BRIAN 'HEAD' WELCH On Rejoining KORN: 'If It Was A Crazy Party Still, I Would Not Have Gone Back'

July 30, 2016

In a brand new interview with The Arizona Republic, KORN guitarist Brian "Head" Welch — a former drug addict and reformed Christian — spoke about what it was like rejoining the band in early 2013, eight years after first leaving the group.

"If it was a crazy party still, I would not have gone back," he said. "I mean, I'm around parties and we go to bars sometimes. I hang out with my friends and some of them drink mildly, but if there was, like, cocaine and bong rips thrown in my face every day, I couldn't do it. It's not the atmosphere I want to be around. So yeah, I was nervous. But once I met with the guys and reconciled with them, I was, like, 'Wow, they don't care about that anymore.' It was a been-there-done-that type of thing. Some of them have young kids. They're still poppin' out new kids, so it's a different atmosphere. It's not, like, 'Let's get wasted and send our crew guys out to get, like, 50 girls backstage.' It's different now that people care about their families and want their marriages to actually not end in divorce. They want to be good dads. They aren't killing themselves anymore. And it's been really cool. Everyone is focused on the music and the fans and just keeping this band together."

Welch was also asked how he was able to reconcile and set aside whatever tension may have been there between him and his KORN bandmates. He said: "My daughter turned into a teenager and started liking rock music. She liked EVANESCENCE and STAIND and CHEVELLE and all these bands. So, I ended up taking her to a show where all three of those bands were playing, and KORN ended up playing last that night. So I was just gonna go and do my thing, go out to the soundboard and watch KORN out there. But they found out I was there and asked me to come and hang out. So I went and I saw [KORN guitarist James] Munky [Shaffer] for the first time in eight years and we just conversated. He looked at me and my daughter and it kind of made sense, everything that happened. So talking to him and seeing how clear he was, it was a meant-to-be type thing, the right place at the right time. Then they asked me to go do a meet-and-greet with them, to go sign autographs for fans. And I was just, like, 'Man, that’s weird. That was, like, a lifetime ago.' So I did that. Then, they asked me to come onstage and play 'Blind' with them and I said sure. I went up there and it was so intense. All the bands I mentioned earlier and even more were all on the side of the stage watching. A lot of people were in tears. At first I resisted it. I was, like, 'Nah, I'm doing my own thing. I don't want to get on that crazy train again.' The KORN train never stops touring, and I just didn't want to do that. But the next thing you know, I started thinking about it more. Me and Munky were in communication on the phone and it just worked out."

Welch's new book, "With Eyes Wide Open: Miracles And Mistakes On My Way Back To Korn", aims to reveal what a wild ride his life has been (so far). It is a follow-up to best-seller 2007's "Save Me From Myself", which delved into details behind Welch's decision to leave KORN and embrace Christianity.

"With My Eyes Wide Open" was made available on May 17. Thomas Nelson is the publisher.

KORN kicked off a co-headlining tour with ROB ZOMBIE, "Return Of The Dreads", on July 19 in Englewood, Colorado. That trek winds down on September 3 in Bristow, Virginia.

KORN will also hit the road this fall with co-headliners BREAKING BENJAMIN for the "Nocturnal Underground Tour", which will launch on September 24 in Fargo, North Dakota and run through late October.

KORN's much-anticipated new album, "The Serenity Of Suffering", will arrive on October 21 via Roadrunner. The official video for the disc's first single, "Rotting In Vain", was released earlier in the month.

Find more on Korn
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).