In a plush hotel room in Los Angeles, Jonathan Davis is working on the lyrics for KORN's third album. He is also suffering heart palpitations, attending porn parties, watching strippers and eating "vagina cake"...
"I like kicking back and being the least popular person in this bar," beams Korn's Jonathan Davis. He's sitting in the outside drinkerie of Hollywood's Sunset Marquis hotel, which is relatively quiet on this Thursday evening but still alive with the hollow buzz of film-world chatter.
Producers and directors 'do lunch' here. Earlier today, actor Sean Penn and his wife Robin Wright dropped in for a bite to eat. 'Titanic' star Leonardo DiCaprio has been spotted on a couple of occasions, flanked by several large minder-types. An indyllic, luxurious and above friendly hotel, this is the place where ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash gularly come to soak up the sun while systematically absorbing nicotine and vodka. This the place where Depeche Mode singer Dave Gahan overdosed on heroin a while back. Still, happy days....
And here, huddled in the Whisky Bar with a mango-and-orange soft drink, is a disarmingly tall braidy bloke wearing tinted glasses. Jittery, quiet voice. Kinda funny-looking.
People look at me and go, 'Who is that fucker?'," Davis laughs. "Because everybody here is somebody. They don't allow anybody in here!"
Apparently, they do. Later on, security will even let some no-hope LA chancer called Marilyn Manson through the doors. And a bloke from The Smashing Pumpkins. Billy somebody......
"People are stuck up here, so it's cool when guys like Manson or Corgan come over," Davis enthuses. "I get to hang out. I give Manson shit for his album and he gives me shit for mine. Our relationship's real fun - it's based on having a go at each other."
So what, exactly, is Jonathan Davis doing smack-bang in the middle of this glitzy showbiz scenario?
"I can't get shit done at home, man," he shrugs. "Simple as that. I got too many distractions. I got Nathan going (adopts high-pitched child squeak), 'Daddy, daddy, daddy!'. I got my old lady going (adopts moany, uh old lady speak), 'You don't hang out with me ...' when I'm trying to work. It's like, 'Fuck! I'll see you all later!."
Could you relate to Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining'?
"Fuck! I could be pushed to that, dude, at times. I can totally identify. I think every man can. A woman's job is always to fucking bag on your ass for working: 'Spend time with your family!'"
Ohh, there'll be letters. But didn't you get more grief for moving into a hotel?
No, she understood. She writes, too. She's a poet. To illustrate my point, I said to her, 'Write a poem write now!'. She said, 'I can't, I gotta be alone,' and I went, 'Exactly. See ya!'.
"She don't like it," he concludes, "but she accepts it. I got a good woman."
Isn't it weird to have the luxury of a plush hotel room in which to write lyrics on a lap-top computer?
"It is," he marvels. "Writing for 'Life Is Peachy', I was at some seedy Hollywood dive called The Magicians Hotel. Remember seeing (so-so Clive Barker movie) 'Lord Of Illusions'? It's that hotel, where all the magicians' secrets are. So that was pretty cool, but I really like this place. I can get into myself. It's like some crazy spiritual retreat! I can hear myself think."
But with your rock mates coming over all the time - naturally armed to the teeth with lethal drug cocktails, enema kits and lesbian dwarves - aren't there constant distractions?
"I need distractions," he notes. "I don't start writing till fucking midnight or one in the morning. So I party on or whatever, then come back all drunk and write. It's the most vulnerable time for me, it's a total challenging thing. When I write my lyrics it's like 'Boom!'. Like I'm getting my inspiration from somewhere else. Sometimes when I'm drunk I fucking flow. But I can do that when I am sober, too."
So what's with the soft drink, big fella?
"I've gotta chill. I've got to do it for my kid and for everybody else in the band. Fucking seriously. All those times I said I was gonna die - this time I really am. I can feel it. I've had heart palpitations and shit. I've been having hangovers so bad I couldn't get out of bed for three days. That's not fun."
Were those palpitations down to the old amphetamine sulphate?
"Uh-uh." he says, shaking his head. I don't do that shit no more. I do coke and stuff like that sometimes."
Oh, that's alright then. Cough.
"I went from speed to alcohol, man," he continues. "I did speed so long it fucked my head up. I had major side effects for months after, so I decided to stay away from it. You do one bump of that and you're up for three days...."
Producer Steve Thompson, the New Yorker who is helping Korn sculpt their next masterpiece, is also staying at the Marquis. An engineer on Guns N' Roses' 'Appetite For Destruction' album and Metallica's '...And Justice For All' who has also worked with the likes of Madonna and Whitney Houston, Thompson fits the stereotype of the loud, medallion-wearing American producer. In a nice way.
Former club DJ Thompson replaces Ross Robinson, who handled both 'Korn' and 'Life Is Peachy'. Was it awkward breaking the news to your old mucker?
"Fucking awkward wasn't the word!" gasps Davis. "It was terrifying, basically. But it was just a matter of saying, 'Ross, we've done two albums with you. They were great albums, but it's time for us to move on'. If you do the same thing enough times, kids are gonna get bored and so will the band.
"We're trying for a different sound this time, and Ross is totally cool with it. He's upset, I know. It's his baby, his love. But parents have gotta let their kids go sometime!"
Would you credit Robinson with partly creating the Korn sound?
"A little bit," he allows. "The whole thing was, in the studio, the tones and everything were our ideas. Everybody credits Ross as making our sound, but it was us. The roof of the whole thing was us. He fine tuned shit, though, and I'm not gonna deny he helped."
