The mysteries of Korn and Ty Elam - By N.L. Belardes

Every once in a while I answer an email from a reader asking, “Why don’t you ever write about Korn on nlbelardes.com? They’re from Bakersfield and they have a new album out.” They’re right. They do. And I admit I haven’t heard it yet, though I do plan on buying it. And I admit that it has been very pretentious of me to think I shouldn’t write about Korn. My reasons upon further reflection just weren’t valid. Give credit to Monty Byrom for straightening me up from my wayward habits. He proved that stars aren’t unreachable. You can even shoot ‘em out of the sky with a rubber band for five bucks. Pzzapp!

So what’s been the problem with me? I admit I thought Korn was too unreachable to write about. Here is a band mentioned in every major newspaper in the country except the Bakersfield Californian. They get more press than the Schwartzenneggar inauguration and Terminator Six trailers combined. Why should little me write about them on my tiny website when local Bakersfield bands like Another Year and Vanity Avenue need the blog-time?

Because this is their hometown. That’s why.

Just because Korn is mega-huge doesn’t mean they should be ignored. It’s bad enough they’ve been ignored by local press for years. I guess I just realized I was doing the same kind of Korn-snubbing, only for different reasons.

Korn is more than a nu-metal phenomenon out of Bakersfield. They’re a bunch of guys re-inventing rock and roll, music instruments and microphones while they tread their starry path among the rock and roll heavens. They’re part of a strange history of Bakersfield that some feel may impact the global world of music more than Buck Owens himself. Ask yourself if Buck Owens ever got off his big crystal horse to appear on South Park.

Logan Molan of the Bakersfield Californian just wrote an interesting piece on the hidden blog Bakosphere about Korn re-inventing music industry marketing similar to how they revolutionized reaching fans via the Internet. Like many folks in small town Bakersfield, I have my links to Korn through family and friends: worked with Jonathan Davis dad a few times, went to high school with the drummer’s sister, I’ve made friends with Davis’ step-brother. In the small town Bakersfield music scene folks can’t help but always discuss their links to the famous. My brother knows so-and-so, so-and-so talks to Brian Head Welch, so-and-so went to such-and-such party… But do I know the guys in the band? No. never met them. Have I seen Korn in concert? Yes. Have I written about them? Yes. In my forthcoming novel that I finished writing in 1998, The Citrus Girl, there is even a scene at a Korn concert at the old Casa Royale in Bakersfield around circa 1995-1996. Oh yes, that was the big concert where they hung the Bakersfield P.D. in effigy. The bagpipes were blasted and history was made.

But why don’t I talk about Korn now?

Is Korn a part of the Bakersfield music scene? Does global success strip you from the Bakersfield music scene like it did Monty Byrom who now plays at Fishlips. He’s not washed up, but does enjoy playing music that he just needs to pour out of his soul. Just because he’s not in Bighouse doesn’t mean he can’t re-create himself. If anyone can, that’s Monty. He’s literally re-created himself three times in a holy matrimony with the music industry. Marky Chavez is attempting his second rebirth. He’s got a way to go to even catch up with that old Monty who owes me five bucks. I’ve been on the search engines. Marky gets talked about in a big way. He gets criticized a lot. But so what? He’s talked about. I wish I was criticized half as much. Buck Owens had his resurgence through television. Korn isn’t down and out, but in a way they are climbing as well. Yet I talk about Buck and not Korn (or Adema). I need to fix that.

No, Korn doesn’t play in the Bakersfield scene, but they do deserve recognition in their hometown.

So I’m going to try to follow them a little closer from now on and pass on any important news.

Lately Korn was written about in the New York Times for their marketing ingenuity. I don’t know who the brilliant one is in the band. Jonathan Davis, or his dad, Rick Davis who works for the Kern County Board of Trade, having taught Jonathan a few sleight-of-hand marketing techniques over the years. Maybe neither. Maybe it’s just the networking in the industry. Building relationships. Getting people to believe in you, your music, your dreams. Having the talent to follow through, and to keep doing it for years. Understanding the Internet and effectively reaching a world of fans online.

Korn deserves to be written about in their own hometown for such success. I criticized the Korn phenomenon last year because the Californian wrote about Welch leaving Korn. Where was the local newspaper all those years when Korn was together? Suddenly they had the attention of the conservative market, where a news story about them could actually interest the clientele of the conservative Californian. Radio jockeys even spoke out, said something like, “Korn gives Head to God”, and then got fired for it. After all the foul-mouthed verbage of public radio and they get fired for that? Appalling.

But I was happy to read that in the new age of the Bakersfield Californian’s online media, in their hidden blog, they could at least be bold enough to suggest the importance of Korn. Albeit aware of an online lynching even though the blog was safely tucked away. Still, a move in the right direction. Possibly just using keywords to attract online blog viability. Who knows? Molan seems to genuinely like the band, and expressed his feelings with a two-fold aim: let the community in on a possible changing big media attitude and an attempt to write about big topics to gain traffic and high rankings.

And sure, they can accuse me of the same. I do have books to sell. And I do wonder if Jonathan Davis has a copy. But then that’s the mystery of Korn. They’re a part of the culture of Bakersfield, yet hidden away like that Bakosphere blog who wrote about them. People talk about Korn, yet you don’t see posters of theirs any larger around town than you would see of Stereotactic or the Filthies. Though I did see one poster in the window of Downtown Records a few weeks back promoting the new Korn album, “See you on the other side”. Mostly anything to do with Korn in Bakersfield is tucked away, hidden behind a conservative veil.

Can I unveil them a little bit?

I’ll see what I can do.


Another local mystery is Ty Elam, ex-front man for Videodrone who toured with Korn back in the mid-1990s. He was in Arrival of Fawn recently but then the band broke up in 2005. I remember getting the bad news from Dax, their guitarist. Sad news. I’ve been hearing different stories ever since. What sparked my curiosity again was an email I recently received from an illustrator of concert posters for the band, 311 out in Savannah, Georgia. He once won a design contest for a Videodrone 'Ink Ty' tattoo contest...

Hi N.L.,

I'm writing because I did a google search to find out more of what Ty Elam has been up to recently. I saw that he had left Arrival of Fawn and had heard rumors ranging from him recently becoming a father to him now being an A&R record rep. I'm a huge Videodrone/COT fan from back in the day and wanted to know if he is still trying to write music. I know Rohan is in Throatshot and Kris Kohls is still grinding it out in Adema, but I haven't heard anything about Ty. Is it possible Kris Kohls would have Ty audition for Adema, or did they have a bad split when Videodrone broke up. He is a very interesting, intriguing character that has a certain level of mystery surrounding him in the eyes of everyone living outside of Bakersfield…I'm glad that someone out there has the same curiosity about him that I do. The article you wrote about Arrival of Fawn where you probed Ty for questions and the answers he gave you were always so open ended making you want to know more. It's a real shame he never got to make it more into the spotlight because i believe he embodies the term "rock star". I really hope he hasn't given up his quest of rock.


Now just let me see what I can drudge up here on Paperback Writer… Mysteries. We all love to solve them.

This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on Thursday, January 12, 2006. You can leave your response.