Muen Magazine

July 10, 2010

KORN

Roadrunner Records

Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu (Bass)

Bakersfield, California

Myspace.com/korn

By: Shauna O’Donnell

HEY GUYS THIS IS SHAUNA O’DONNELL AND I AM IN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA FOR THE KICK OFF OF THE ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL. I AM HERE WITH FIELDY OF KORN.

MUEN: HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY?

I’m just actually relaxing now doing this with you guys. Before you walked in I was putting my three year old son down for a nap and talking to my manager about the new set list. We got this awesome stage set that we are doing tonight.  It’s very exciting.

MUEN: TODAY IS KICK OFF FOR MAYHEM. WE ARE ALL VERY EXCITED. ARE YOU GOING TO BE DOING SIGNINGS AT THE ROADRUNNER BOOTH A LITTLE LATER?

I don’t know, I think I heard something about that. Since we pulled up it’s been non-stop with interviews. I know I’m doing some type of signing, but I’m not quite sure what it is.

MUEN: I THINK WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS SELLING YOUR CD’S AT THE BOOTH. IF SOMEONE BUYS ONE, THEY ARE GUARANTEED A SIGNATURE. WILL THIS CONTINUE AT EVERY STOP ON THE TOUR?

I don’t know, it’s the first day of the tour. It sounds like something they would do to make me work harder.

MUEN: YOU HAVE A NEW ALBUM TITLED KORN III REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE COMING OUT IN A COUPLE DAYS. IS THIS A CONCEPT ALBUM?

No I don’t think it’s a concept album. I think it’s more like Korn III, meaning the first two Korn albums were done by Ross Robinson and this is the third one that Ross Robinson did. We kind of felt like it was the direction of what Korn was on the first two albums back in the day. We are staying on track of what Korn is about, making the music.

MUEN: IS THAT WHY YOU DECIDED TO USE ROSS AGAIN? I KNOW HE WAS THERE FOR THE FIRST COUPLE ALBUMS AND NOW YOU HAVE DECIDED TO BRING HIM BACK FOR THIS ONE.

We had the idea of going back and doing things like we did in 1994 from recording to a 16 track tape to recording in an 8 x 10 room. We went straight to recording, leaving the vibe there and not fixing mess ups if the vibe was good. We went back with Ross because that’s how we did it back then. We got a hold of him and he was down to do it.

MUEN: NORMALLY YOU WRITE SEPARATELY, BUT ON THIS ALBUM YOU GUYS DECIDED TO WRITE TOGETHER.

We have tried everything that you can think of. We never really wrote separately, but sometimes me and Munky would sit down and write with a drum machine. Very few songs were written before, we’ve always kind of written together, but as an entire whole band with even Jonathan there, we haven’t done that in a long time. It’s pretty cool because Jonathan could hear the music developing and he would come up with ideas on the spot. It’s the vibe of how people did it back in the day when you had to get in a garage and make music.

MUEN: YOU ARE NEW TO THE ROADRUNNER LABEL. DID YOU FEEL THAT IT WAS TIME TO CHANGE LABELS?

I think meeting with all these labels this time around, there’s not a lot of them left, Roadrunner was more the original format of how record companies did it back then. It kind of tied in with what we were doing with the old school feeling. It just felt good, it wasn’t about trying to find the ultimate record deal, it was more about having a team that was behind it.

MUEN: OKAY I’M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS. LET’S TALK ABOUT KORN LIVE: THE ENCOUNTER.  YOU HAVE SOME CROP CIRCLES WITH THE KORN LOGO IN IT. TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT.

We had these four guys come in from London and they walked out with these big boards with rope on it and they smashed these big circles. It almost looks like; did Led Zeppelin do that back in the day or Pink Floyd?

MUEN: IT WAS PINK FLOYD.

Right, it was kind of like that. I didn’t see it until recently when we played in that field. If you Google Earth and you look from space, you can see that they smashed Korn in there. It looks so good that it looks like it is computerized. They were out there smashing that in there and it looks amazing. I was blown away. We did a concert in the middle of the field and it was probably one of the coolest things that we did. It was a full vibe just jamming out, creating this music in between and it was real cool.

MUEN: THE CONCERT IS ALREADY DONE, TAPED AND IT AIRS ON MONDAY JULY 12^TH.

Yeah, I haven’t even seen it. I saw a few clips, but I can’t wait to see it because we were out there jamming. We had never done that before where we were just free styling in between songs.

MUEN: WHERE DID THE INSPIRATION TO DO THIS COME FROM?

I guess way back in the day Pink Floyd did something like this where they went into a field, jammed and went into new songs and old songs. Instead of putting a set list together you kind of just jam to this music, you hear it go into something and you start to communicate through the music. It kind of molds into the next song. You listen for notes and it is almost like talking through music. It’s really weird how we do that, I don’t even get it. I don’t man, I’ll be looking at my drummer, were not talking and it is just trippy. When you are really in a vibe, connecting, you just kind of look at each other and it molds into this. It’s amazing, I don’t get it.

MUEN: I LOVE THE SINGLE OFF THE NEW ALBUM “OILDALE” (LEAVE ME ALONE.) TELL ME ABOUT THE VIDEO, WHAT’S HAPPENING?

