Korn’s Jonathan Davis: I’m a little diva over songwriting

Korn's Jonathan Davis
Korn's Jonathan Davis (Image credit: Getty)

Korn’s Jonathan Davis has explained how he writes and records his vocal parts.

The band released their 12th studio album The Serenity Of Suffering in October. And the singer jokes that he can sometimes be a “diva” when it comes to his contribution to Korn’s sound.

Davis tells The Sixx Sense radio show (via Blabbermouth): “I need to have a song completely done. I guess I’m a little diva when it comes to that stuff!

“It dictates what I’m going to be feeling, emotions, everything. I need that. I need to have that landscape to inspire me to do what I do. Once the music is all done, I know exactly where to place my vocals and fill the holes and do all of that to make it work. I guess it’s backwards.”

He continues: “I am the last one always on the record to be done. They give me a window of two weeks. Also, being a father over the years, I take care of the boys all the time.

“When I get home, I give my wife a break and take the kids. I’ve learned to be really quick and efficient in the studio. I come in, the song is done, I listen to it, and usually I just sing the melody lines. I go into the studio and I spend two days doing all of the melody lines to all of the songs, then I come back, write the lyrics, then sing them. I do about a song a day.”

Korn are about to head out on tour across Europe with Limp Bizkit, with the first show taking place at the Manchester Arena on December 12. They’ll also play next year’s Rock On The Range on May 19-21, 2017.

Korn tour dates 2016⁄2017

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 05: Anaheim House Of Blues, CA
Mar 06: Anaheim House Of Blues, CA
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, SpainMar 20: Paris Le Zenith, France
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 03: Vienna Gasometer, Austria
Apr 04: Bratislava Aegon Arena, Slovakia
May 19-21: Colombus Rock On The Range, OH

The Jonathan Davis Quiz: how well do you know Korn's frontman?

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.