Korn‘s primary players reflect back on their 1994 self-titled debut as part of a new oral history put together by Rollingstone.com. The feature has commentary from the bands founding members, including ex-drummer David Silveria and producer Ross Robinson. It traces their beginnings, the recording process and the touring behind the effort, which turned twenty on October 11th. Some excerpts from the lengthy read can be found below:
On drug use during the sessions:
Head: We tricked Ross into taking us on a drug run, and then we ended up tracking the vocals for “Ball Tongue” high on drugs. When Ross found out, that he drove us on a drug run without knowing it, he got pretty upset with us.
Davis: Went to my dealer and got a big ol’ fat rock of meth, chopped that shit up and I did vocals. “Ball Tongue” was about our close friend and kind of manager, from Huntington. That was his nickname because when he was tweaking, he’d just sort of seize up and his tongue was like a ball. All that crazy, scatting shit, that was all from me probably being up too long [laughs].
Robinson: He was hitting one of those black music stands with a guitar cord. During that vocal he was like — Bam! “Uurrragghh!” Bam!, “Uaaaggggh!” Anything that happened by accident, we kept.
Fieldy: I think I was the most excited and emotional – ’cause I’ll cry when I’m excited – I remember recording “Ball Tongue” and it kinda felt like we finally hit that song that everything Korn stood for was in this song.
On being treated poorly during their first tours:
Silveria: I remember the lead singer of Biohazard was a jerk to us. And I don’t even know why. And I remember the head guy of [House of Pain]. He was a jerk to us too. Yeah, I don’t even know why they were. They just came up with all these rules and if we were around they’d be like, “Hey you, get out of here,” or whatever. They were just mean; I didn’t understand it.
David Silveria on the band planning full-album performances of the album without him in the lineup:
Silveria: I feel like it was wrong to go play this record without me, because I was just as much of a creative input as any of these guys while writing and making this record. So I think it was wrong to do it without me, but it’s not really weird. They’ve been playing and touring years without me. I just think they should’ve asked me to come play the tour.
The full read is available over at Rollingstone.com.
