In Korn's early days, band members had to pay people to create an audience.
"That was a real pain," said drummer David Silveria during a phone interview from Pittsburg, Penn.At this point in the conversation, a chainsaw suddenly went off in the background, and a girl screamed.
"Turn that down, will you?" Silveria shouted. "Man!
"We're watching `The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.' Leatherface is only practicing now. He's cutting up a log."
Then, it was back to the interview. "Where were we?" Silveria asked. "Oh, yeah. Paying people so we could play. Eventually we did get better and people began paying us to play"
Los Angeles-based Korn is the headliner and founder of the "Family Values Tour," which will pull into the E Center on Wednesday, Oct. 14. Other artists scheduled to crank out tunes include Rammstein, Ice Cube, W.C., Limp Bizkit and Orgy. In between the bands, DJ Punk Roc will spin some bass and drum tracks to keep the mood hyped. Tickets are available at all Smith'sTix outlets.
Nowadays, Korn - Silveria, vocalist Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Schaffer, guitarist Brian "Head" Welch and bassist Fieldy Arvizu - makes No. 1 albums, sells out stadium shows and makes videos that are constantly on MTV.
"We don't really have very many long-term goals when comes to what we're doing," said Silveria. "We take things as they come; day by day.
"We do know, however, that we want to keep playing good music and become better at that."
After three albums and a couple of world tours, Korn still tries to keep a low profile - at least with its fans. "We've got to stay tight with the fans. It's great being able to talk with the kids face to face. That's one of the ways we keep ourselves down to earth.
"There are times when I don't know what to say, though. We've had so many kids come up to us and tell us how our music has given them hope to keep on with life. They always tell us how our music has let them know they're not alone. That's humbling."
Although Korn has gotten a bad rap from conservative America - mostly about the violent connotations in songs, "explicit lyrics" stickers and disturbing album cover art - the band has found itself performing charity concerts for rape and incest victims, the homeless, leukemia and cancer patients, and AIDS victims.
The songs on the albums are performed with blunt language but address the horrors of child abuse and other social ills.
That's why it seemed ironic to the group when a student was suspended from school for wearing a Korn T-shirt in Zeeland, Mich. Furthermore, the band filed a cease-and-desist demand against the school district and its assistant principal for making defamatory com-ments about the band.
The Holland Sentinel newspaper quoted Gretchen Plewes as saying that Korn's music "intends to be insulting" and "indecent, vulgar, obscene."
Korn's manager, Jeff Kwatinetz, replied by saying, "We find it especially disturbing that an educator who's suppose to be setting an example of what this country stands for - things like free speech - is attacking a student and a band that represents hope for millions of kids. "
"The fans also seem to be more forgiving," said Silveria. "Sometimes it's hard going on stage all the time. And when we do have a rough night - like opening night - the kids still tell us it's OK."
The idea for naming this tour "Family Values" came about when Korn members and their manager had a brainstorm.
"We thought it was a great idea," Silveria said. "And we began making calls to bands we wanted to tour with.
"We wanted to put together a bill that would have great bands like those performing in arenas. Where they could give the kids the maximum production value."