Biography

He lay dormant in another local band. Jonathan Davis was splitting his time between dissecting corpses at the Kern County morgue and playing in a sub-grunge band called Sex Art, whose sole demo seemed to have the hardest time getting any attention.

Shortly after, his arrival at the rehearsal space of the former L.A.P.D. members reset the clock, confirming the quality of this new lineup, which had previously been bolstered by Brian « Head » Welch, Munky's childhood friend and guitarist.

Immortal Records, led by the energetic Happy Walters, would be the first label to take an interest in Korn. He was opening a remarkable metal chapter, as his earlier releases had been more rap-oriented — none other than the first Funkdoobiest and the Judgment Night soundtrack.

In 1994, when the Korn album was released, American kids found themselves in Jonathan Davis. In the wake of Kurt Cobain's death, he was the first to offer — within so-called "aggressive" music — a deeply human attitude and vocal style, setting himself apart from peers like Phil Anselmo or Max Cavalera.

Korn went on to tour publicly, opening for bands as diverse as Danzig, House Of Pain, Megadeth, KMFDM, Cypress Hill, and Foo Fighters.

Shortly after, Korn began touring relentlessly, and it would take the release of Life Is Peachy a year later for fame to finally arrive. A year during which many bands would attempt to appropriate Korn's metal recipe, starting with Sepultura, who invited Jonathan Davis on the extraordinary « Lookaway » (Roots, 1996).

A path followed since by a plethora of other bands: Cold, Limp Bizkit, Soulfly... The only ones standing out from this pack being the Deftones, to whom — alongside Korn — one can unquestionably attribute the parentage of this "new metal".

Korn's debut album would easily reach one million copies sold. Without knowing it, Korn had invented the metal of post-adolescent malaise, with savage seven-string guitar riffs, sincere screams, and sadistic clown tattoos.

Korn's concern would henceforth be to do nothing like anyone else. Talk quickly spread of a new style, a new producer — when many saw Ross Robinson as the band's sixth member — Steve Thompson.

Korn was now free to manage its multiple activities: Fieldy signed remixes for Limp Bizkit and the Lordz Of Brooklyn, and the band simultaneously created their own label, Elementree, distributed by Reprise Records. Orgy was the first group launched, at the intersection of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode.

Leveraging their connection with fans, Korn set up a camera in their studios, and every Thursday, fans could peek into the band's private life online via the "Korn After School Specials". Rarely have fans been so close to their stars.

Unable to resist the urge to tour, Korn indulged in a promotional tour cynically dubbed "Korn Kampaign 98" in late August — another jab at American conservatism, in the image of glittering presidential campaign tours desperate for voters.

Shortly after, Korn appeared publicly in a military tank or medieval skullcap and treated fans to the "Family Values Tour", joined by Limp Bizkit, Incubus, Ice Cube, Orgy, and Rammstein.

A festival that explored the meaning of family across multiple bands, and of course the fans themselves — in the spirit of the "Got The Life" video, a grand invitation to chaos and a lovely jab at MTV.

The year 2002 was marked by the release of Untouchables. Korn made room for melodies and effects; Jonathan Davis used, among other things, a recording technique normally reserved for classical music albums. The music became more melodic and the atmospheres more refined.

Two years later came Take a Look In The Mirror (2003), marking a return to basics with a more direct and raw sound. Produced by the band itself, it would be the last with the original lineup. It was followed in October 2004 by a Greatest Hits Vol. 1, containing some previously unreleased material including covers of Word Up! and Another Brick In The Wall.

Three years passed and here we are in 2010. The long-awaited resurrection took place and Korn was reborn. The album Korn III Remember Who You Are appeared and, strangely, one had the impression of being back in 1994 — so much was this album THE slap of the year.

For production, Korn called on Ross Robinson (producer of the first two albums) and it was now Ray Luzier who we found behind the kit. Sharp guitar riffs, Davis's voice at the peak of his art, and an omnipresent heaviness on some tracks that could only reassure first-generation fans.

More than twenty years of career and many bands having launched themselves on the path traced by the Davis crew — it is impossible to deny the impact Korn has had on contemporary metal music.

May 2012. A concert in North Carolina. Brian « Head » Welch took to the stage to play « Blind » with his former bandmates. The venue exploded. A year later, his official return to the band was announced. The original lineup was almost reconstituted — missing only David Silveria, permanently replaced by Ray Luzier.

The Paradigm Shift appeared in October 2013, inspired by the melodic brutality of Issues and Untouchables. Fans found a complete, calmer, yet still incisive Korn. The album charted in the Top 10 in the United States, Germany, Austria, and Australia.

Recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, free from label constraints or deadlines, Requiem arrived on February 4, 2022. Nine concise, emotionally intense tracks confirming the evolution of a band that has learned to transform suffering into art.

The eve of its release, Korn organized an intimate concert at the Hollywood United Methodist Church — the Requiem Mass — inviting the public to bring a memento of a departed loved one. A rare, almost sacred moment.

That same period marked a turning point: Fieldy, founding bassist since 1993, parted ways with the band after recording Requiem. Roberto "Ra" Díaz stepped in as live bassist from late 2021. Far from a simple replacement, his chemistry with drummer Ray Luzier has breathed a fresh dynamic into Korn's creative process — two musicians building a rhythm section together for the very first time on record.

In 2024, the band headlined their largest-ever UK show at Gunnersbury Park, London, as part of a world tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album. Thirty years, and the crowd was bigger than ever.

Then in April 2026, Korn broke four years of studio silence with Reward the Scars, a ferocious new single recorded for Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred — their first studio track without Fieldy. Munky revealed the band has written close to 40 songs for their upcoming 15th album, recorded on analog tape, meticulously rewritten and rebuilt — with no release date set, but a clear ambition: to deliver something worthy of their legacy.

The phoenix, decidedly, never goes out.