I want to kinda start off with just explaining
when I started listening to music, and when I started playing guitar.
[Munky] OK, how old were you?
- I was 13, 14. - Me too.
- 13, 12. - So...
- 12, 13. - I mean, you know when--
[Ola] Life happens, skateboard happens, and you know, I start playing.
Actually, at that time there weren't too many 7-string bands.
- Right. - But I listened to all the 7-string bands.
So, it was, you know, Steve Vai, obviously.
Morbid Angel, Dream Theater, Meshuggah...
- Korn. - Yeah.
[Ola] I remember when Life Is Peachy got released.
- Yeah. - Like, way back.
- Yeah, that was like '96 I think. - Yeah, exactly.
[Ola] That was... I had been playing guitar for 2 years.
- Uh-huh. - And it was...
[Ola] Blew me away, like I had never heard anything that downtuned before.
I was like "What the hell?".
And I had to get... I got like an RG7620, like back in the day.
You guys had the Universe and all that, it was really inspirational.
- Thank you. - And...
- Now, today, you know... - I appreciate that.
[Ola] The pleasure's all mine, I'm very happy to be here, to be...
That you're actually out touring.
- And in Stockholm, for that matter. - Right?
- I mean... - I love this city.
This is city is am-- it's an amazing city.
[Munky] This is beautiful, the culture, the people are so nice.
[Ola] Yeah.
- I don't feel scared walking down the street. - No.
[Ola] You know, I've met a lot of artists.
And I've done a lot of interviews.
- Mh-hm. - You guys make me nervous.
Because this is--
You know what? This is... this is--
- This is my teenage years right here. - Yeah.
And it meant so much to me while...
What is this? Like, this nice guitar you have here.
This is a signature model that I developed with Ibanez.
- He has one that he developed with ESP. - ESP.
I think Brian... let me...
If I'm right...
It was always his dream to kinda be with ESP as a kid.
Mine was always Ibanez
because when Steve Vai came out with the Universe in Passion & Warfare
I was like "Oh my god, I've gotta have one of those guitars".
- And uh... - Yeah, George Lynch was my god.
- He's from the band Dokken, so... - Yeah.
[Head] So, he was ESP.
I mean, it was his idea, I was with Ibanez for so long.
And then I wasn't--
I don't know, it just seemed like they got different people uh... they--
- You know, some of our old friends quit. - Yeah.
- It was all just... - Yeah...
- I wasn't feeling connected. - Yeah.
[Head] So, but...
And he started talking about ESP, "just hit 'em up, try it".
And I did it, and I love it.
[Ola] Evertune?
- Evertune, yeah. - Yeah.
[Ola] How long have you been playing using those?
[Munky] He started using it, and he was like "You've gotta try it"
And I was like "I don't know" and then...
I had a couple put on my guitars, we used 'em on recordings and...
- a couple of albums. - Yeah.
And we're like... it saves so much time.
Him and I...
Especially in a live scenario where we're both playing heavy right hand
and pulling on the strings and chords.
We can get away with a lot more.
[Ola] And you probably never sounded better.
[Munky] And we never sounded better, because everything is perfectly in tune.
- The whole show. - Yeah.
[Head] Which was... we always used to fight that back in the day.
- It was like, especially... - Changing guitars...
[Ola] The floating bridges and all...
- Yeah. - And if it's cold...
- outside, you know. - Of course.
Yeah.
[Munky] So, we've developed this
and this has been on the market a couple of years, and...
I've wanted to keep it clean, and...
Just kind of--
Simple...
This actually I think has Bareknuckle pickups in it.
And uh... so this is one of the prototypes they did for me, and uh...
Uhm... it was one of the first ones they did.
One of my favorites.
[Ola] And you're not using any overdrives or anything.
The tech told me that
- Yeah. - straight in.
- It's going... I'm using the gain from the amp. - Yeah.
[Ola] But Fishman pickups...
- Yeah, he's got Fishman. - Yeah.
[Head] Yeah, they're growly.
