Roots: KoRn's Jonathan Davis

  We thought you might find it interesting to know that KoRn's Jonathan Davis is the first rock and roll vocalist since AC/DC's late, lamented Bon Scott to effectively utilize that quintessential heavy metal instrument, the bagpipes, in a hard rock context. Why, you may ask, would Davis have thought of using such a strange instrument on disc and stage—and where in heck did this resident of Bakersfield, California, ever learn to play the "pipes" in the first place? At least Scott had the opportunity to grow up in an environment where bagpipes were an accepted part of his native culture; but even in the highly eccentric world of So Cal, the pipes are rarely seen and even more rarely heard.

"I grew up in a family that was totally immersed in music," Davis said. "They owned a music store, so every kind of instrument you could imagine—and some maybe you couldn't imagine—were always just lying around. From the time I was a little kid I remember wanting to try them all out, just to see what made them work and how they sounded. The bagpipes were just something that interested me. Nobody else was playing them, and they had such a cool sound. I know they're not your conventional rock and roll instrument, but then you've got to admit that KoRn isn't exactly your conventional rock and roll band."

Both in and out of KoRn, Davis has been making his own mark on the world for as long as he can remember. Always an admitted "outcast," and someone willing to try anything "at least once," Davis' pre-KoRn career included working weekends at his parents' music shop, as well as a brief stint during his mid-teens as an autopsy assistant at the Kern County coroner's office. He freely states that his experiences in the morgue helped shape his unique views of life—as well as providing him with ample reason to reflect on both the dark side of the human condition and the possible redemptions provided by reincarnation. Not-so-ironically, all these foreboding subjects were later to be explored in KoRn's haunting, darkly dramatic rap/metal outings.

"You can't spend time in a coroner's office without it having some impact on your life," Davis said. "Most of us never have to confront death face to face. The closest we ever get is seeing someone die on the movie screen. But when you're around dead bodies all the time, where you can see them and smell them it gives you a very different perspective on life. That experience had a big impact on my life, and on the music I've made over the years."

Even during his days in the coroner's office, Davis was spending much of his time and energy attempting to launch his musical career. His first serious band was a group called Sexart, a somewhat weird and highly experimental unit that used free-form rock expression as the basis of their approach. While few record labels took much interest in Davis' work with Sexart, his efforts did come to the attention of future KoRn-mates Fieldy, David, James Shaffer, and Brian Welch, then in a band called Creep. Soon after Sexart's demise, an offer came through channels for Davis to join the fledgling KoRnsters, and the always-adventurous singer jumped at the chance... bagpipes in tow.

"I knew those guys, since we were all playing in most of the same places all the time," Davis said. "But I never knew they had interest in me, and I wasn't that aware of what they were up to. But we hung out for awhile, and realized that we were all basically going in the same direction, so we decided to throw it all together and see what happened. We had all moved to Huntington Beach by then—I guess this was 1993—and we really got serious about writing music that reflected all the different elements we wanted to bring into KoRn. We didn't want to be just another conventional rock and roll band, and I think we've succeeded."

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