During a recent appearance on WSOU 89.5 FM, Korn’s Brian Welch spoke on Red Hot Chili Peppers’ sound.
The guitarist mentioned his early influences, such as Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, and Dokken. Then, the host asked how they mixed their music tastes to make Korn’s sound. To which Welch replied by saying:
“Man, it was a separation of a musical relationship with me and him [James Shaffer] and me and Fieldy and me and David [Silveria], who are the other Korn guys. We started jamming in these like just cheesy rock bands around 16-17 years old, like all of us. I started jamming in a band with Fieldy at 15 but with James, it took like until he got good, probably 16-17 years old. We formed this band with me, Fieldy, David, and James.”
Welch’s Early Approach To Music
He went on to explain his musical direction at the time. While doing that he explained why he never liked Chili Peppers:
“I was writing everything, and I was writing like the Dokken type of stuff. Music was starting to change then, and I wasn’t going with it yet because I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I didn’t like funk music. I liked the metal. So what they did is Red Hot Chili Peppers heard about Faith No More, and I like Faith No More more than Chili Peppers because at least they had crunchy guitars.”
Welch shared his reaction to his friends’ funk band:
“So they went off and just started another band without me that was funk. And I’m like, ‘Okay, well, I’m bummed, but I do not want to be in a band like that because that’s not the music that I like.’ Some of the songs had a metal and a punk edge that I liked, but a lot of it was just like rap. The same thing that all those bands were doing back then.”
It Was Not Brian’s First Reaction To RHCP’s Music
The musician talked about RHCP in his earlier interviews, too. Back in 2021, he criticized the vocal style of the band’s lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, saying:
“I didn’t get the Chili Peppers; the guy couldn’t sing – the bass was good, but Anthony Kiedis was just annoying to me.”
Korn gets ready to hit the road for their European tour in July. Later, they will head towards North America for the next leg of their tour.
You can watch the rest of his latest chat below.
