As both men christen the hard-hitting "Rock Is Dead" tour, Rob Zombie and Korn frontman Jonathan Davis are happy... but for very different reasons.
For Zombie, the tour marks a new high water mark of independence since leaving White Zombie. With a stage set that is somehow bigger, bolder, and even more Zombie than the one he toured with last year, this trek sees the singer reveling in his solo status, and savoring every last drop of fake blood.
For Davis, this tour marks a sharp contrast to last year's Family Values outing, when the singer says he was "in hell." While that tour rolled on, seemingly marking a highlight in Korn's career, Davis says that his Family Values days were filled with sleep, depression, music, and panic attacks. This time around, Davis has a clear head, a new openness, and a greater enjoyment of touring.
These topics and many more were up for discussion when Zombie and Davis spoke with MTV News' John Norris as the tour kicked off last week, and you can check it out right here in our MTV News Online feature. You'll also see Davis talk about his volatile swing through Australia with Marilyn Manson and Hole, Zombie discuss the downside of working with an 18 foot robot, and plenty of other tidbits as well.
Enjoy...
Korn & Rob Zombie: Rock Is Dead Feature
JOHN NORRIS: The show as is it now, was it tested out on the road in Australia?
JONATHAN DAVIS: No, we were just playing, just getting ready for this and we were over in Australia and Japan for a month and played only eight shows, so this is now the real deal. We play three shows and then one off, two off, so we got more shows, yeah going to the regular pace of last year.
NORRIS: Is that cool with you, because I know there was a period when you canceled a couple of shows because you were under the weather and...
DAVIS: Well, I was mentally messed up bad and now they've got me stabilized on their medicine and all psyched up now. But I'm taking this medicine and I'm way better now.
NORRIS: Was it just the pace of the tour that just got to you?
DAVIS: Well, the pace of the tour... I just got exhausted. I woke up one day and couldn't even walk, and that plus the anxiety. I get really bad panic attacks. I was, I don't know, I hardly remember Family Values. I was in hell. I would sleep 'til five in the afternoon, get up, play, and go back to bed I was so depressed.
NORRIS: Really, that's a shame because the show was so...
DAVIS: Yeah, it was good. The only time I felt good was when I was out on the stage. Thank God, that was my savior, being able to play, and then I was depressed and went back to bed... But now I'm way better and I'm coming back out and talking and stuff. I was hiding out for a year.
NORRIS: Cool, speaking of Australia, before I get onto the tour and what's ahead, you were out with Manson and Hole. Had you met them before?
DAVIS: I'm friends with Manson. We did one of our first tours together, so we've been friends for a long time, and that was the first time I met the Hole people, that was...
NORRIS: Including the woman herself?
DAVIS: The Hole herself.
NORRIS: What did you...
DAVIS: I thought it was funny because both those bands are so bitter and jealous towards us that all they did was talk about us and I just keep hearing all this talk. It was just getting ridiculous. It all just picked... Courtney said she made an art out of picking on us, and Manson said a whole bunch of stuff. I actually knocked him out on stage. He called me out, he said some pretty bad things about me in front of 50,000 people and I took him out right there on stage.
NORRIS: You came up on stage?
DAVIS: Yeah, and knocked him down and hurt his back. He was laying there and I felt really good.
NORRIS: Of course your album did come out about the same time as theirs...
DAVIS: Well we both came out the same time, but he'd always been like... he's Mr. Arrogant, Mr. Rock Star, all that, whatever...
NORRIS: As Craig Marks can attest to...
DAVIS: Yeah, but...
NORRIS: Not that Craig Marks didn't...
DAVIS: No, that magazine itself, we almost beat up one of the editors, so... I don't want to go there. That's another story. But um, they always would just give us... you're the little band always, and now that we got bands on our own record label that outsell them, it's awesome. I just look at them and rub it in, but I mean, he's cool about it. Some in his band are being punks.
NORRIS: So, their tour is kicking off this weekend as well. I mean, do you wish them well?
DAVIS: No. On a personal level, I love Manson as friends, but as it comes to music, and all the name-calling and stuff, I don't dig that. So, I don't know. I like the guy but, we're killing them. We are killing them.
This article was taken from MTV.com
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