The Skeleton Twins is about Milo (Bill Hader) and Maggie (Kristen Wiig), twins who have been estranged for the better part of a decade. After Milo attempts suicide (coincidentally at the same time Maggie is considering doing the same), his sister goes to Los Angeles and brings him back home to New York so he can recuperate. The Skeleton Twins is a fantastic movie that rides high on its sharp writing and succeeds because of the fantastic acting by its two leads.
Milo and Maggie had a trying adolescence after their father committed suicide when they were 14. Their mother, far from perfect, high school a rough time…both brother and sister were heavily traumatized and went separated ways to try to escape their past. Milo’s tragic event forces them back together. While Milo shows his pain closer to the surface, Maggie has learned to hide it much better…until she lashes out in anger when she can’t hold it in anymore. She can put up a mean front, but her words often expose her as a hypocrite.
This movie works so well because of Hader and Wiig. They worked together on SNL for seven years and are real life friends, so there is an established and sincere chemistry between them. I found their relationship as brother and sister to be completely believable. They both show range they’ve never shown before. They make Milo and Maggie three dimensional characters, we see them go though everything. They’re fights are great and meaningful. When they are alone and we see them re-establish the bond they had as children, it’s some of the best stuff captured on film. While they are two different people, deep down they are so alike. They share hardships that no one else can understand, which is what pushed them apart and is the only thing that can bring them back together. They need each other.
I really like the way the movie was shot. The production is very clear and realistic, there was never a time when I was taken out of this experience by poor production decisions. I’m a big admirer of the writing as well as the dialog rings true, relationships feel real and nothing happens just to happen. There was some considerable improv in scenes, but it all fits together (and adds a great amount of humor). Figuring out how to keep Rich (a great performance by Ty Burrell) a sympathetic character and not an all out villain (which would be super easy) is really impressive work.
For my final movie experience of 2014, I’m pretty stoked that it was a film as good as The Skeleton Twins. Great way to head into a near year. If this movie is any indication, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig have a long and fantastic movie career ahead of them. I also look forward to director/writer Craig Johnson and co-writer Mark Haymen’s (he co-wrote Black Swan!) future work (looks like I need to check out True Adolescents soon).
I’ve been a TMNT fan for awhile. I was at the perfect age when the 90’s cartoon hit, it was aimed right at me. The first movie was (and for the most part still is) awesome. Then I grew out of it and mostly forgot it existed (the further movies and cartoons were not good). Then Nickelodeon brings out a new computer generated animated show in 2012 and it’s hit all the checkmarks. Probably the best looking CG animated show ever made and they change just enough to make it new while still respecting the origins. Now, Hollywood gets a wack at it. How’d it turn out? Well…
First, this is a kids movie, so it’s not exactly aiming for the Oscars to begin with. There’s a lot of dumb stuff here and it’s a very simple movie. On to the things they got right. The spirit of the show is there. They got the Turtles attitudes right and despite the big redesign with the Shrek faces (which I got used to), they look incredible. I even like how Splinter looks. The special effects as a whole are really great. It’s a fun and funny (Mikey!) movie.
There’s a lot of bewildering script decisions going on here though. The one that bothered me the most is their poor excuse of a origin change. They wanted to tie April O’Neal’s past into theirs, but the logic and reasoning of what happened doesn’t work nearly as well as the original/ All of Splinters history is taken away which means his ties with his nemesis, Shredder, are gone. They come up with a half baked idea for Splinter to know who Shredder is, but..what the hell!? It’s stupid and makes no sense. Splinter becomes a martial arts master by reading books he finds in the sewer? What? Am I saying that I can believe that a Japanese martial artist (and all around good guy) can be mutated into a giant rat and can teach mutated giant turtles his skills, but I can’t believe that a lab rat can be mutated into a giant rat, learn martial arts and teach mutated turtles those same skills  in 15 years? Yes, I am.
There is so much bad logic in this movie it’s hard to know what I should talk about. The bad guys threat to the city is incredibly stupid. They want to make a “cure everything” mutagen, but they have to poison the whole city to sell it? What? There’s plenty of illnesses available right now for your product to work on now! Name your price! Why do you need to take all the Turtle’s blood to make it? You can’t synthesize as much as you want from just a bit of it from the miracle machine you whipped up in matter of days after thinking all traces of the mutagen were gone for 15 years? What the hell happened to Shredder’s suit? He really needed to look like a Transformer (real talk: It was cool how he could magnetically retrieve his blades)? Â How could anyone move in that thing without toppling over every 6 steps? Why did he stop beating Raphael’s ass when he had him alone? How the hell did they live through that fall in the antenna? How did they get any mutagen to bring back to Splinter? How freaking big was that mountain they were sliding down in that action scene? Is it right next to the airplane runway in Fast and Furious 6? Finally, the movie is produced by Michael Bay, not directed by him. If he isn’t behind the camera, his moves should not be mimicked all over the damn place. The amount of times the camera spins around characters is absurd. It’s so needless and off putting.
So yeah, it’s a decent kids movie. I really think the potential is there for a way better sequel (which is coming, it made a fortune). Some common sense will go a long way. Be sure to watch the Nickelodeon show though, it’s brilliant stuff.
The fourth and final season of Korra has finished, ending the second era of the Avatar franchise in a great way. While the show has had it’s ups and downs over the years, I liked it all the way through. Beautiful show, we don’t get many animated works like this (TV or film).
Korra had a lot to live up to coming off of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Universally praised and adored by many, going with a (mostly) new cast 70 years later was daring. They took the show into new territory and greatly expanded his universe. Funny, touching, exciting, some of the best animated action outside of anime, Korra kept everything that made Airbender so great.
I think the final season worked so well because of how great season 3 was. Loved the  Red Lotus Society and the final showdown with Zaheer (my favorite villian of the show, great use of him in season 4 too) is one to remember. Korra came out of it in really bad shape and was a great idea to set up the final arc. A person with PTSD going against a tyrant and coming out on the other side a better person is not easy to write (the juxtaposition between Korra and Kuvira is pretty brilliant). The title “Balance” for the season is very apropos.
I think The Legend of Korra did more right than wrong. The controversial ending was a bold step that needed more time, (the clip episode might have robbed the love interest plot line of time) so it did feel too sudden when Korra and Asami go off together. More than hints through two seasons are needed (we are talking about an animated kids show on Nickelodeon though). Â Korra is a more grown up show than Airbender and handles a lot of the tough stuff with class and respect despite being rushed and on a kids network. I really hope the creators come back to this universe sometime in the future. They’ve said they have no plans and are off to do new things, but I’d like to think they have more in them and distance from Nickelodeon will do them well (pretty sure Nick owns the show, so we may have to wait a really long time for he chance of more Avatar animation).
Now, Nickelodeon. What happened to their support? A long wait between season 2 and 3 and then all hell broke loose. Three episodes were leaked early thanks to MundoNick and Nickelodeon panicked to get the show out and they burned through episodes starting on June 27th for season 3. Then, they didn’t like the ratings on TV so they brought it to online only halfway through the season with zero warning. One week it was on TV, the next gone. With season 3 done, everyone hunkers down to wait for 2015 for the final season.  Nickelodeon announces on September 11th that Korra starts on October 3, 2014. What? It’s all online too. Then they haphazardly put season 4 back on TV after debuting 8 or si episodes online. They pretty much dropped all promotion of the show and cut the budget back so they had to make a clip episode instead of complete new episode. The Korra team took a lot of hits in the last year of production.
But, I digress. That stuff is all inside baseball at this point and the series still ended up holding on to it’s high standards. It’s a great show that I’ll be happy to revisit for years to come.
Neighbors– Fun movie! Seth Rogan plays…Seth Rogan married to Rose Byrne. They have an adorable little girl and recently moved into their first home. Then a fraternity moves in next door. The couple plays it cool at first, making friends with the frat and even goes to a party and end up having a great time. But when the all night parties keep happening, they call the cops with a noise complaint. That starts the ever escalating war between the neighbors. Really funny movie, I liked it a lot. Zac Efron and Dave Franco often steal the show. The cast is really good, full of cursing and all the drug and sex jokes one could ask for.
A Million Ways to Die in the West– Like most thing Seth MacFarlane does, this is a hot and cold movie. Seth plays Albert, a cowardly farmer. His girl leaves him for being a punk and then a mysterious woman (Charlize Theron!) comes to town and he falls in love with her. Unfortunately she is the wife of a notorious gunslinger. Albert has a problem on his hands. The cast is really great, the cameos are perfect and there is some really funny stuff in here. The other stuff hits the dirt like a big mouth bass. For every joke that made me laugh, there’s four that are so bad it’s hard to even consider them jokes. They tread on racial jokes that don’t work at all, the “gross out” material is totally unnecessary (I’m looking at you sheep urine) Â and the tripping scene (how much did that cost?) is weird just to be weird. Couldn’t think of anything better than that tired nonsense? It’s a really bi-polar movie. Good times at one moment and then get me out of here bombs the next.
22 Jump Street– I had a good time with 21 Jump Street and they really stepped it up for 22. They knew hot ridiculous doing a sequel is and they acknowledge that and work with it. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are a great comedy team as Schmidt and Jenko. The obvious step of going from undercover cops in high school to undercover cops in college is put through the ringer here. The make fun of themselves, send up the genre, but make it their own as well. They did everything they needed to in this movie, I hope they stick to their guns and leave the franchise as it is. Go out on top, no need to come back to this world.
Found footage style movie making is a high wire balancing act. It’s hard to do, a lot can go wrong, but if you pull it off, it’s some impressive stuff. Afflicted gets a lot right making for a fun and engaging horror movie.
Derek and Clif have been best friends since childhood. Clif got the movie making bug at a young age and got Derek to co-star in all of them. They grow up and Derek gets into the IT industry, which he soon realizes was a big mistake. When he’s diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder, AVM, he asks his best friend to travel the world with him for a year while he’s still healthy enough to do it. Clif decides it’ll be a great adventure and they make a web site and bring cameras along (Clif followed his passion and is a documentarian) to catalog and share their experiences with everyone.
They leave home for Europe and the trip starts off great. A week in, Derek meets a young woman at a bar and they take off to go back to Derek and Clif’s hotel room. When Clif goes to the room a little later, he finds Derek alone, knocked out and bleeding in bed from a blow to the head and a deep wound on his arm. As the days pass after the attack, Derek starts showing really weird symptoms. They document Derek’s crazy changes and try to figure out what to do. They both come to the realization that no hospital can help him and Derek gets into serious trouble when he starts attacking people. With each passing day, things spiral further and further out of control.
The whole movie is shown through Clif’s cameras. We’re set up with how much equipment Clif brings, but it’s never revealed how/who found the footage and edited it together. I don’t have a problem with that as I think it all works, the set up is all we really need. There’s a lot of really impressive stuff in this movie. It looks, really, really good. Very well shot, the visual effects are fantastic and I love the end. You get to know the two guys, understand what they’re doing and they quickly get to the point of the movie. The build up is great and the execution is often masterful. Derek and Clif (those are their real names) are still beginners in the film industry, but they show a lot of understanding and expertise in Afflicted. A few things caught my eye here and there. Sometimes the dialog is a little clunky, they stay in one town when they should have took off right after shit went down (it would have been pretty easy for the authorities to find them) and the French actress is just not good. It’s tough to watch her deliver lines which is terrible because her scenes are very important and bring down the quality of the movie.
I like being surprised by movies like Afflicted that seem to come out of nowhere by great up and coming filmmakers. I look forward to see what these two tackle next.