You don’t get a budget with videos now like you did back in the day. Back then we were getting like $1.3 million. I didn’t get the money, it goes to the video, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t get $1.3 million, I wish. In these days you will be lucky to get a hundred grand. We did this lower budget video in Oildale, California. It was in the middle of a dirt field with some oil rigs in the background. I was looking at it going “I wouldn’t spend $1.3 million on this and it’s cooler looking than all the other videos.” I was blown away. I think it makes people get more creative when they don’t have all of that money to work with. They are having to pull all their tricks to make it good.

MUEN: YOUR BP BOYCOTT HAS BEEN BUILDING UP MOMENTUM WITH MANY BANDS COMING ON BOARD IN SUPPORT, ACTUALLY A TOTAL OF 30 BANDS. YOU GUYS GOT THIS ROLLING, WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE KNOWING SO MANY OTHERS ARE JOINING IN?

Something has to be done and so many people are busy pointing the finger. That’s what people do. They would say “Well how come you’re doing this, but your not doing this?” At least we are doing something. We will say “What are you doing?” and they say “Nothing.” How can they point the finger at us? We have already recieved bad feedback from people asking why we are hitting the smaller companies when it is the bigger companies. It doesn’t matter; somebody has to do something to bring it to attention. That’s politics though, somebody has to always try and find a debate.

MUEN: I ADMIRE YOU FOR AT LEAST TRYING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. SO MANY PEOPLE WILL JUST TAKE A BACK SEAT AND DO NOTHING.

People are afraid to take a stand because they don’t want to get the heat from other people. I find it’s best just to go “What are you doing about it?” Most of the time those people who are saying that, aren’t doing anything. That’s why you can always hit somebody with that instead of debating with them. It’s like shut up if you’re not doing anything.

MUEN: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT BANDS LIKE IRON MAIDEN AND RATT COMING BACK AND TOURING?

I hope they put a big package deal together because I’m going!

MUEN: I SAW YOU GUYS ON JIMMY KIMMEL, IT WAS A GREAT PERFORMANCE. I USED TO GO TO KIMMEL’S EVENTS ALL THE TIME. I LOVE THAT HE PROMOTES MUSIC ON HIS SHOW LIKE THAT. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAD A GREAT TURNOUT. HOW MANY SONGS DID YOU END UP PERFORMING?

We did the one for the TV show and if you go to www.jimmykimmel.com you can see the other live part. I don’t remember how many we did, but I do remember Jimmy Kimmel saying “Cut! That’s enough, no more!” We did so many songs that they almost kicked us off.

MUEN: I LOVE RAY! HE IS SUCH A BADASS DRUMMER AND HIS DRUMSET IS INCREDIBLE. HE IS NOW A PERMANENT MEMBER OF THE BAND RIGHT?

Yeah, he’s been with us almost four years. When he came into the picture, the second he played with us we were like “This is the guy!” He didn’t try to be Ray, he said “This is Korn, I’m going to try and fit in to this.” He played what he was supposed to play. I think that is why we auditioned so many drummers; they were trying to be the ultimate drummer. We are not looking for the ultimate drummer; we are looking for that piece that is missing. He was our guy, he just got it. It was fun watching all of these drummers come in, their characters and the things they were doing. There are so many awesome musicians, but they don’t get that you are not really looking for that.

MUEN: HOW DO THE FANS LIKE HIM?

I’ve heard nothing but good. I think it’s because they know he fits. He is amazing; even if he wasn’t in my band I’d say the same thing. He’s on fire, man.

MUEN: THE FIRST TIME I SAW HIM, HE WAS IN ARMY OF ANYONE. HE WAS LIKE AN OCTOPUS WITH HIS ARMS.

Yeah, that’s what our producer Ross Robinson was calling him “Octopus.” He’s all over the place.

MUEN: ARE YOU GUYS PLAYING OZZFEST IN SEPTEMBER?

We are doing a few shows with him, I don’t know if we’re doing the whole thing, but we are doing a few. I think it’s over in Europe.

MUEN: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE INTERVIEW. GOOD LUCK TONIGHT. WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD OR SAY?

Look out for Korn III Remember Who You Are. It comes out on July 13^th and it comes with a whole live DVD and video to every song. It’s good to have a visual to it. I have a band coming out called Stillwell, so look out for that. I play guitar in that band actually, so look out for that it’s coming soon. We’ll be out all summer on the Mayhem tour.

BANDS SUPPORTING THE BP BOYCOTT: KORN, Disturbed, Lady Gaga, Rise Against, Godsmack, Backstreet Boys, Rock Star Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, Slightly Stoopid, Rob Zombie, Megadeth, Black Label Society with Zakk Wylde, Anthrax, Filter, Hellyeah, Flogging Molly, Maroon 5, Shinedown, 30 Seconds To Mars, Chevelle, Sevendust, Puddle of Mudd, Neon Trees, Soulfly, Halestorm, Mutiny Within, Saliva, Story of the Year, Adelitas Way, 10 Years, Hail The Villain, and the Carnival of Madness Tour