- Yeah, he likes. - But back to the tuning thing.
If someone goes out of tune, we know it's the bass player instantly, now.
- Actually-- - Before it was like "Who's out of tune?"
[Munky] You were doing that the other day, I was playing uhm...
An Ibanez maybe, this uh...
- 7-string Universe. - Right.
Which is-- sorry, it's the JEM.
[Ola] OK, yeah.
- The JEM with the handle. - Yeah, right.
[Munky] And I asked them, and I had to ask like...
They had to get Steve's permission.
- It's only supposed to be 6-string. - Yeah.
And I wanted a 7-string... anyways.
I was playing that, it had the floating Floyd Rose
and during the show he looks over at me
he goes "Are you out of tune?"
and I go...
"Maybe".
[Head] Because it was cold.
- It was a cold night. - It was cold
and I looked down at it, and was like...
Oh shit, it is probably because I'm playing this
which has the floating bridge.
And I was like "Ugh".
- But it was the bass player. - Was it?
Yeah.
- Didn't know that. - Always the bass player.
[Head] Maybe not, actually.
'Cause he said he wasn't.
- It was probably my guitar, because you know... - Yeah.
- That bridge was... - Yup, it was freezing.
giving...
- pulling don't remember which way, but... - Yeah.
[Ola] And all the effects, like I saw the...
I saw your pedalboard was small as hell now.
- Yeah, he downsized it. - Like, compared to what...
He downsized, yeah.
[Head] As I get older, I want more simple.
And he's like Mr. freaking spaceship with like...
- 40 pedals. - I love having all the analog
- like right in front of me, and... - Yeah.
[Munky] I make mistakes.
I tend to make more mistakes by not hitting this or this switch.
But I-- I m--
When it comes...
I'm a little bit of a control freak when it comes to...
- selecting the right effect. - Yes.
Because if some guys hire somebody
like, they'll have their tech or somebody do the switching.
And every time I've done that
they did so many mistakes, and then I get mad at them.
[Ola] Yeah, yeah.
[Munky] This is on me.
[Head] What?
We're freaking doing an interview.
[Other guy] Oh, sorry.
That was aggressively loud.
[Ola] It's also the thing, I mean, if you're feeling it...
- And you want it coming in at the 1. - Yeah.
You just switch to another sound immediately.
[Munky] I always do that, and listen, we do...
These songs, we play them every night.
So, I like to add... oh, I'll put a little...
- phase on this part. - Yeah.
[Munky] Just because I get a little...
- I like to just... it's live. - Yeah.
[Munky] I like little variations here and there.
The new album, Requiem, is...
It sounds like, to me, to an old fan
like old Korn.
- Here's the thing. - How do you feel about that?
[Munky] I love that, because...
We're always trying to push the boundary.
- But not alienate our core fans. - Yes.
- And that... and just widening the lane - Mh-hm.
[Munky] of what we do.
Try to challenge ourselves, like with...
chords, and structures, and...
choruses, and hooks, and melodies.
He writes some of the most amazing melodies.
[Head] Thank you.
[Munky] You're welcome, and...
It's uh...
It's one of those things.
You don't wanna leave what you do, because you do it well.
That's why people like our music.
[Ola] How is it then today to write this type of music when your...
You know, you have kids, you have family.
This is... you know, touring is a lot easier than it was back in the day, like it...
Back when you're a younger band, you usually have a lot of struggles.
How do you keep yourselves being angry to write music?
[Munky] We don't have to be.
- We don't have to be. - Look at the world.
[Munky] It's true, we--
We can draw inspiration the news
- friends, whether it's family... - Yeah.
We know that... going through...
we all had different points to go through challenging moments.
[Head] How about frustration at home?
- Then you go to the studio and take it all out. - Yeah.
- It's true. - Yeah.
You're always... every day there's...
You know...
Something to draw inspiration on, whether it's...
Your own personal stuff, and...
Uh...
Or something from the past, you can always--
We just create a vibe and atmosphere to...
