Posts
Korn: James Shaffer About The Band's Music And His Own Contribution To It | Interviews @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com: "On Remember Who You Are, Untitled and See You On the Other Side, you were the sole guitarist in Korn. Brian Welch left just prior to the See You On the Other Side album and you became the only guitar player. Was there a learning curve in going from the dual guitar thing to becoming the only guitarist in the band?
There was a learning curve. [But] I knew when it came time to tracking, I was building the skeleton of it. I sort of got to grow into it. It wasn’t like one day, “Oh, I’ve got two guitars I need to play.” It was, “OK, I’m gonna focus on building the song as a skeleton” and later when we were tracking the guitars, I could develop the melodies and the alternate guitar on the right or the left side. As I started to grow into it, I was like, “Wow, this is great.” There was some nervousness but now I love it. I love having the freedom; I love having the ability to try new things and knowing whether I like it or not. I’m not gonna record something I don’t like [laughs]. So, it’s a great sense of creative reward and satisfaction, like, “Yes, that’s all me.”
It is a bit ironic inasmuch as it was you and Brian playing guitars on the Korn and Life is Peach albums, and it was those albums the band referenced in terms of recording the new album. And now Brian is gone and you have this monster album with Remember Who You Are. Undeniably you and Brian had a special chemistry as guitar players.
Yeah, for sure, and that goes for all the guys in the band. This thing wouldn’t be where it is without David [Silveria, former drummer] or Brian. We’re not gonna fire anybody – we’re gonna keep going.
Can you update us on the Fear and the Nervous System album?
Yeah, we’re almost done; it’s in the final phase. We’re mixing and we’re gonna do the mastering in February and then we’re gonna figure out a way to distribute it. Either in a limited edition of physical copies and we’ll take pre-orders so we don’t over-produce a bunch of CDs that was a mistake in the past. And digis [digital downloads]. Sort of what Trent did [presumably talking about Trent Reznor and The Social Network soundtrack that was made available across multiple formats] where you have an option to download or download it and get the record or you can get a limited edition where the bandmembers have signed it and so on and so on.
Would you pursue the Fear and the Nervous System project on any kind of real level? Touring or whatever?
It was done a long time ago so my main focus now is Korn. If that project comes back to life later then I’ll approach it. It was done about two years ago now and a lot of time has passed. Jonathan had gone on a solo tour and I was sitting at home and my dad had passed away. “I gotta get out of the house and do something creatively because I’m literally going crazy.” So that was really a project to experiment with some vintage guitars and some alternate tunings and it was nice. It was something to keep me busy creatively until Korn became the main focus again. We made a great record, a great collection of creative people that were a part of it.
Brooks Wackerman plays drums in Fear and the Nervous System?
Yeah, he plays on that and Billy Gould from Faith No More. We also had a couple of great producers [Ross Robinson and Danny Lohner] and it was something that I haven’t leaked out because I wanted it to have more of an impact. It’s not really a solo record because it was such a collaboration with so many heavy hitters that it’s sort of like a band we put together collectively. It wasn’t me just going, “You, you, you.” It was, “Let’s see who’ll fit here.” And I’m excited ‘cause people are gonna get to see the artwork that Wes Borland painted for the album cover. It’s amazing. There are still a lot of things that need to fall into place but nevertheless the songs are great and it’s gonna be exciting.
Can a fan still recognize you as the guitar player and writer from Korn?
I think so. It’s like, “Oh, it kinda sounds Korn, like Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More and it has an early Smashing Pumpkins feel, like a gothic thing,” I guess. It’s pretty cool and I’m excited for people to hear it."
Read full interview @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com
Source: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/korn_james_shaffer_about_the_bands_music_and_his_own_contribution_to_it.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment