Korn has toured the world, picked up a few Grammys, and won Album of the Year for The Path of Totality at Revolver‘s 2012 Golden Gods. But even all of that has not been enough for guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer (pictured left). When he had down time from his main band, he spent it on an alternative musical outlet that became Fear and the Nervous System. After years of gathering musicians from bands like Bad Religion and Faith No More, the group was able to release its self-titled album in September. Revolver spoke with Munky and asked him just how all this monkey business came together.
REVOLVER How and when did the Fear and the Nervous System come together?
We started in 2008. It was really just me trying to get into the studio and write some songs. Korn had taken a bit of a break and my dad was in really bad health and so I just wanted to get into the studio and stay busy. It was my way of dealing with it. I didn’t have songs. I had a few ideas so I started hiring musicians
How do you know Billy Gould from Faith No More and Brooks Wackerman from Bad Religion, and why have they phased out from the band?
I hired these guys, you know? And they also did it as a favor. Korn has worked with Brooks Wackerman when we did the [2007] Untitled album. I remember thinking when I did want to get a project going, I wanted to have him involved. These guys are still into this which is great because they weren’t able to tour with me because of their schedules. Brooks is with Bad Religion and Tenacious D. Billy is with another project he has called The Talking Book. I hope to make a record with these guys again.
Why did you feel like Steve Krolikowski from Repeater was the right vocalist?
After sitting on these songs completed for about a year and in between the Untitled album and the record we did with [producer] Ross Robinson, [2010's] Remember Who You Are, that was a period where I thought I was going to be able to step up and sing this stuff, but I’m not a singer. I’m not a good lyricist. I just stick to the music. The songs were too good to have someone who wasn’t a singer, who never wrote lyrics before to try to do that. Ross suggested Steve Krolikowski from the band Repeater. He said, “Why don’t you have him come in and try to sing on a few tracks and see what it’s like?” And then it worked out really well.
Why did you want to form a side band from Korn? What did you want to do differently with this band than what you do in Korn?
Well, I was kinda blocked into just simple stuff like tunings. I wanted to take a vintage approach and use different tunings and six-stringed guitars. And for up to that point, I spent 15 years of recording seven-string guitars with super modern amps and very modern techniques. I just wanted to step back and track a record that was very loosely structured. I didn’t want to have any time frames–I just wanted to make music. I’m not looking to sell a million records. I was just looking to find an outlet at the time to put some music together on my own watch–and my own wallet! [Laughs]
Your father passed away while recording this record. What was the most important thing he taught you?
He always taught me to follow through with everything. Once I start something, finish it. I’m glad with this whole project because it was started because of him. I was able to finish it and see it through all the way to getting the physical CD in people’s hands finally. It took a lot of hard work and people to come together and make this happen for me–and that was one of the things he taught me to do. I couldn’t have selected a better project seeing that his memory is remembered and that he is remembered by this project.
Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland provided the artwork for the record. Why did you like this piece?
He had an old medical book from the ’20s. Musically, we didn’t have time–our schedules were conflicting to really sit down and work on a few songs together. We do have those songs but they’re more or less demos. I know that if he and I had some time later, we could flesh out some really great ideas into an album. So we didn’t have that time musically but he agreed to do artwork. I had a vision–I wanted a very sterile sort of looking album cover, very medical cross-section. Of course, he put his own twist on things in his own color schemes. But the painting itself is massive–it’s a 5X6″ giant oil painting and I have it at our studio. I wanted to put it up somewhere, preserve it because it’s such a cool piece of art.
How did Fear and The Nervous System’s recent show in California go?
You know I was really nervous doing these shows [laughs] because I don’t know these songs like I know Korn songs. Korn has been a part of my life for 20 years and it’s part of who I am. So when I get up on the stage with Korn, it’s really super second nature but with this…I have to think about it so much because the songs are so new and we literally had five rehearsals before the first show. I think with the next set of shows that we put together, we’re going to be feeling much more confident and have our shit together. It was a little bumpy here and there but it was a lot of fun.
With Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis busy with his electronic music, and you busy with this band, what is the future of Korn?
We have 15 new Korn songs written, which is really cool. I mean, they’re not complete songs but we are in the process of finding a producer and trying to find the right balance of what we want with these songs, how to present them. We have massive choruses and we have riff sections. We’re kind of waiting for Jonathan to put lyric ideas on them so we can move into the recording process.
Do you foresee bringing in your side-projects or keep them on the side?
I think the technical aspects as far as recording techniques. Jonathan can provide what he’s learning in the electronic world and bring that in. I’ve learned some stuff on my vintage recording that I can bring and I think fans would love that. So it’s very much that we’re doing it as a band where we know our niche and that’s what we’re gonna carve out and really define. We’re not gonna try to put out a dance album. [Laughs] It’s very much going to be a metal album and I think a guitar-heavy record.
Just to bring it back to Fear and The Nervous System, what gives you fear or makes you nervous?
Well…society. I fear social aspects of the world and the way that we’re headed. I’m fearful about that and because I’m about to have a new baby in a few days. [Shaffer's son was born yesterday at 8:44 AM, less than a week after this interview.] It’s kind of made me reflect about the state of society and how everyone’s so divided and opinionated. They’re not willing to stand up and say it in public forums. I think that’s one of the things about this band is we’ve been able to come out and talk about social issues–not about political stuff–just about what you believe in. People do it behind their computer screens but when it’s time for people to move into action. Nobody is ready to do that. That makes me a little nervous. I want to see people come together more as a society and stand up for what is right.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I’m really grateful. Doing this Fear and The Nervous System album has really made me reflect on how hard and how far Korn has come. It’s given me a lot of gratitude but also very humbling to feel like I’m starting with something from the ground up. Doing this record on my own has made me think about how far we’ve come. Korn is still going strong. We have a big 2013 planned for our fans, for ourselves, and our families. Our fans are really dedicated and diehard and that’s always stuck out to me.
EDM duo Synchronice are giving away their new remix EP, Just Because, on their newly launched website, Synchronice.net. The EP includes a remix of Faith No More’s classic “Epic.” Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments.
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For the finale of Metallica’s four-night 30th Anniversary concert extravaganza on Saturday night at San Francisco’s the Fillmore, the legendary thrash band reunited onstage with the musicians of its earliest lineups for a rendition of the song “Hit the Lights.” Guitarist Dave Mustaine, who’s made his name with Megadeth in this years since his departure from Metallica, joined Metallica with original bassist Ron McGovney and guitarist Lloyd Grant, who played on the first recording of the song as it appeared on the Metal Massacre compilation in 1982. You can see fan-filmed video of the performance below.
Over the course of the shows, which were held for members of the band’s fan club, Metallica paid tribute to their now-deceased bassist Cliff Burton and joined up with musicians whom they have played with over the years, including Jason Newsted, Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler, Kid Rock, Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, Glenn Danzig, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell, and present and former members of Mercyful Fate, Diamond Head, Armored Saint, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Down, Faith No More, the Anti-Nowhere League, Death Angel, Apocalyptica, Saxon, and more. The band filmed each of the shows, so look for a release of these shows in some form in the future.
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pant yesterday that an as-yet unidentified song performed by Faith No More at their November 8 concert in Argentina could in fact be new, it now appears likely that the track was in fact a B-Side.
In a recent interview with MovieWeb, frontman Mike Patton responded to a question about whether the band would be performing any B-sides when they played King For A Day… Fool For A Lifetime in its entirety during a festival in Chile by stating “I think there maybe…We are doing a tune we’ve never done from that era. I guess that would be a B-side. I don’t know if we released that at all…I don’t know! [futureusgalleryLaughs]
Until further word, it appears that this is the most plausible explanation, especially given that Patton has previously stated that the band has no plans to record a new album.
]]>During Faith No More’s set in Malvinas, Argentina, last night, the band played an as-yet-unidentified song. The rumor mill has since gone into full swing speculating that it could in fact be a newly penned track. You can watch fan-filmed footage of the song below.
Faith No More recorded their last album together, Album of the Year, in 1997, before disbanding the following year. In 2009, the band came back together for a reunion tour and have since performed sporadically.