The original How to Train Your Dragon in 2010 was a great surprise and Dreamworks Animation continues to put out better and better movies. Part 2 picks up five years from the original. Viking Hiccup and his dragon pal Toothless changed the village island of Berk for the better. Man and dragon now living in harmony, life is pretty great. With the gift of dragon flight giving the Vikings a much broader reach of the world, Hiccup enjoys going out and mapping the world with Toothless over the chieftain responsibilities that his father wants him to take over. On one of his expeditions with his girlfriend Astrid, they come across a group of dragon trappers who work for a man named Drago. It becomes clear that this man is a threat to the peace they enjoy and something must be done to stop him.
The most obvious improvement in this sequel is the animation. The first is no slouch but this movie is down right gorgeous. The lighting in particular is a huge improvement and everything animates much better. Dragons are cool to begin with and the new designs they came up with are fantastic.
The new characters are really great with Valka being a real stand out. This is a huge story of growth for the hero Hiccup, I really liked his story arc. A young man who is struggling to define himself discovers a lot about his past, deals with life changing tragedy and comes out on top not on his own, but with the help of those he loves. He figures out what he’s really good and uses it to try and better himself and those around him. Hiccup is a character that’s easy to admire.
Dragon 2 shows the importance of friends and family, no matter what they look like, where they are from or how many legs (and wings) they have. This is rated PG for good reason, there’s some heavy stuff real young children could get upset by. Life can be difficult and scary, but having the support of others and conviction to stay strong and persevere is an important message for everyone. I look forward to the series conclusion, I can’t wait to see what happens with Toothless and Hiccup next.
Another television legacy has come to a close. I’ve watched Sons of Anarchy since the series premiere and through its seven seasons, it stood up as one of my favorite shows. Fantastic characters, often brilliant writing and truly shocking moments made Sons of Anarchy must-see-talk-about-the-next-day viewing. All in all, I think the show had an incredible run.
It’s really hard to talk about the finale without spoilers, so here’s your warning, don’t read this if you haven’t seen the show.
Jackson Teller. Did he ever have a chance? Through 91 episodes, I don’t think he did. Â A man fighting within the boundaries of son, father, brother, husband, leader, criminal, murderer. His entire life made up of secrets and lies.
The secrets, lies and revenge were the tent poles of the show. At the center I saw Jax trying to do what’s right with with love and respect taping the seams of the tent together. But when  you are surrounded by what amounts to unrelenting sin, there’s no way to escape it.
Jax really wanted to be good. I do think he was a good person. He wanted to be better than those before him, to keep his MC alive and on top. But in the end he could never get the good person separated from the monster. He became his step-father Clay despite his best efforts. He saw his family die no matter what path he took and killed scores of people. He grew up in a cut throat environment and the kill or be killed, an eye for an eye mentality had been drilled into his head. That was his greatest fear for his sons, that they would become him because they were growing up in the same world he was. But that fear had become a reality. He saw it happening to Abel right in front of him. At four years old he was breathing in the poison despite everyone around him trying to keep it away from him.
I really liked how the end was set up. The four keystones, Jax, Gemma, Unser, Juice, all fell over in spectacular Greek tragedy fashion. Juice, caught up in a mess for years that tortured him day and night. A guy who tried his best for years gets dropped with a shiv to the neck when his usefulness came to an end. Unser, probably the last honest soul left (although he had more than a few transgressions under his belt) finally lost his grip on the ledge and got sucked into the black hole named Gemma Teller Morrow. “I got nothing left but this.” Brilliant and heartbreaking. Unser had the most history with the club aside from Gemma and Chibs (that were still alive) and his long relationship finally killed him (so much for that cancer). His death was so sad. To Jax of all people! Then Gemma, the one we all love to hate. Every horrific event in the last season was from her hands, her lies. The gatekeeper couldn’t keep it together anymore. Â When she sees judgment coming, she ties up the last bits of her life and then waits for her punishment. Jax and Gemma’s last scene was a brilliant one. A relationship that Shakespeare would be proud of writing.