- let Jonathan's lyrics kinda... - Yeah.
- set the stage for him. - Right.
[Head] We did a thing in London the other night.
- Was it last night? No, the night before last. - Yeah.
He just was like, Jonathan's like "I'm finally happy in life".
- Yeah... - 'Cause he's gotten to a place of peace.
And I go...
I go "So does that mean Korn records are gonna suck now?"
[Ola] Yeah, that's right.
[Head] But that's not how it is.
We're drawn to the dark things in life, all of us.
You know, it's like...
Movies.
TV shows.
Just... so it's always gonna come out.
Even if we're happy, it's gonna come out.
[Munky] You know what?
Now that we're older, we can learn how to balance
the light and the dark in our lives.
Before it was like "This is all darkness" and we didn't know how to control it.
- Yeah. - But now
we have clarity, and we have
with age, and having children, and kids
and having different things in our life
balances the light and the dark, you know, we...
We like to jump in in the dark with--
with the art we create.
But we don't live there.
We know how to go there to play music and whatever, and then...
We know how to put that aside
and then joke and be happy
- in the afternoon.- Yeah, take inspiration of...
- Meeting together... - Yeah, not walking around
gloomy all day, yes, exactly.
[Ola] Alright.
[Munky] Most of the time we're joking around and clowning around all day on tour.
[Head] Yeah.
- Guys, they get together, a bunch of clowns. - Yeah.
[Munky] I like your Duran Duran shirt, can we talk about that?
[Head] No.
What? Did you get it...
- A Duran Duran shirt. - Yeah.
[Munky] A fan gave it to...
- to him. - It's Jonathan's, I'm borrowing it.
[Ola] Yeah, OK.
- Jonathan's a big Duran Duran fan. - Oh, OK.
- Yeah. - I like 'em too.
I like 'em too.
[Head] I don't-- I hated them growing up.
[Munky] He hated them.
[Head] But I like their newer stuff.
- Oh, OK. - Yeah, it's actually pretty good.
[Ola] What do you listen to today, if you listen to something?
- A band called Spiritbox I really like. - Yeah, of course.
- Yeah, they're... - They're really good.
[Head] They're getting a lot of good traction, and...
[Munky] I've found this new band from the UK called Wargasm
[Ola] Yeah, yeah.
- They're cool, like, the way they do electronics. - Yeah.
[Munky] This other band, they're more like a...
Kinda drums and droney, it's called Wardruna.
It's like vocals and percussion.
- Yeah. - It's very, kind of like...
- Tribal. - OK.
[Munky] I was listening to Opeth the other day.
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore.
You would like that.
It's... they're German, they're from Germany.
They've been around 27 years.
It's really... it's mellow.
Chill, spooky.
You'd like it, I know.
[Ola] So, uh... before we end
do you know the term 'Will It Chug'?
- Who who? - Will It Chug.
- No. - No.
[Ola] OK, so, I have a video series on YouTube
where it's like, I take any piece of gear
and the name of the series is 'Will It Chug?'.
Uh, it's...
- It just sounds funny. - To give you an idea
- It could be like a... - What does that mean?
- Chug, you know? - * Chug chug chug *
Oooh.
- So... - * Chug chug chug *
Amazing.
Three, two, one.
Will... It... Chug?
[Ola] Awesome.
That makes me so happy, thank you so much, guys.
- Thank you. - Dude, good to meet you and talk to you.
How long have you been doing it?
- When did it start? - YouTube?
- Yeah, really make the money for... - 11 years ago.
[Together] 11 years?
- You've been doing it... - Amazing.
[Head] Making a living for how long?
Well, uh...
I've done it for 11 years
but then I also joined...
I played in Six Feet Under for a while.
- Oh, OK. - Then I joined The Haunted.
- That's awesome. - Oh, it's you.
[Ola] That's uh...
- That's amazing. - Yes, so...
But YouTube is my main thing and...
- OK. - I've been doing this for a while.