Korn drummer Ray Luzier discussed his musical career
“A lot of people don’t know that I was a session guy for many years in Los Angeles. I made my living doing that and then I started joining national bands. I did Jake E. Lee from Ozzy Osbourne for three years. “I did David Lee Roth from Van Halen for about eight years. I was the original drummer in the band called Metal Shop that turned into Steel Panther. I did that for about five and six years on and off.
“Just through the years, and I have a lot of failed, original bands. I wanted to do the dream, just like Korn. My original bands in LA would get really close to getting a record deal, and then nothing. “You work really hard, you’re selling out clubs, you’re promoting, but we just didn’t have what it took. I found that joining national bands that are already established was easier for me to make a living, to pay my bills, and I didn’t starve anymore.
“Joining a band like Korn is not like joining David Lee Roth or Army of Anyone, my last band. It’s very special, it’s a very unique animal. When all the bands in the ’90s came out, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, STP, Pearl Jam, Korn came up through the center and said ‘No, we sound like this. We don’t sound like anybody.’ They’re five kids from Bakersfield and they had their own unique sound and it’s magical. There’s a reason that it appealed to the masses and did so well.
“Coming into a band like this in 2007, I was looking at it like ‘Okay, I’m a touring drummer. They hired me to do this.’ A year went by, two years went by, and then in the third year, in ’09, they said, ‘Hey, we want you to stay in the band. We want you to be a member.’
“I was like, ‘Me?’ They said, ‘Yeah, we want you to be a part of this.’ I was blown away. It really took me years to get my identity in the band, because you don’t just join a band like Korn. I don’t care how technical you are, how your skills are, how much experience, you have to ‘get’ the band, you have to understand and get inside the music. It’s about emotion and feel.
“Although I have a lot of technical ability and I know how to read and teach music – all that doesn’t matter. It’s here in the heart. It took me many years. It’s funny because these guys are so great and patient with me. “Everything I do, Jon Davis goes, ‘Just feel it. You’re thinking about it too much. Let it go. Be a part of it.’ It took me years, but then five or six years ago, I really started synching into it. It’s such a great place to be in. everyone is just focused on music and family. There’s no drama or BS. This is their 23rd year.”