Finally, Jax. Being with just him for the last 25 minutes  or so worked so well. He knew he couldn’t lie anymore. He came clean in the end which I really liked. Owned up to his mother’s and his own sins. His impulses as a leader were completely wrong. The realization that he was trapped with no way to talk or lie himself out of his situation. By making sure his family was set to continue on without him, he further condemned himself. Spend the rest of his life hunted down by the police and his own club? A life time in jail, probably on death row?  His clean up run was really satisfying to watch. He figured out a way to keep those at his table from taking on the burden of ending him and seeing the end of Marks and Barosky a highlight.  Dying like his father proved to be poetic and fitting. Seriously, what happened to that composite shot? The most important special effect sequence in the entire run and it looked unfinished.
Through seven season, I have very few complaints. Chase scenes were often shot poorly, the music montage was just beaten to death and season three was far and away the poorest season. A lot of feet dragging and dumbly thought out sequences in there. Can someone tell me what happened to the shot of Jax driving into the tracker trailer (and it was the guy that Gemma got a ride from? Really?) Was it finished? The most important special effect sequence in the entire series and it looked like hell. The hallucinogenic religious symbolism at the end felt really out of place too.
Those few complaints aside, I think Sons of Anarchy had a great run and it’ll stand the test of time. I also applaud ending the show on top and at the right time. They told a whole and satisfying story with many characters we love and hate. Everyone involved has a lot to be proud of.
Located about an hour from Pittsburgh, Ray grew up on a 118 acre farm. Ray’s passion for music is an innate one, first feeling the urge to play the drums when he was very young. While no family members were musicians, he was first exposed to the works of Elvis, Chuck Berry and The Beatles. With the records playing, Ray would sing and tap along to the beat of the music; banging on pots and pans was an early favorite activity for him. His parents soon caught on to this and his father welded some old coffee cans together and painted them orange. Soon, he graduated to a beginner kit that lasted all of two weeks before Ray destroyed them from playing them so much. His drumming roots really started to grow on his six birthday when he got a full kit.
From his first drum set to entering high school, Ray was a self-taught drummer. Over the years he’d see bands on the cover of magazines and pick up their albums. He’d put on the likes of Rush, AC/DC, Leonyrd Skynyrd , Kiss, and Ozzy Osbourne, figuring out how to play the songs by ear. Consuming and memorizing the works of the great bands of the 70’s and 80’s Ray became a fan of countless rock bands that inspired him to continue his passion for making music. High school marked Ray’s start in formal percussion education. He got involved with every band available to him: marching, concert and symphonic. This was where Ray first got a taste for playing live on stage in front of an audience. It was a tremendous feeling that pushed him to get into a band outside of school.
Ray was just 14 when he got into his first rock band. They’d play gigs in clubs that he was legally too young to enter. So to get in, Ray’s father would escort him in, stand right by the door during the show and escort him out the moment it was over.
It was the late 80’s when Ray graduated high school , the same time he decided that making music, that playing drums, was going to be his career. Saying goodbye to his close family, Ray packed his bags and moved to Los Angeles, California. First stop was attending The Musicians Institute in Hollywood, where he honed his technical chops and learned how to play many more styles and how to work in the professional scene. From learning so much and having such a positive experience at MI, Ray went back as an instructor from 1992-2001.
Now done with school, Ray never stopped drumming. He became a well-known studio and session player in LA who could pick up and play any type of music. He was a quick learner and easy to work with; his skill and attitude getting him constant gigs. To date, Ray can be heard on dozens of albums. Through-out the 90’s you could find Ray playing at everything from the size of a wedding wearing a disco wig to an arena packed with people. If he wasn’t working on music, he was teaching it.
In 1997, Ray got his biggest gig playing drums for David Lee Roth of Van Halen fame. He toured with Diamond Dave consistently though to 2005. While Ray didn’t necessarily become famous from his time playing with Roth, he did get an education in the School of Showbiz Rock during this time. Roth taught him the importance of putting on a show for an audience. When someone takes the time and money to come and see you, you make them remember the time with you.
