Speaking with online publication GibsonGuitar.in, Korn guitarist James ‘Munky’ Shaffer has given some rare insight into the inner workings of the band, discussing how they associate with their nu-metal labelling, as well as their new album.
The reason this is rare is that it isn’t the same douche-bag insight we’d get into the same band from their vocalist Jonathan Davies – who’s pretty much lost the plot, ranting about the Illuminati and what not. Speaking in the interview, Munky has explained that the band themselves never cared much for the term nu-metal:
“We’ve never considered ourselves ‘nu-metal’, or any particular genre for that matter. When we came out, certain media outlets coined that phrase to group all these bands together, but we’ve always tried to do our own thing. We love metal, but also incorporate hip-hop, funk, electronic music, and try to keep challenging ourselves to be different and push our own boundaries with our music. I think that’s kept us in a good creative space that our amazing fans have been so supportive of, thankfully.”
The interview revolved around the band’s latest studio release, The Path of Totality, which saw them become totally emerged in the world of electronica and dubstep. Munky even went as far as to name check Skrillex as one of the key influences for the album: “Jonathan Davis, our singer, has always been into electronic music, and was a DJ in high school before he joined Korn. When we were looking for a new direction for our next album, Jonathan came to me, sat down and started playing the wildest, most interesting music I had heard in a while. “What is that??” I asked. He told me it was this DJ named Skrillex. He asked if we wanted to incorporate these sounds into our next album, and I was all for it.”
Capping off the interesting chat, which you can check out in full on the site, Munky explains the current mindset amongst him and his bandmates: “We’re still making music because we have something we want to express, not because we “have to”…We are more mature, better behaved, quieter, and there’s less drama.”
Well, all that’s well and good, Munky, but you’re still nu-metal.
