Korn: Remember Who You Are

Ray Luzier

You reunited with Brian “Head” Welch in May this year for the first time since 2005. It must’ve been an emotional time for you. Tell me a little bit about when he left the band.

Oh yeah that was hard. It was like losing a fucking family member. It was all kinds of emotional. It was so emotional I felt like my right arm got cut off. But I understand why he had to go, he had to treat a horrible drug problem and for him, religion was what kept him alive and kept him from using and who the hell am I to judge what he does? That kept him alive and I’m very, very happy for him. I miss him and I love him and I wish he was in our band. Maybe when the time is right, he’ll come back. He just played with us in

North Carolina, I think it was. He came out and played “Blind” with us for the first time in eight years or something like that and that was a very emotional moment. I cried for an hour. The four of us were in front rocking out again and stuff but when it came down to it, me and Munky just went, “Man, we love this band, we’re going to keep going.” All bands go through changes, but you just have to keep going. Too many people depend on us and love us and the fans tell us please don’t stop making music, your music saved my life and this music got me through this hard time and that’s why I’m still doing this. It has nothing to do with money or fame. When I see people crying, literally crying and holding me and going, “Thank you for keeping me alive,” that’s the reward for me. Period.

Ray Luzier

It’s been a challenging few years for Korn’s newest member Ray Luzier since he joined the band in 2008, replacing longtime drummer David Silveria. On 2010’s Korn III: Remember Who You Are, Luzier’s first record with Korn, the band buckled down in a studio and recorded the whole album old-school style ”“ no Pro Tools, barely any editing and using analog 24-track tape machines. Cut to 2011 and the band went in a radically different direction, forcing Luzier to play over programmed beats and using samples and triggers off his drumkit to fit in the dubstep-rock sound of the new record. But he isn’t complaining. “It’s great to be part of a band that’s not afraid to push their sound and if that means I have to adapt, I’m happy to do it,” says the Musicians Institute graduate. But Luzier’s musical legacy also includes an eight-year stint with volatile Valen Halen vocalist David Lee Roth and two shows with the Stone Temple Pilots. Luzier also plays with Army of Anyone, the band put together by Robert DeLeo and Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots. Luzier spoke to Rolling Stone India about his famous audition for Korn, his time with David Lee Roth and juggling Korn’s complicated live sets.

You went to the Korn audition having learned 30 of their songs when you were asked to learn six. Has that always been your audition strategy?

In the past, I’ve always tried to. When I was with David Lee Roth, or even my past bands, if I got an audition, I always try to learn more than is required. When I first moved to Los Angeles, you’d be in a line of maybe 75 to 100 drummers and you ask yourself, “What do I have that 99 of these drummers don’t have? Why am I going to get this gig?” So, sometimes they want a long-haired guy, sometimes they want a guy with sleeve tattoos. People look for more than just the playing sometimes. So when I started doing the auditions, I said, “Okay, I’m going to learn the songs they give me, and then I’m going to research the catalogue and maybe do”¦” For the Jake E Lee [Ozzy Osbourne’s guitar player] gig, they gave me three songs and I went back and learned all the Ozzy Osbourne songs and I learned the ones from his band Badlands as well, just to be prepared and sometimes that adds a new life of energy or spark in the room because if they’ve already auditioned 50 drummers and you play the same song”¦ So sometimes I’ll make a suggestion, like I did with Korn. I’ll say “Hey, what about this song? And what about this one?” and they’ll say, “Oh, let’s try it.” And sometimes there’s a new life and energy in the room. It doesn’t always work but sometimes, it does.