Ray avoids the “waiting for a bus†look when playing. He never liked seeing a boring drummer and he didn’t want to be known as one. A key part of that is showing the emotion on your face. “I try to show them that this is what I’m all about. I’m trying to give you everything I got. Like my blood and sweat.â€
During the David Lee Roth years, Ray also played with numerous bands in the down time. Wicked Alliance, Arcade, and Freak Power Ticket, just to name a few.  Ray’s time with David Lee Roth ended around the same time that the DeLeo brothers (Stone Temple Pilots) were starting a new band with singer Richard Patrick (Filter). In 2006, Ray joined their band, Army of Anyone.
Army of Anyone released its self-titled debut in 2007. Ray is very proud of this album, but shortly after it was released, the band dissolved as the DeLeo brothers decided to resurrect Stone Temple Pilots. A real blow for Ray at the time, fate seemingly had other plans for him.
Korn saw its founding member and drummer David Silveria leave the band in late 2006. Despite losing its second band member in as many years, they continued on. After enlisting the help of drummers Brooks Wackerman and Terry Bozzio to record 2007’s Untitled, Korn was ready to support it with a world tour. Slipknot’s Joey Jordison stepped behind the kit for the American leg of The Family Values 2007 tour. At the end, Joey left to go back to record the next Slipknot album, All Hope Is Gone. With this opening, they needed someone who could take over. As luck would have it, the management company behind Army of Anyone is the same as Korn’s. This made for a quick discovery and introduction between Ray and Korn. The timing was simply perfect. Ray flew out to one of the last stops of the Family Values tour in Seattle and auditioned with Munky and Fieldy. Asked to learn six songs for the audition, Ray went the extra mile and learned 30. It was an easy decision for Korn and they asked Ray to tour the world with them. He got the job in October 2007 and worked so well within the band, he was made an official member in 2009.
Since joining Korn, Ray remains busy inside and out of the band. His first recording with Korn was ‘Kidnap the Sandy Claws’, a cover for The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack remix album, Nightmare Revisited. Ray also worked on Jonathan Davis’s solo project, JD and the SFAs album which has yet to be released. These works have been followed by three Korn albums. Korn III: Remember Who You Are (2010), The Path of Totality (2011) and The Paradigm Shift (2013). Ray is also a new father and continues to teach and put on drum clinics when not on the road.
The youngest of the band, David was just a kid when he first met Munky and Fieldy. Two small bands that Fieldy and Head were in had collapsed and Fieldy was working on making a new one. Fieldy asked Munky to take on guitars while Head went of to try something new. They teamed up with a friend named Richard to sing and needed a drummer to complete the group.
They put an ad in the paper that said, “Funk, thrash, metal groove band looking for a drummer.†Not knowing who or what these guys were about, David called and left a message on Fieldy’s answering machine.  “Hey, you guys looking for a drummer? This little kid on my answering machine said,†remembers Fieldy. After laughing at how young he sounded, they called him back and arranged to go over to his house to play in his garage. Jamming together in the garage, they were impressed. “It just clicked. He was so good man,†says Fieldy.
“I loaded up my drums that day in the car and took it to the studio,†David recalls. “He was so young his mom had to drop him off for practice,†says Munky.
They named themselves L.A.P.D., “Love And Peace Dude†(which was later changed to “Laugh As People Die†after being openly mocked by others). They drew inspiration from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More for their sound and were able to get some traction locally. Looking to make it big, it was quickly decided they had to get out of Bakersfield to Los Angeles to get to the next level. The singer, Richard and Fieldy left first with David who dropped out of high school to do so. They crashed at Richard’s mother’s small apartment in Burbank upon arriving. David was so young at this point that his mother asked Richard’s mother Donna, to take legal custody of David until he turned 18. She gladly accepted, making it possible for David to get one step closer to becoming a rock star. This was a very big move as it put two of the soon-to-be-named Korn members in the best area geographically to get noticed in the music industry.  Shortly after, Munky moved in and they were later able to get Head to move to Burbank as well.