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Disturbed are coming out with their B-sides collection, The Lost Children, tomorrow. In anticipation, we’ve been streaming a new song from the album, for 24 hours, each day leading up to its release.
In this, the final, installment, take a listen to Disturbed’s cover of Faith No More’s “Midlife Crisis,” which they recorded during the sessions for their 2007 album, Indestructible. It previously appeared on Covered, a Revolution in Sound, which was a compilation commemorating Warner Bros. Records’ 50th anniversary.
For more on The Lost Children, click here to read an interview with guitarist Dan Donegan, and for info on the band’s indefinite hiatus click here for an interview with frontman David Draiman. To preorder The Lost Children, click here. Also, the current issue of Revolver, available on newsstands everywhere and right here, includes an in-depth career-spanning interview with both Draiman and Donegan. Let us know what you think in the comments.
The 24 hours for this song are up. Disturbed’s B-sides collection, The Lost Children, is out now.
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Our favorite holiday? Easy: Halloween. We’re eagerly counting down the days to All Hallows Eve, and we’re doing it by enlisting some of our favorite rockers to make their picks of the creepiest, most disturbing, goriest shit ever. So check back right here at RevolverMag.com every day until the big, bad scariest one of them all. Today, Mike Patton of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, et al. gives us his five most spine-tingling horror soundtracks in anticipation of the release of his own soundtrack for the Italian drama film, The Solitude of Prime Numbers. His score comes out on Tuesday.
The Omen
(Score by Jerry Goldsmith)
“This bombastic score absolutely made the movie. If you watch the film with the sound muted, you will see what I mean. Beautiful choir textures that, over time, have become iconic in the horror genre.”
Rosemary’s Baby
(Score by Christopher Komeda)
“Simply put, one of the simplest and most haunting themes ever written.”
Kwaidan
(Score by Toru Takemitsu)
“Special electronic effects were created for this core by breaking large chunks of wood. If that doesn’t convince you, then check out the film: It is one of the most elegant and haunting you may find.”
The Birds
(Nonmusical score by Oskar Sala)
“An incredible score with no known musical ‘notes.’ The entire score was produced by an early electronic instrument called the ‘mixtrautonium,’ and is an amazing example of how sound design and sound effects can be fused with image to great musical effect. Hats off to director Alfred Hitchcock for realizing this and creating a truly terrifying sonic bastard.”
“Sounds of Walt Disney’s Haunted Mansion”
“This is not a ‘film score’ per se, but it might as well be. The dialogue and cues are so vivid that the listener is immediately transported into the dark recesses of Disneyland. I can’t think of a scarier place to be.”
For fans mourning Disturbed’s recently announced indefinite hiatus, the band has revealed that they will be releasing a B-side collection on November 8. Featured on The Lost Children (Reprise) will be previously unreleased track “Mine,” as well as “3,” which appeared exclusively on the band’s website earlier this year.
Also included are covers of Judas Priest’s “Living After Midnight” and Faith No More’s “Midlife Crisis.” The first single taken from the collection will be “Hell,” which will go to radio on October 3.
Frontman David Draiman and guitarist Dan Donegan spoke exclusively to Revolver for our upcoming issue, released on October 11. You can read excerpts from the interview by clicking here.
Tracklisting for The Lost Children:
“Hell”
“A Welcome Burden”
“This Moment”
“Old Friend”
“Monster”
“Run”
“Leave It Alone”"Two Worlds”
“God of The Mind”
“Sickened”
“Mine”
“Parasite”
“Dehumanized”
“3″
“Midlife Crisis”
“Living After Midnight”
Photo by Travis Shinn
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Former Faith No More frontman Mike Patton is releasing a new album of material inspired by the book the Solitude of Prime Numbers on November 1. The Italian novel, by Paolo Giordano, was released in 2008 and subsequently made into a film, for which Patton contributed music. The record is titled Music from the Film and Inspired By the Book the Solitude of Prime Numbers.
Patton has said that the record represents a personal “sonic departure.” The novel, itself, tells the story of two damaged individuals, both lonely like prime numbers, yet close to each other, separated by even numbers.
View the full track listing below, appropriately numbered sequentially with the first 16 prime numbers.