KORN Frontman Says Near-Fatal Illness Impacted New Album

Launch Radio Networks reports: KORN frontman Jonathan Davis says in the new issue of Kerrang! magazine that his near-fatal bout with a rare blood infection in 2006 was the main inspiration for many of his lyrics on the group's upcoming new album. Davis explained to the U.K. publication, "Death was completely on my mind when I was writing the lyrics for the new record. It really made me think about life, where it's been and where it's going. It made me rearrange the things in my life that I hold dearest and changed the way I thought about my family and my family in KORN."

Nearly a year after his illness, Davis told Launch that he's feeling fine but that the incident still had a large impact on his life and music: "I've been dealing with all the issues with my health and everything, just what I've been going through and the ups and downs, and one week I'm good, one week I'm bad, or I think I'm gonna have this disease or am I gonna die, or...you know, there's a lot of issues that I have to deal with. That's what I've been writing about."

Davis was afflicted with idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura, a disease that makes it difficult for sufferers to form blood clots and stop bleeding. KORN was forced to cancel a European tour last summer so that he could recover.

The singer told Kerrang! that one tune on the new record, "I Will Protect You", was written for his sons, Nathan, Pirate and Zeppelin. Davis said, "While I was sick, all I could think about was that I might die and then my sons would be growing up without a dad. That was really hard. The song is for them and it's really, really heavy."

KORN's eighth studio album, which has been left untitled, comes out on July 31. The first single is called "Evolution".

KORN will kick off the 2007 Family Values tour on July 20 in St. Louis, with EVANESCENCE and a number of other acts on the bill.