L.A.P.D. got as far as recording an album, but after spinning their wheels for a while, the band went nowhere and everyone but Richard was fed up. They parted ways with Richard and started fresh. Fieldy, Munky and David started jamming together regularly to make new music and asked Head to join in as a second guitar player. These sessions started the foundation sounds of Korn. Fieldy and David worked closely bringing their fresh playing styles together to make the percussion trademark that is the backbone of Korn. Looking for a singer they found a friend named Corey and named the band Creep. They wrote and recorded a nine song demo with producer Ross Robinson, but things went south with Corey. After letting him go, Munky and Head managed to discover Jonathan Davis during some downtime from Creep back in Bakersfield. Once Davis joined as lead singer, a name change and a little more than a year later, Korn was becoming one of the biggest names in metal.
Three studio albums had seen Korn to the top of the record charts and filling arenas worldwide. A wrist injury took David out of commision mid tour while supporting their 4th album, Issues in 2000. “My right wrist started feeling really tired when I was playing.  I just couldn’t play, the strength went away.†What was the medical term for his injury? “ I hit too fucking hard.†Instead of canceling dates for the Sick and Twisted and Summer Sanitarium summer tours they were booked on, Korn found an artist to fill in for David. Mike Bordin from Faith No More. “Growing up, he was one of the drummers that influenced me and he’s a great drummer…he would be a guy who would understand how I play.â€
Six albums and 13 years into Korn’s career, David suddenly left the band at the end of 2006. After finishing the tour cycle for the See You On The Other Side album, MTV asked the band to do an Unplugged album.  Feeling burned out and unhappy with the direction the band was going, David had no interest in the project and didn’t participate. Originally called a “hiatus” in the brief press release given at the time, it looks like it is a permanent separation.
Since then David has continued to manage his restaurant, Silveria’s RockBar, in Huntington Beach, CA. He also announced joining the band INFINIKA in January of 2012.
The blood of musicians flow through Davis’ veins. Jonathan picked up his talents from his father, Rick, who was a keyboardist for Buck Owens and Frank Zappa. Music was a life line in Jonathan’s youth as he had a hard childhood. First, he suffered from severe asthma and his parents got divorced when he was three. His step mother gave no inclination that she wanted him around and he was sexually abused at a young age by a female family friend. School was often torture for him as well. He was the outcast in class, skinny and small, he was an often and easy target by bullies all the way through to the end of high school. Jonathan sought refuge and understanding through music. He listened to The Cure, Duran Duran, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osborne and musicals like Jesus Christ Super Star. Being so inspired by The Cure, he often wore eyeliner and wild clothes to school which didn’t help the bullying, but today he looks back to his choices fondly, saying it made him who he is today.
This painful time of life shaped Jonathan’s musical tastes and the lyrics he would later write. He loved the darker and more ‘weird’ genres like, goth, industrial and the growing electronic dance music. He got into DJing parties in high school and  the creation of electronica was a big attraction, something he has returned to and experimented with recently.
He left the DJing behind and attended mortuary school after graduating high school. This path brought him to be a coroner in Bakersfield. Part of his job was to go and pick up dead bodies, which gave Jonathan macabre stories that he loved to tell others. During this time, he moonlighted as a singer for the band Sexart. Never being formally trained in singing, he had his own distinct singing style that he created on his own.
It was around 1992 when Jonathan was singing in a small club in Bakersfield when Munky and Head stopped in to check out the local scene. “We were getting ready to leave and just as we are walking out the door, Jon was the singer of that band [Sexart]. We heard him sing and me and Brian both turned to each other, our jaws just [opens his mouth wide in shock], oh my god! So we turned around and went back in to watch the whole set,“ remembers Munky. Returning to LA where they were living and working with David and Fieldy, they told them about what they had seen.
