Zahna + Brian ‘Head’ Welch Dive Into New Song ‘Defiler’

“I feel like they just kind of roll with my creative ideas and I get away with it.”

Zahna joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday (Feb. 5) to celebrate her latest song, “Defiler,” released on XOVR Records. The song features Brian “Head” Welch, who also founded XOVR; fortunately, Head joined Zahna and the Loudwire Nights audience for the conversation.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

“Honestly, I couldn’t be happier,” she said about being part of XOVR Records.

“Zahna and her husband, Patrick, they’re just so talented,” Head shared.

“They both work together really hard on all the writing and with their producer and everything — they just know what they’re doing, man. It’s kind of like Korn when we started. They just left us alone and some of them didn’t get it. They weren’t fans but they saw the reaction. They’re like, ‘Something’s happening here’…so we just kind of let them do it and it’s amazing.”

Head said he was drawn to Zahna because he could see there was something special with her. So it’s no surprise that he joined her for her latest track.

“‘Defiler’ is the point in the [next] album where you just decide that it doesn’t matter how much pain you decide to live and you decide to take control of your life and fight whatever has had control over you,” Zahna shared about the song.

“It’s a super heavy song because life is heavy.”

She said that despite her working relationship with Head, she thinks his addition to the song is perfect.

“I felt he got it, he understood it and the performance was just perfect.”

Korn’s Legacy + Future

In addition to diving deep into how faith has shaped her throughout her life, Zahna shared her dream for her music during the chat.

“How do you not sound delusional when you talk about your [goals],” Zahna admitted.

“Let’s just take, for example, Korn. They are just such a legacy, they have influenced culture, they have created such a community where outcasts feel welcome and where it’s okay to be weird. It’s okay to talk about dark, creepy things because if you don’t, what are you going to do?”

Just as Korn have made an impact on culture, Zahna hopes her music does the same.

“Why not dream about a stadium tour one day or just being able to release 10 albums in your career,” she said.

“That alone is a feat.”

And thinking about that legacy and the future of his band, Head opened up a bit about what’s on the horizon for Korn.

“I really love the fact that it’s taking a long time,” Head said about the next Korn record.

“I always told management that I wish that we would wait a little bit between albums. We’re just so addicted to the studio that we get in there and we’re putting albums out every two or three years, ever since I rejoined. And so I love that there’s been delays.”

Head said he realizes delays are okay for a band like Korn because of that legacy that Zahna celebrated.

“We’re a fortunate band, we’ve been around for awhile and we’ve got an extensive catalog with a lot of well-known songs,” he said.

“We’re focusing right now on our live show … It feels like we don’t even need a new album. Everything’s just going so well, but that’s not to say we’re not going to find some time to go in again. I feel like it’s not priority right now.”

Though fans may be disappointed to hear that, Head did share some good news to look forward to.

“We’re going to meet together and see where we’re at,” he shared.

“There could be a couple of surprises this year … We’re going to have some cool announcements for dates around the world and stuff coming this year.”

What Else Did Zahna and Korn’s Brian ‘Head’ Welch Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

What fans might be able to expect from Zahna’s next record: “I like to call this new album Stronger Than Death‘s evil twin. It’s kind of about the dark side of what the real story was. I think with Stronger Than Death, I really tried to just keep this note of hope because I was still pretty naive about what was about to happen. I had no idea how difficult it was about to get. And I think that naivety protected me for some time until it was just staring you at the face. This is not getting better. So this new album is definitely about grief and suffering. I tell people Stronger Than Death was written in 2020, but all of the drama of this album happened after or during that album was being released.”
What it was like for Korn to tour with Gojira: “You never lose the fan inside. To watch Gojira every night and just hang out with those guys, I’m just a huge fan of those guys and they were [of] us when they were younger. It’s so mutual. And then Spiritbox every night, everybody knows I’m a huge fan of Spiritbox since ‘Holly roller.’ I discovered that song when they were just barely coming up. That was a dream come true tour. I can’t wait to do it again.”
Why Head remains grateful to this day: “I left [Korn] in 2005, a loser drug addict with nothing. I had a lot of money and awards and everything — but I had nothing. I didn’t know who I was. I gave it all up to find who I was. It took a few years to really get to know my new self and to be given this last decade or more back with Korn to see the grown and the connection with the fans, I’m just living in gratitude every day.”