Davis goes on to recall the audition process to find The Right Man with whom to make album Number Three.
"We had so many meetings with people, but couldn't find anybody who was on our level and had a clue. We could tell, just by having lunch with em'. One guy didn't even know we platinum! He was just doing it for the cheque. Some other guys did ska bands, Queensryche, Alice Cooper and shit. That wasn't for us. From ska to Korn? I don't know...
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"Steve was the last guy. He came in, all fucking 'Noo Yawk', with a whole bunch of beer, so obviously he watched our home video. He was maybe trying to kiss up our ass too much . It was fucking funny, but we were like, 'Don't know about his dude'. But we thought we'd give him a chance .
"He came in, worked on one song and he worked great with us. he had good ideas and inspired us to do other shit. We thought, 'Fuck it. Lets do it,"
When you say "worked on one song," what do you mean?
"Arrangement-wise. When you write song, you need an outside ear to hear how the song flows. It's nit-picking. Chopping shit here and there, to make it fucking interesting. He made the song better than it was in the first place . If he hadn't worked out, we were gonna get Ross back,"
Korn find themselves in an enviable position, even before their third album is released. Last year's 'Who Then Now?' video has gone gold in the States, bear-hugging the charts for a whole year.
"We were next to 'Lion King' in the charts!" marvels Davis. "Dukin' it out with Disney's fucking strange."
Amusing, too, but not without it's darkside. Davis admits that adjusting to fame and fortune had posed problems. For one thing, he feels he's divulged too much about his past in interviews.
"I'm a new person now," he states. "I think I've expressed everything that I need to express. Time to talk about me now.I mean, people could relate to all that stuff. People like to read about other people's fucking hurts. It's a sick world we're in! So I guess it was good reading for them, but it's my life. I just wanted to be truthful, and at that period of time I was bummed about the about that shit. And I still am. But at least I have a vehicle to get it out."
One as-yet-untitled new song concerns what Davis describes as his "stepping into a new life and trying to hold onto the old life when I shouldn't".
He stops and laughs at the vaguely spiritual imagery.
"I'm getting deeper this time!"
Indeed. What are you on about then?
"Stuff like being on a record company and going to buy a new house. I mean, shit! I used to live in a garage and eat crackers!
"I've changed so much , it's weird, man. It's hard for me. I'm kind of in denial of it. Sometimes I think, I've got money now, I'm gonna be a chump. I ain't gonna be real no more'. I fell like I've got one foot in the new life and one foot in the old. Maybe I should just fucking accept what I've got and enjoy it!"
Have Korn as a band changed much as people?
"We've just got more freedom. We've bought cars and shit like that. We've got families. But as people no one's changed at all. We're still as tight as ever."
What's the current state of play with sprogs?
"(Bassist) Fieldy had his little girl. (Guitarist) Head's getting ready to have a baby. So that's four of us with kids! (Guitarist) Munky's single, and that's about it."
Munky's bad health, of course, forced Korn to jump ship mid-way through Lollapalooza 97. How is he?
"He's okay now. He's been taking care of himself. He's been on a sobriety trip for about three or four months. If he drinks again, he'll get his 'game face' back on."
He?
"When you go back on tour, you're drinking and you're back in character, I guess. You get your 'game face' back. But the Lollapalooza thing fucking tore Munky up. He didn't say anything, but I know it did. I know how it feels. Fuck, I've cancelled shows on the band, pissing off fans and losing us tons of money. I felt like shit.....but shit happens. "We couldn't be mad at the guy - we just wanted him to fucking live! I wanted to stay on the tour, but fuck, I want Munky around!"
Jonathan Davis turned 27 on January 18. One hell of a bash by all accounts, populated by 500 people including Fear Factory's Burton C Bell and Tura Santana's Tairre B, who presented Davis with one of her lovely home-made candles.
"My party was the shit!" says the singer gleefully. "Everybody and their ma was there. Fabrice from Milli Vanilli was there! There was some bondage chick getting beat, and strippers. They brought in this big vagina cake and shoved my face in the middle of it.
"Then, all of a sudden," he continues breathlessly, "a guy came in playing the bagpipes with Barney from 'The Flintstones' marching behind him! Fucking insane!"
More recently, Davis also had the pleasure of attending one of Hollywood's traditional porn parties, involving bondage and saucy dominatrix.
"It was cool," he mutters. "I know one of the porn directors. But there were too many 'guidos' there, as I call 'em. A bunch of fucking guys from the valley who just want a fight.
"I had a booth. Isaw some friends and looked at some great fucking ass. I just wanted to meet the girls and say, 'You know, I've seen dicks in your muffs!'.
"I ws trippin' out!" he hoots. "Looking at these girls, going, 'Man, they take pole every fucking day'. Fuck, what a profession! I just love sluts!"
On a less fleshy footing, it has to be reiteriated that Korn have achieved what only the likes of Metallica and Faith No More have achieved in metal - changing the accepted rock template and spawning a whole new breed of bands. Davis must have noticed?
"Yeah, I've noticed a lot," he cheerily nods, "and it's really fucking incredible. I think the most awesome compliment anybody can pay us is to rip us off! Fucking do it!" he laughs, momentarily in severe danger of spilling mango-and-orange on his trousers.
"Everybody can try their hardest; they've all got variations. But just remember - there's only one Metallica and there's only one Korn. And I love that!"
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