KORN guitarist Brian “Head” Welch has once again clarified his recent comments about Christianity, insisting that he was only referring to his early fanaticism with the religion.
During an appearance on MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn‘s “No Fuckin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn” podcast, Welch — who left KORN in early 2005, at the same time announcing that he kicked his addictions to drugs and alcohol by becoming a born-again Christian — spoke about the impact his new awareness has had on his life, his family and the influential rock act that he co-founded nearly 30 years ago. Asked if he thinks religion became his “new addiction” after his exit from KORN, Welch said: “The crazy thing is I had an experience with something from another dimension. And it wasn’t the religion — going to church and being a good boy — it was, like, I felt something come into my house, and I can’t explain it to this day. But I believe that it was Christ doing something in me. So that was real — that was very real. But yes, I think I went too far with it. And I got obsessed with it, just like I was obsessed with the drugs. I believe I did, for sure. And I had to come out of that and find normalcy, because there’s nothing worse than a freakin’ irritating religious person just shoving it down your throat — there’s nothing worse than that. And you saw it on the documentary [‘Loud Krazy Love’, which documents Brian‘s journey towards sobriety], Jonathan‘s [Davis, KORN singer], like, ‘I hate those motherfuckers.’ People can’t stand ’em. And for years, we’ve had those Christians outside of KORN concerts, saying KORN‘s of the devil, and all this. It’s crazy — it’s a crazy thing. But I’m just glad I got through it. And I’m glad that I am who I am now, and I have a lot of peace and rest for my soul. I feel very leveled and at peace with myself.”
Welch discussed the negative feedback he received for his “No Fuckin’ Regrets” comments during a March 22 appearance on the “TruthSeekah” podcast. Asked if it “messes” with his head knowing that he has to be careful what he says in interviews knowing the his comments could be misconstrued by some people, Welch said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “For the first couple, or three years, [after] I became a Christ follower, I was, like, ‘Oh my gosh. Please don’t screw up.’ And then I got to a point where it’s just, like, ‘Man, love God, love people, and just share your heart.’ And I don’t worry at all or get nervous at all — I just conversate and have a cool talk.
“Now, I will be honest, after this little thing happened with the Robb Flynn podcast, I’ll probably think about it and be, like, ‘All right. Help me, Lord, articulate better,'” he continued. “I’m not trying to get attacked, I’m not trying to get all that. And I do wanna be clear about… ‘Cause I don’t know what those rock sites [that covered the ‘No Fuckin’ Regrets’ comments] were thinking, that they’re thinking I’m backing away from my faith. That’s not true at all. I just went too far with the fanaticism and all that stuff, and that’s all I meant. At the end of the day, it’s all good. If there’s drama, and people think I said something wrong, well, whether they’re for me or against me — Paul said something like that — either way, Christ is being preached. And for that, I’m stoked.”
Welch also addressed the backlash he received from Christians who lashed out at the guitarist for supposedly backing away from his faith. “This one guy said… I saw one clip a friend sent me,” Welch recalled. “And he’s, like, ‘Getting a lot of messages about this.’ And [the video] was [dubbed], ‘Brian Welch quits Christianity,’ or something like that. It got thousands of views. The clip that I saw, the guy goes, ‘I will be so bold as to say Brian Welch was never a Christian.’ I’m just, like, ‘Dude.’ … I’m thinking about this guy, and I’m going, ‘You really have the cojones to say that? That’s putting yourself up with God’s level.’ And so I’m kind of scared for this guy. He’s just like so far off. Man… That’s messing with things, man, that you shouldn’t mess with. That is the number one thing that Jesus went after with the Pharisees in the Gospels. He was so irate and so against that spirit — judgmental spirit — and this and that, and Jesus is with the prostitutes, saying ‘Come to all who are broken.’ And this guy is saying that? Wow. That’s gonna be an interesting conversation. Honestly, I saw that, and I just said, ‘Lord, have mercy on this guy. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. Have mercy on him. And where I’m in the wrong, fix me too.’ I’m just trying to take the humble approach. But that’s how I feel. And it was a little sad, but not a big deal.”
Less than a month after leaving KORN, Welch — wearing a white robe and sporting a long beard — was baptized in Israel’s Jordan River, along with about 20 other members of the Valley Bible Fellowship, the Bakersfield, California, church in which he spoke two weekends earlier. At the time, Brian told MTV News that he decided to be baptized in the Jordan after receiving a divine message.
“God told me … he didn’t say, ‘Hey Brian!,’ I just got a feeling in my heart that he was going to let me know something, I was going to be told something [in Israel],” Welch said. “Because the pastor is going to dunk me in the Jordan River, and when I come back here, I’m going to be a different person.”
Welch officially returned to KORN in 2013, one year after joining the band onstage at the Carolina Rebellion festival in Rockingham, North Carolina to perform “Blind”.
Since his conversion to Christ 16 years ago, Welch has been very open about how God changed his lifestyle and restored his relationship with his daughter.
In recent years, Brian has been preaching that people don’t have to wait until they die to see if having an encounter with the presence of God is real.
Both Welch and KORN bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu have had highly public, though separate, conversion experiences, ones that have been greeted with a certain amount of skepticism.
KORN‘s latest album, “The Nothing”, was released in September 2019 via Roadrunner/Elektra.
Welch‘s LOVE AND DEATH project released its second album, “Perfectly Preserved”, in February via Earache Records.
