In an age when to so-called "alternative" rock bands are at the forefront of the modern music scene in terms of commercial success, the accomplishments of the California-based Korn in the year and a half since the release of their debut album are at the very least impressive, if not downright amazing. Having recently received a gold album certifying sales of over 500,000 units in the U.S., Korn are continuing to amass new fans at every available opportunity, with road treks alongside Megadeth, Fear Factory and Ozzy insuring that the group's unique blend of metal, hardcore and hip-hop is given the exposure it won't otherwise receive through the conservative MTV and commercial radio outlets.

"The fact that er toured non-stop for a year and four months was definitely the thing that did it for us," stated vocalist Jonathan Davis recently when asked about the band's unusually quick rise. "The fact that the fans had the opportunity to see us live, plus having a record company that was behind us all the way, in addition to the kids just relating to what we had to say lyrically. We went out on all these tours. It wasn't really our crowd, and every tour we went out, we stole more fans, more fans got it, and now it's just gottan so big, it's a trip."

While the touring was certainly the main factor in Korn's awesome ascent to their current status, the band wouldn't have been able to accomplish nearly as much as they have, had it not been for the commitment of their record company, Immortal/Epic Records, whose support and belief has been essential in the group's consistently strong sales performance (at the time of this writing, Korn is still regularly shifting over 12,000 units a week).

"Before Immortal, we had a lot of different offers from different [labels], but Immortal just made us feel like home," Davis explained. "The guy that signed us come to something like eight of our shows before he introduced himself to us. He was really cool, and he was saying that they would put 100% behind this band. That was what got us really interested in the company because we knew that it would take a lot of work and dedication from the label's end to break the band, and they were able to guarantee us that kind of backing. Plus, we'd heard loads of rumors about some of the independent labels such as Roadrunner in the past, so we decided to go with a younf, hungry label such as Immortal, and in hindsight, I know that we made the right decision."

In addition to the firm label support and virtually instant industry acclaim, Korn had the benefit of being on the receiving end of some very strong words of praise from fellow musicians and members of more established groups, some of whom (i.e. Sepultura) have since gone on to make albums that have clearly been inspired by the Ross Robinson- produced debut (to the extent that Sepultura used Robinson and the same studio to record Roots, in addition to tuning down their guitars and incorporating some blatant Korn-isms into their music).

Insisting that he enjoys all the praise and attention from other groups ("If someone takes the time to try and figure out what the fuck we're doing - they think it's that good - then I'm flattered," offered the vocalist), Davis points out that "musicians are the most picky motherfuckers out there, so all the words of encouragement meant something to us.

"When I first head the Sepultura album - and I love those guys - I thought, 'Oh shit, they did try to go for our sound.' It's basically, we created this sound, and Ross juse helped us record it - 'cause Ross was nobody. He hung out witht the band for a year before we gave him a shot to do this album. Before that, he hadn't done nothing. We [created] this sound, and between him and [the engineer] Chuck, they came up with it, with us.

"When Sepultura's album came out, they basically tuned as low as we did. It's basically the tuning that's our sound. But sonically, [i.e. the production], that's Ross."

Currently in pre-production for Korn's second album, Jonathan predicts that the next record will be "a little bit different. Lyrically, I know that I'll try some different stuff, but it'll still be the same old Korn. I don't want it to change too drastically [from our first album]. Just basically stay with what we've been doing, but change it a little bit - add some flavour to it." While expected the sophmore effort to contain all the aggression and heaviness of its predecessor, the singer is quick to point out that "out of everybody [in the band], I'm the only one who listens to any metal at all," a fact that will undoubtedly play a part in the overall sound of the next album. "I only like the fuckin' heavy, heavy shit - like grind, or death metal. I guess the other guys got the whole metal thing out of their systems when they were younger, while I never really listened to it until I joined Korn. And now I'm just discovering all these bands, and I like some of them quite a bit, so I'll listen to it when I feel like it." Admitting to a non-metal-influenced early musical career that included a stint in a goth-rock outfit by the name of Sex Art (with Davis sporting white facial make-up during the group's live performances), the vocalist, and recent father of a young boy named Nathan, cites the likes of Christian Death and Duran Duran as some of his early influences, while the rest of the group (minus guitarist Brian) issued an album under the moniker L.A.P.D. throught the Roadrunner label in Europe during the early part of the decade.

Tentatively scheduled to be released inearly 1997, Korn's second album will see the group concentrate more intensively on the European market, where the band's only spent a minimal amount of time thus far, and with less than spectacular results, according to Jonathan.

"We did two weeks in Europe with Primus, and then we did two weeks headlining. It was just hard on us 'cause we don't like Europe - it fuckin' sucks. We had a bad fuckin' experience in Germany, where some fucker tried to throw us out of a restaurant 'cause we were fuckin' American. The only places that were cool were London and Manchester - the English-speaking places. And Amsterdam [as well] - Holland's cool. Other than that, it was really fucked up. We had really fucked-up tour managers, and we'd be sitting in out hotel rooms not knowing what to do. So we had a really fucked-up time. And we didn't know any other bands - they stick to themselves mostly over there - so it was really fucked up for us." Although unconfirmed at presstime, strong rumors suggest that Korn will take part in the forthcoming Lollopalooza festival, due to commence in early July and featuring Metallica as headliners.