NASHVILLE |DATE: APRIL 10, 2000
FROM: KRISTINE ASHTON/ MITCH SCHNEIDER
KORN RAISE "ISSUES"
HOW THEY WILL CHOOSE MATERIAL TO PLAY ON TOUR:
JONATHAN: "We always want to see what they [fans] want. We'll take a poll and see how many votes we get for each song and we'll end up playing what they pick." (www.music.com/newsstand, December 2, 1999)
FIELDY: "We're gonna have something on the Internet where the fans pick five songs from every one of our albums…so we let the fans pretty much pick the set for our tour." (SonicNet Music News, November 17, 1999)
INSPIRATION BEHIND THE ISSUES SOUND:
JONATHAN: "Vocally, I was inspired by the Electric Light Orchestra and the Carpenters and stuff like that. I was just trying to think fuckin' sick. My solution was to write about some sick-ass shit, but make it sound all happy, like the Carpenters. On songs like 'Dead' that contrast is awesome. Musically, though, I can see why people would consider Issues to be psychedelic. It just takes you somewhere. Everybody's been comparing it to Pink Floyd and Genesis, that kind of vibe. I always joke that people are gonna be taking mushrooms to it and getting fucked up on acid. I listen to it at night with headphones on and think, 'This is some trippy, weird shit.' And no one else is doing it! We've always had to be innovators just to keep our heads up and not get lost in all the shit." (Guitar World, January 2000)
MUNKY: "We knew when we wrote this album that we were going to have to do something really great. Because our last record was commercially successful, we know there would be greater expectations. But we also knew we had to move forward, push the boundaries and create something very personal." (Guitar World, January 2000)
HEAD: "We decided, as a band, to create something together where we all can step up to the podium and shine and do our thing…just get more intense with the song, more melodic or whatever." (Guitar World, January 2000)
JONATHAN: "I think [on] the first three albums, we did a certain kind of music and then, like, [1998's] Follow the Leader was the closing chapter. So many bands came out and diluted what we were doing, so we just stepped it up with something slightly different." (SonicNet Music News, November 17, 1999)
ISSUES LYRICAL CONTENT AND "CONCEPT":
JONATHAN: "It started back at the start of the [first] Family Values [tour in 1998] when I went crazy and had to stop drinking and doing a lot of stuff. It's all the feelings I went through during the 'hell tour.' I've never held back [with lyrics]. I think people can see that, so I just lay it out there to help me to get it out. It's my way of venting, I guess." (MTV, November 1999)
JONATHAN: "It's a concept-like album. Usually on concept albums, artists become someone else and they tell a story. This is just a story of what I went through during the time Follow the Leader came out, when I started battling my anxiety problems and all the sudden fame and attention towards the band and how we dealt with it. There are songs about how we just got really stressed out and it's one long story of the battles I went through with myself–mentally and physically–going through Family Values and dealing with the success of the band. I'm the proudest of this album than I've ever been of any of our albums." (KORN press conference, November 16, 1999)
THOUGHTS ON SUCCESS:
DAVID: "Woodstock might have been the high point of our career. That will stand out forever. Winning Hard Rock Video of the Year on MTV–finally getting some recognition on that level was pretty good. Winning some readers poll Drummer of the Year Awards was pretty cool in different drum magazines. I think towards the end of the '90s, seeing us having our fourth record out since '94 and seeing four platinums, looking back on it, it's like, 'Wow, what an accomplishment.' Time has flown. Sitting back and reflecting on all the shows and the tours–the whole ride in general. Thinking about it feels really good. It's finally now to the point where we're concrete, solid in the scene…and we're not going anywhere. I can sit back and take a deep breath and think, 'Wow, we actually did it. We're here. We have to mess up really bad to not do anything now.' It feels good." (Drum!, March/April, 2000)
JONATHAN: "I knew we'd be a big band. I know when we started with Ozzy, started to see the crowds, that's when I started shooting high…to be like Metallica, and to go all over the world and do that stuff. I wanted to be a band like that, like Led Zeppelin, Metallica, The Who, a band who defined an era." (New Musical Express, November 27, 1999)
THOUGHTS ON FAN CD COVER ART [KORN KOVER KONTEST FOR ISSUES]:
KORN: "We really do care about our fans. They're the ones who made us, so we just try and give something back. Like doing the 'Korn Kover Kontest,' that was just giving them a chance to get in closer. We looked through everything and we finally narrowed it down to four covers. It was so hard to pick. There was so much good shit, so we took all the 25,000 entries and we wallpapered our entire studio with everything. All that artwork is in our studio now. We all took our pictures in front of it, the inside [CD sleeve] pictures are all in front of thousands and thousands of KORN covers. The kids can look [inside the album] and go, 'Oh there's mine!' We felt bad singling out one person, but we had to, so we put as much shit as we possibly could in all the photos just so it was all incorporated." (Virtually Alternative, November, 1999)
JONATHAN: "We got over 25,000 entries, it was cool to see our fans draw pictures how they interpret the band. And it was a good idea to give back to our fans. We're always thinking of ways to let our fans in more and become part of the band and get involved with us." (KORN press conference, November 16, 1999)
FIELDY: "We kept every one of them. They're all over our rehearsal studio, all over the walls." (KORN press conference, November 16, 1999)
DEBUTING ISSUES AT THE APOLLO (HARLEM'S LEGENDARY VENUE):
JONATHAN: "We wanted to play a different place and the Apollo came up. We thought it would be a really cool place to do it, because of the history there. It seems that so many bands have played there." (www.music.com/newsstand, November 17, 1999)
APPEARING ON SOUTH PARK (WHERE KORN WERE ANIMATED FOR THE FIRST SHOW OF THE 1999 FALL SEASON AND WHERE THEY DEBUTED "FALLING AWAY FROM ME," THE FIRST SINGLE FROM ISSUES):
JONATHAN: "To see yourself on that show…it was, 'Wow, we've done something! We're on South Park!'" (New Musical Express, November 27, 1999)
KORN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH FANS:
JONATHAN: "The KORN kid is totally into our band, wears KORN everything, is a fanatic. They all do [have issues], that's why they're fans. Childhood is what makes you what you are for the rest of your life. When you're growing up, it totally programs what you're going to be and the outcome of your entire life, so it's innocent but evil in the same way. There's something spooky about childhood. It's the boogyman–all the things you don't know yet." (New Musical Express, November 27, 1999)
# # #
http://
