I have

to be there when you guys are writing fun. And we were at rehearsal yesterday and he was He was just telling us that because after we were rehearsing the new songs and we after we finished it, he was like that. We were like, oh my god, felt so good to pass. And they were ye asking each other like how do we write that? Yeah, we have to relearn the things that we that we wrote. Sometimes it takes a minute. And uh. Also, Jonathan, what he did that he's probably loving as well, is that he there's

no sense on this record at all. If you if you think you're hearing sense, it's his vocals because or the guitar effects layer car he's done a symphony of vocals on this record, and it sounds like a sense like it's crazy. Like just yesterday we're at rehearsal and he showed me we're we're listening to the tracks of the song like separated, he goes. I go, I always thought that was a sin or some kind of a trick he did. It's like yeah, him, yeah, it him.

Uh yeah, you can't start the healing when you hear the build a part. Uh. You always remember there was a joke inside joke that we uh used to play around and Brian used to do this thing Ali, he goes, h. It reminded me of this funny thing that Brian used to do it, and I was like, oh, that's him, you know, but you think it's a sin totally. It sounds like that. I thought it was this whole time.

I thought it was what it's him. I think when we started also, it was like this quick conversation literally like ten seconds, like you know, we should probably just keep only us like the corn like you know, not have any programming and just guitar, bassed, drums, vocals and that's it. And we're just like, yeah, that's that's a great idea. We should just do that and not have anybody outside and you know, cluttered up with too much programming, and you know, let's just keep it to the core.

And I feel like we we stay true to our our our wishes at that. You know, you must be rare and to get back out there and play these for fans with uh, what is next for you after this?

Uh this album comes up, I'm gonna take a nap, yeah, because we're getting ready to you know, spread the word and we're a lot of work women, you know, just rehearsing, Like we just released the information about our events coming up with the UM about the Yeah, the wreck we amath So we've been massively rehearsing for that and a

lot of work. So we're gonna do these shows that just uh and we have we have a get get ready for the March tour, March Tour with Chevelle and Code Orange, Code Thank You and UM and then we have plans to do there's a festival in May. I think it's Welcome to Rockville and that's gonna be good. I saw the bill on that. It's like food fighters, kids, guns and roses corn. Yes, that's a good mix of bands to be associated with, right, and that was that was nice to be you know, included with such heavy

weights like that. Yeah, it's it's uh, it feels like a new era for the band. For sure. We're entering into a you know, the stuff we've always dreamed about. Um, but after that we'll go to We're gonna go to Europe and do some big festivals and some our own shows, and then in the summer probably back in the States. At at some point we got a full year of you know, we got a lot of We've got a

lot of fans we need to go see. Yeah, I was gonna say, it's gotta be really great to be back out there and actually make that connection in person. I know you had that amazing virtual concert monumental, but I know that probably is no substitute for the real

thing for you guys. Yeah, just connecting with people. I feel like that is you know, one of our our strong points I think is as the live show, it really connects people to not only did any band, but with Corn We've always we've toured so much and um, they get to be there as we recreate these albums and songs and feel like just that it just it's very sort of primal, kind of a tribal experience. You know, when you come to a corn show, it's raw emotion, you know. Oh man, we can't wait to get you

back out there and see you soon. Thank you so so much for your music in your time today. It really means the world to me. Thank you so very much. Thank you. Jordan's We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio, a production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows, check out the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast forever you listen to your favorite podcast