Off the cob

Jonathan Davis is on a solo tour

 

By Alan Sculley

Philly EDGE Correspondent

 

Jonathan Davis has begun what promises to be an intriguing solo tour.

The frontman of Korn, though, said the mystery does not revolve around what the tour means for the future of his popular nu-metal band; any intrigue will be provided strictly with the music.

In fact, Davis was emphatic during a Nov. 1 teleconference interview with reporters in telling fans not to worry that his tour, which stops at The Troc this Friday, is a bad sign for Korn.

Worries over Korn are natural enough. In 2003, guitarist Brian “Head” Welch left the band to devote himself to Christianity. Then after the 2004 Korn CD, See You On The Other Side, drummer David Silveria went on what remains an open-ended sabbatical from the group.

This left Davis, guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer and bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu as the remaining band members when Korn made its current CD, Untitled. Davis was quick to say the solo tour is not a further sign of trouble in Korn-land.

“We’re tighter than ever,” Davis said. “The heart of this band was (always) me, Fieldy and Munky. (We did) most of the writing and anything that went on. Unfortunately, losing David and Head really hurt us and we miss them. It hurt us more emotionally than anything, We love those guys and wish them the best.”

For Davis, this tour is happening simply because he had the opportunity and time.

“A lot of people are asking me ‘Why are you doing this solo tour? You don’t have an album out,’ and this and that,” Davis said. “It’s like, ‘Dude, what happened to when people just liked to go out and play music and go out and play a show?’ That’s all I’m doing. I want to go out and play some shows. It’s not to push an album. …I’m just really excited just to go out and do that, to play for people and do something different that they wouldn’t normally see me doing.”

The solo tour, in fact, does figure to showcase Davis in an – here’s that word again – intriguing musical format. The tour is essentially acoustic – a big switch from Korn’s plugged-in, hard rocking sound.

“I don’t want people to necessary think it’s going to be a guitar and some bongos,” Davis said. “This is really going to be different. It’s acoustic-based, but a lot of different things are going on. I’ve got keyboards and piano and I’ve got (violinist L.) Shenkar playing with me, and he plays this crazy, double violin…It’s definitely going to be something different that people have never seen before.”

The song selection for these shows should offer plenty of surprises for fans. Davis said he has re-worked some rarely performed Korn material for the acoustic setting, will play music he wrote and recorded for the soundtrack to the movie Queen of the Damned and even will include a few covers – including his version of Neil Diamond’s “Love On The Rocks.”

As for Korn, Davis said the band is definitely looking forward to making another studio CD. Davis said he doesn’t expect that doing this acoustic tour will have much influence on how he writes for the band.

“When you’re writing a Korn song, it’s not acoustic, man,” Davis said. “I need to plug in that guitar, turn it up loud and just go. This is why I’m doing this and having fun with it. When we did the Unplugged (project), it was great and it was fun and all, but that was like a one-time thing. When we got back in the studio and started writing a record, it felt so good to hear that distorted guitar. That’s what we’re about.”

 

Jonathan Davis

Trocadero, 1003 Arch St. Philadelphia

Friday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m.

Tickets: $34

Call: 215.922.LIVE