When original guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch made the announcement in 2005 that he was leaving Korn, it shocked the world as to why he chose to depart. After being in the band for twelve years, he announced that he had chosen ‘the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior, and will be dedicating his musical pursuits to that end.” It's been three years and his life has taken quite the drastic turn. He has discovered religion and became a Born Again Christian, which led to him focusing on raising his daughter, Jennea instead of touring. He also issued an autobiography called "Save Me from Myself," revealing his personal battles with drug addictions. This also turned into his debut solo album, which contained songs that he had been writing over that time. “I wrote these three years ago. I didn’t work on them the whole time. I took time off and did other things. I didn’t want to rush it. I wanted to take a break from the music industry anyways for a while. It worked out good. I would work on it for a couple of months, and then I did something else for eight months, and then I’d come back. It’s pretty free,” explained Welch. “I knew I would do music...I didn’t know exactly how, like if I’d go and jam with people or if I’d do my own thing. I didn’t know what I would do. It sounded exciting to do music other than Korn. I just want to start out everything new. I was sick of everything the same – the same touring, playing the same songs with the same guys for over a decade. I wanted to start new, no matter if it was from the bottom or not.”
The songs on 'Save Me from Myself' were reflections of Welch’s life, as well as themes and ideas he had encountered over the years. Songs like ‘Loyalty’ and ‘L.O.V.E.’ were based on themes related to his life. His first single, ‘Flush’ is a semi-autobiographical tune about his past issues with drugs and alcohol. “Yeah, totally,” he said about ‘Flush.’ “That’s why I wanted to go back. I know it well. I have a victory over it. It didn’t kill me, so I can talk about it. Addiction is nuts. It’s crazy. So many people are struggling with it. I like to think about the prisons I was in. It helps me share the experience.”
Recalling what he encountered while writing this record made Welch stronger as a person. “The drugs make my head spin. Things I used to do, I couldn’t believe. I used to have my drug dealer Fed Ex me eight balls of speed from California to Europe. In Germany one day, tracking my package, then we’d play a show and then move to Sweden or wherever, and it would arrive at my hotel. I wouldn’t know if these authorities would come in and arrest me because a dog found it. I think I did it twice and both times I got away with it. Like in Asia, they would lock you up and kill you if they found drug trafficking. It was my youth but who knows what they would have done?”
He wrote a song called ‘Die Religion Die,’ a song that challenges traditional religion. “It’s how I feel about organized religion, like some of the people that try to control you. What I’ve learned by going to churches, it ends up being like a little country club. People need to get creative and not sit in a pew every Sunday. Get creative and go out in the world and touch people.”
On this record, Welch is handling the lead vocal duties as well as guitars. He slowly taught himself how to handle vocals and worked himself into doing it. “I’m still trying to make that transition,” he said. “It’s difficult. It’s hard to sing, especially when you hear all of these good singers everywhere. Here I am trying to practice and my voice is cracking. I’m like ‘how am I going to do this live?’ It’s easy to punch in and out on a recording. I’m my worst critic. We always are. I had to struggle in the recording studio. I’m trying to develop my strength in my voice. When I started, I was trying to develop that. How do I get it to sound good? I kept trying.”
Welch assembled a unique lineup of people to play on his record, such as Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel) and Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle), Archie Muise Jr., and drummer Josh Freese (The Vandals, A Perfect Circle). “I knew a guy who knew Tony, and the same way with Trevor and Josh. They were into it. They liked what I was doing. They heard the music and they were excited. I think Tony’s daughter was into Korn actually. That might have helped him make the decision actually. He wasn’t used to playing this. It was crazy. I was producing Tony Levin and here I am, 'the Korn guy'. It’s kind of surreal,” he said.
While Welch was working with these people, he did admit to reaching out to his ex-band mates to guest on his record. “I tried to get the bass player Fieldy on my album. He was going to do it. It was weird because the day he was going to come down, it was raining real hard. He said he didn’t want to drive in the rain. I took that as a sign that he shouldn’t be on it.”
Welch is currently in talks about touring in 2009, with scheduling in the works. How does he feel about getting back on the road? “I’ll never say never but I’ll never drink or do drugs again, and I’ll be fine on the road. It’s a new creation. Old things have passed away and the new me is here. I’m gonna go up there and have fun. It’s not going to be perfect. Everybody’s going to have bad days. So we’ll see.”
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