You know how it goes at a big show. The band plays a bunch of songs that omits a few of the major hits, they walk off the stage, and then they come back and do the hits to the surprise of nobody. It's a routine at this point and Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch is tired of it.
In an interview with the Bringin' It Backwards Podcast, Welch said Korn as a whole thinks encores are cheesy as hell. Welch said forgoing encores is seen as rude in some cultures, and the band ended up just starting to do them to make everyone happy. But they're still not fans.
“We never have been an encore band, man. We would debate about it, saying, ‘It’s so cheesy, man. It’s so cheesy. They want it so bad, but…’ We don’t do encores," he said. "We would tell people in the press, ‘We don’t do encores. We give it our all, and then we’re done.’ And then fans started getting mad, especially fans in different countries. They’re, like, ‘It’s disrespectful if you don’t come back out.’
"So we had to do it. And to this day, we don’t really love it. ‘Cause everybody expects it, and they don’t really cheer for it now. They’re just, like, ‘Okay.’ … It’s, like, you wanna be done, and then the crowd to demand you back out with applause. That’s what the encores were meant for. But that’s all gone to shit now.”
Korn is currently working on something that may or may not be a new album, but they won't say what it is. Though they will say that you'll find out soon, so stay tuned!
