In the lead up to the release of Korn’s forthcoming album The Paradigm Shift, a strong emphasis has been placed on frontman Jonathan Davis recent battle with prescription medication. In a recent interview with Metal Hammer Magazine Show, Davis has detailed just how debilitating his addiction was, to the point where he was even rejecting music.
Davis recalled the lowest point of this part of his life, explaining that he was dealing with withdrawal symptoms and his son’s health problems simultaneously, all the while having only one foot planted in reality:
“I stopped writing and listening to music and a lot of stuff that I loved because I was really battling with the detox off benzos. It’s a horrible drug. They call it Xanax at home, I don’t know what they call it here but I was fighting, having seizures, I was shaking all the time, I couldn’t think, My brain was actually wired a certain way from the medicine, so it had to rewire itself. I had one foot in reality and one foot out. I was freaking out that my baby had diabetes, I was like ‘Oh, my God, he’s going to lose his feet and go blind.'”
However, now out of the woods, Davis is able to assess his recent past with a sense of clarity. The vocalist said that music has been his a healing tool, and he’s been turning to some unexpected sources for :
“Music’s always been my saviour, but I wasn’t having it. I don’t know where I was. Honestly. But now I’ve been listening to a lot of Rick James, a lot of Average White Band, old school funk.”
Of course, another hot topic associated with Korn is their upcoming album, The Paradigm Shift, which sees the return of original guitarist Head. You can listen to the full interview below, which also touches on influences for certain tracks featured on The Paradigm Shift.
In other Korn news, the band will be heading Down Under early-2014 as part of Soundwave. The Paradigm Shift will be released in Australia Friday, 4th October.
Listen: Korn’s Jonathon Davis on Metal Hammer Magazine Show
