Jonathan Davis says his band invented dubstep long before it became a staple of club music.
"We were dubstep before there was dubstep," Davis told Billboard. "Tempos at 140 with half-time drums, huge bassed-out riffs. We used to bring out 120 subwoofers and line them across the whole front of the stage, 60 subs per side. We were all about the bass."
He makes to comments after his band which found its fame through nu-metal has turned its hand to dubstep, a genre that has caught the attention of young music fans just as nu-metal did in the 90s.
"Probably the most active young audience out there is the dubstep audience, just as Korn's was when they first came on the scene," says Peter Katsis, who has managed the band since their 1994 debut. "There's a reason why they're attracted to each other; why a guy like Skrillex went from [singing lead in a hardcore] band like From First To Last to doing what he's doing [today]."
"These kids are onto something completely innovative and new," Davis says. "It's pure and awesome and underground and heavy and different, not like stale metal and rock'n'roll. I love them all, but the old-school metalheads are not open to change."
Davis' theory might not ring proud through the UG comment section, but it's a fair observation; metal was itself a cutting edge genre, and now a new generation inspired by metal is upping the noise game with other worldly computer generated sound.
But should dance and rock music stay separate, or will music fans find a happy medium between the two? Davis thinks the latter.
"It's really cool to see glow sticks at the show, to see dance music culture infiltrating and becoming one with the metal community," he says. "At the last show, there was one mosh pit where they were moshing, and another with kids doing glow stick tricks. They were taking turns and sh-t. I think we've opened up a new style that both sides are happy with."
"The Path Of Totality" launches on December 2, and features collaborations with electronic artists including Skrillex and Noisia.