Fieldy asked them if they got his name, “We were told his name is Jonathan Davis.†The name struck a chord. Fieldy knew Jonathan from childhood. While they were never friends, they often hung out because Fieldy’s mother had babysat him and their fathers had played together in a band. Fieldy even ‘accidently’ ran over JD with a three wheeler when they were kids. Fieldy reached out to him the next day with Head and Munky’s full endorsement.  Fieldy offered to pay Jonathan’s way to come visit Hollywood so he could hear what they were working on.  It turns out Jonathan needed one more nudge to make the trip. “I didn’t want to do it. I went to a psychic and she told me I’d be stupid if I didn’t do it. So I went down and tried out,†remembers Jonathan.
When they got Jonathan to the studio, they played him the music that had been recorded so far. There was silence. At first, Fieldy didn’t think Jonathan was into it. While he didn’t say it out loud at the time, Jonathan loved what he heard. He then asked if he could try singing to one of the songs. They didn’t have any set lyrics, so he made them up as he went.
“We didn’t have a PA or nothing for him, he sang through a stereo with like a cheap mic and you could barely hear him. He started singing and we all just looked at each other and just watched him do that freak out thing. It just clicked. We knew before the song was over,†says Munky.
“This is my band. You’re my guys,†Fieldy remembers Jon saying.
Even with such a positive introduction, Jonathan was still reluctant to leave Sexart, his well paying job and Bakersfield behind for LA and Creep. After a little more convincing, Jonathan made the commitment and moved to LA. He first crashed with Fieldy before they all found a place in Huntington Beach where he slept underneath the stairs like Harry Potter. Jon make the band complete, Korn was born. Two weeks after JD joined they were making a new demo with producer Ross Robinson.
Jonathan pulled directly from his life for his brutally honest and raw lyrics. Singing in only the way Jonathan Davis can do, he retold parts of his life about being bullied, abused and misunderstood in a torrent of cathartic verses. “There’s not one night up there when he’s not really feeling his lyrics and really singing from his heart. Every night. It’s like he’s singing from the soul. It’s hard to find that,†says Munky. With Korn’s sound fusion of distorted dueling guitars and crushing percussion and bass, they took on the world together. Non-stop touring and writing grew their fan base exponentially in short order, breaking out into the mainstream with the release of their third album Follow The Leader in 1998.
“That record was just the pinnacle of fucking indulgence, bro [Laughs]. It was nuts. It was fucking sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That’s what it was. I was fucking out of my mind, but it was good. Right after that record is when I got sober [Laughs]. Doing that record, we went so over the top I had to quit.â€
Fame and fortune came with a dark passenger for Jonathan Davis to carry. Suffering from anxiety and depression for years, Jonathan turned to self-medication and became chemically dependent on drugs and alcohol. The non-stop rock star party life came to its peak during Follow the Leader when Jonathan’s grandfather passed away. Reflecting on his deteriorating mental and physical well-being, Jonathan was able to leave the poison behind and go sober in 1998.
A health scare in 2006 grounded Jonathan from touring Europe in support of the bands 6th album, See You On The Other Side. Set to play the Download Festival, Jonathan woke up in his hotel room one morning to find what resembled bruises all over his body. He immediately went to a doctor and found that he had developed a rare blood disorder, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). A very serious condition, doctors kept him bedridden for days. Full recovery took many weeks.
In 2013, there is no end in sight for Jonathan Davis’ expanding career. The Paradigm Shift in 2013 marks Korn’s 11th studio album. Jonathan has done some acting work, did the soundtrack for the 2002 movie Queen of the Damned and started two side music projects. Jonathan Davis and the SFA went on the road for a short tour in 2007 playing rarely played Korn songs and the tracks he made for the Queen of the Damned movie. A full album is reportedly done as well, but has not been released. His EDM group, Killbot, released Sound Surgery in 2012 and he DJ’s under the moniker, JDevil. Finally, Jonathan is a happy family man with his wife and three sons.
