Month of Mayhem: Korn and Hatebreed Interviews — ”Creep Show’

The last time we interviewed Korn guitarist James 'Munky' Shaffer on camera in our studio, he was thoughtful and articulate as he talked about the creation of their album, 'Korn III: Remember Who You Are,' being back in the studio with producer Ross Robinson for the first time in almost 15 years and the power and spirituality of making music. Remembering what a good interview subject he was, we got Munky back on the phone for this week's podcast, along with Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta.

We figured pairing the two together would be a colorful way to set up our Month of Mayhem coverage, in which we'll interview two bands from the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Fest per week. We didn't antipicate that Munky would be lying poolside at a Hard Rock Cafe hotel in Las Vegas ordering bloody Mary's at 11:30 AM.

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Then again, the dude's got plenty to celebrate. Korn are entering the homestretch of the Jägermeister club tour and getting ready to headline this year's Mayhem Fest, which also features main stage bands Rob Zombie, Lamb of God and Five Finger Death Punch; Jägermeister stage headliners Hatebreed and openers Chimaira, Shadows Fall and Winds of Plague; and Silver Star Stage headliners Atreyu and openers Norma Jean, In This Moment and 3 Inches of Blood. The tour launches July 10 in San Bernardino, Calif. and runs through August 14 in Oklahoma City.

So yeah, Munky's got good reason to party, and his enthusiastic responses to the most ordinary questions made the podcast a blast. And whenever we veered into the incomprehensible zone, Jasta, whose side project Kingdom of Sorrow are also touring on Ozzfest this summer (along with Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Halford, DevilDriver, Nonpoint, Black Label Society, Drowning Pool, Goatwhore, Skeletonwitch, Saviours and Kataklysm) kept the podcast moving with poignant commentary and amusing one-liners.

The other panelists for this week's podcast were Revolver senior writer and Noisecreep regular Jon Wiederhorn, Alice Cooper bassist Chuck Garric and 'Nights with Alice Cooper' radio show producer Katherine Turman.

After Munky dropped off the line to get another drink, we continued the podcast with Jasta and Garrick, and the conversation steered away from Mayhem and to the memory of the late metal legend Ronnie James Dio, whose private funeral and public memorial service Garrick had attended the week before.

Garrick, who had toured with Dio for two years and played on Dio's 2004 album 'Master of the Moon,' described what the two services were like and shared stories about working with the vocalist.

This is one you don't want to miss.