Korn singer Jonathan Davis said he had to “become” a vampire from 2002’s Queen of the Damned when he co-produced and helped write the horror film’s official soundtrack released that year.
After all, how else would one be expected to make music for the Aaliyah-starring movie that pairs the late singer-actress as vampire queen Akashahad with actor Stuart Townsend as Lestat, an undead character from author Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles?
“I had to become Lestat,” Davis remembered in a new Metal Hammer retrospective about the soundtrack album that’s drenched in the nu-metal of the era. “I read the books and wrote lyrics about being a fucking 400-year-old vampire, and it was so fucking fun,”
Davis co-helmed the soundtrack album with producer Richard Gibbs. It features five co-writes between them — the tunes variously fronted by an array of nu-metal names such as Disturbed’s David Draiman, the late Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington and more — among choice cuts by Deftones, Papa Roach and others.
That’s because the Korn frontman and his producing partner convinced Queen of the Damned director Michael Rymer to let them score the whole picture, not just curate the soundtrack.
“I think the moment when I feel like we really got the job,” Davis recalled, “was in the books and the movie, the vampire Lestat plays violin, and in the script, it even mentioned ‘Paganini-style violin’ – a classical violinist.”
He continued, “And I looked at Michael and I said, ‘That’s kind of been done to death, and we can certainly do that, but I have a different pitch for you.’ And Michael said, ‘What’s that?’ And I said, ‘Well, I know this guy Shankar [Indian violinist Lakshminarayana Shankar (L. Shankar)].’ … I started explaining who Shankar was, and I just saw Michael’s face light up. He was a huge fan.”
But there was one thing Davis couldn’t do. He was supposed to sing his contributions to the soundtrack, but contractual reasons prevented it, hence the guest lineup of nu-metal vocalist on his songs.
Still, he looks back fondly. “It gave me the confidence to reach out and start doing more,” he said. “My solo record, [2018’s] Black Labyrinth, is in that slot, too. That’s just what I write; I write dark, vampiric music.”
Korn’s 14th album Requiem arrived last month, armed with the singles “Lost in the Grandeur,” “Start the Healing” and “Forgotten.” The band is now on tour in North America with Chevelle and Code Orange.
