Korn 'weren't ready' for meteoric rise

Munky
Munky (Image credit: Getty)

Korn’s James ‘Munky’ Schaffer admits he doesn’t think the band were ready for their sudden stardom after the success of their album Follow The Leader in 1998.

The Bakersfield outfit catapulted into the limelight following the launch of their multi-platinum selling third record, with their days of scraping together rehearsal money through odd jobs soon spiralling into drug and alcohol-fuelled partying while on tour.

Munky tells the new issue of Metal Hammer: “I don’t think we were ready for it. There was a bunch of money and success, and that’s what we dreamt of, but we were so young that we took it for granted.

“We weren’t thinking about tomorrow. We were having fun living in the moment and not thinking about our actions.

“We partied like crazy, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

The full interview with Korn features in the new issue of Metal Hammer – out now in print and via TeamRock+. They’re the cover stars with the magazine also featuring interviews with band members Jonathan Davis, Brian ‘Head’ Welch, Fieldy and Ray Luzier.

Earlier this week, the band released a live video for A Different World featuring Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, and issued a stream of Take Me. Both feature on their upcoming 12th album The Serenity Of Suffering which is out on October 21 via Roadrunner.

Korn are currently on the road across the US and return to the UK in December.

Korn's Serenity Of Suffering artwork

Korn's Serenity Of Suffering artwork

Korn: The Serenity Of Suffering tracklist

  1. Insane
  2. Rotting In Vain
  3. Black Is The Soul
  4. The Hating
  5. A Different World - featuring Corey Taylor
  6. Take Me
  7. Everything Falls Apart
  8. Die Yet Another Night
  9. When You’re Not There
  10. Next In Line
  11. Please Come For Me

Metal Hammer issue 289

Metal Hammer issue 289

Korn Quiz: How well do you know Life Is Peachy?

Korn tour dates 2016⁄2017

Oct 15: Rogers Walmart Amphitheater, AR
Oct 16: Tulsa Bok Center, OK
Oct 19: Colorado Springs World Arena, CO
Oct 23: Sacramento Aftershock, CA
Dec 12: Manchester Arena, UK
Dec 14: Glasgow SSE Hydro, UK
Dec 15: Birmingham Barclaycard Arena, UK
Dec 16: London Wembley SSE Arena, UK
Dec 18: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, UK
Dec 19: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UK
Mar 11: Zurich Event Park, Switzerland
Mar 12: Milan Alcatraz, Italy
Mar 15: Lisbon Campo Pequeno, Portugal
Mar 17: Madrid Barclaycard Center, Spain
Mar 18: Barcelona Sant Jordi Club, Spain
Mar 20: Paris Le Zenith, France
Mar 21: Antwerp Lotto Arena, Belgium
Mar 22: Tilburg 013 Poppodium, Netherlands
Mar 24: Stuttgart Hanns Martin Schleyer Halle, Germany
Mar 25: Dusseldorf Mitsuhbishi Electric Halle, Germany
Mar 27: Hamburg Alsterdorfer Sporthalle, Germany
Mar 28: Berlin Velodrom, Germany
Mar 30: Prague Forum Karlin, Czech Republic
Mar 31: Warsaw Torwar Hall, Poland
Apr 02: Munich Zenith, Germany
Apr 02: Vienna Gasometer, Austria

Korn reveal 'music box' edition of The Serenity Of Suffering

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.