Head’s problem with Korn’s Untouchables album

Korn guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch has looked back at the trouble he had with the making of 2002 album Untouchables.

Known to be vocalist Jonathan Davis’ pick of the band’s catalogue, the follow-up to 1999’s Issues cost an estimated $3 million to produce, making it the most expensive album ever made at the time of its release.

Welch told Rock Sound: “It's not my favourite. I like the record a lot. I think it's really good.” He added of the single Here To Stay: “That opening, that riff, those guitar tones we got, you can't match them. It’s ours forever – it’s our sound forever.”

He enthused about the track having “hit hard,” continuing: “But the record was kind of challenging. I attempted sobriety that record. And we actually went to Arizona and got all these mansions and started recording and writing in these houses.

“And most of them were party houses, and I’m trying to get sober. And we spent so much money on that record. But it came out good and we got some great memories.”

In 2020 Welch told Hammer about the moment he realsed he had to clean up. “It was when I was in Europe. I had my speed dealer and my meth dealer send me eightballs through FedEx when I ran out. So when I was sending illegal drugs through FedEx, I thought, ‘I think I need to get sober.’

“Thank God, I didn’t get caught. That person is long gone, so I’d never do anything like that again. But that scared me, because I was like, ‘I’ve gone too far to get my drugs, now. I’m a junkie.’ So it was time to change.”

Korn are currently touring the European festival circuit before launching a North America n road trip in August.

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.