He is a talented musician, a best-selling author, a born-again Christian and a doting dad – now you can see Korn’s Brian ‘Head’ Welch on the big screen, as his documentary ‘Loud Krazy Love’ hits select cinemas around the country and screens in Cairns Wednesday 15th of May at Cairns Central Cinemas.
Jade Kennedy caught up with Brian before he boarded the plane for the movie’s Australian release to discuss fatherhood, spirituality and regrets.
NQMP: Brian! What’s been happening?
BW: “Nothing, just been hanging out with family getting ready for my trip to Australia on Saturday.”
Amazing, we’re looking forward to having you back here again!
“Oh thank you, I can’t wait.”
Obviously you’re not coming over with Korn this time, so tell me why you’re heading over…
“Well, Australia was kind enough to receive my movie and we’ve got a great team over there that has partnered with us to put our movie Loud Krazy Love, our documentary, in many theatres. So they invited me to come and I was like heck yeah, if you guys are doing all that I would love to come. My daughter was invited to come to but she just started college yesterday, so…”
Oh, bad timing!
“Yeah!” (Laughs)
Obviously Loud Krazy Love has debuted on Showtime in the US, we’re obviously just seeing it now – so what has the reaction been like so far?
“It’s been really positive so far as just people relating to it, because we all have things in life, you know, and not too many families don’t have any drama and issues they have to work through. So I think people are just being encouraged that whatever your family drama is, you can get through that stuff if you just work on it, forgive and trust – then you can get through anything.”
I’ve read With My Eyes Wide Open – I haven’t read all of your other books – how does this documentary differ to your books? What will I learn about you watching this film as opposed to reading your books?
“You know, it just seemed the logical next step for me to do a documentary, I think it just puts more of a personal approach to the books. I mean, the books are one thing but when you see the visual of our story… Another thing you’ll get is some real and raw conversations regarding what teenagers go through, which is a lot of depression and harming themselves and all those things like social media – all of that – so they’re going to get a lot of that talked about in the movie too. Also, footage with Korn that nobody’s seen, and interviews with them about personal things. It’s really cool – and I’m not just saying that because it’s mine – the guys behind it are really talented and they’ve put together a nice piece of art here.”
So is this literally ‘warts and all’ or is there still stuff that you don’t want us to see?
“Oh no, this is everything. I’m an open book (laughs). I decided to share my struggles when I wrote my books, and I saw how many people it’s helped, so even though it’s hard sometimes it just helps people, so I’m willing to do that. I think my daughter got some of my DNA because she was willing to do it too at 15, you know, some of the footage of her was shot when she was 15.”
Was any of that – particularly talking about depression and self-harm and things – uncomfortable for you to watch?
“Oh yeah. It was very uncomfortable. But the good thing is we got through most of it before the final, like we saw the edit, you know? So when we were watching it, it was still a fresh wound but we were past that point. My daughter watched it together with me and we had to stop it a few times, and there were some tears and things like that, so yeah.”
So how did you feel looking back at some of the old footage that we’re going to see?
“Oh it’s just weird, you know? Like some of the things, the drug references we make – it’s like looking at someone else’s life because I don’t recognise that person anymore, I haven’t been that person for so long and I have a new beginning. It’s foreign to me. It was a blur – my past life was a blur anyway (laughs) – so to see it it’s just like, wow, look how far I’ve come.”
Oh yeah for sure. Well, what would you like the take home message to be when people go and see this film?
“I’d love people to just know that it’s never over. If you fight for your life and your family and for that better place to live, you know, in yourself and with your family, nothing is impossible with God. You know, you can get through everything. God is very real and personable and wants a good relationship with every human, you know, but I love the movie because it doesn’t, like, preach that. It just tells a story as it played out, and part of my story was my faith journey, so it shows that but it’s really cool how it’s not preached like that.”
Now, not to assume that you have any regrets but if you could go back and change anything from your life so far, what would that be?
“Oh… that’s a good question! (Laughs) It would probably be all of the drug intake that I did, you know, all of the things that I ingested and everything, it was just like… it damaged me. So definitely the drugs, and also if I could go back and change my personality in the past, and how angry I got and how impatient and controlling I was with my daughter, even though I loved her so much I hurt her, you know? Because I didn’t know how to control myself, my emotions… So I wish I could go back and do that, but some people believe that everything happens for a reason and a lot of good has come out of my mistakes as well, so…”
I mean one thing a lot of people don’t seem to understand, particularly with drug and alcohol addiction, is that it does affect you for the rest of your life and you can continue to have ongoing issues. Is that something that you’re still dealing with?
“I think probably, you know, I’m really ADD (laughs) and my focus and attention isn’t that great. I still have that addiction, but thank God it’s just for sugar (laughs) I can’t stop eating sweets. Scientists have said that sugar hits that part of your brain, that reward centre, that drugs do so that’s my biggest thing with it. Other than that I’m pretty healed, you know? I’m happy, I’m healthy, I don’t deal with a lot of depression any more and me and my daughter’s relationship is so amazing, so I think God’s been really kind to me. I think too, me going after spiritual life so much that I think I’ve gotten more healing than I would have if I hadn’t.”
Oh yeah, for sure. From the trailer – obviously I haven’t seen the whole documentary yet – it sounds like you guys were living the full sex drugs rock’n’roll cliché in Korn. How has that changed since you’ve re-joined the band?
“It has completely changed, 180. Now we focus on the music, we don’t treat women like objects, everyone’s married or re-married and having kids – well I’m not, but some of the guys have – the guitar player James, his wife is pregnant and he’s 49 in a couple weeks (laughs). So yeah, it’s like that. And nobody does hard drugs anymore, nobody drinks so much that they throw up… that part is over. All we care about is the fans and the music and the show, you know?”
Obviously you’ve shared a lot of yourself with the public – has that ever come back to bite you?
“Ha… good question. Well, not really, but I could just think of this small thing that happened… I shared like every detail of how Korn formed and everything, and I wrote in the book that we got a psychic, and the psychic said that we’re gonna be rich and famous and it actually happened, so this one guy came up to me and said, “I’ve been going to psychics because of you!” (laughs) and I’m like, “Oh no, no, no, that’s not what I… Ohhh well, there goes that.”” (Laughs)
Don’t waste your money!
“Yeah, right?! Crazy!” (Laughs)
So what would you say your most pivotal moment has been in life so far?
“My most pivotal moment in life… Well, there’s two. One of them was the birth of my daughter Jennea, her entrance into the world got me to shift my mind off of myself and onto her. So I had that desire to be a better person and to teach her how to be, you know, I wanted to be an example. But like I screwed that up, but it never left me to try to get better and better, and I finally did. The main pivotal thing that happened was meeting Christ and just giving Him my life and letting Him come to live inside of me and give me the strength to actually become this new, resurrected brand new person.”
Obviously Korn is still going, we saw you guys out here for Download last year – what’s on the horizon for the band now?
“We’re finishing up our new record, and we’re hoping to get to Australia next year or something – we’re always talking to promoters about different tours we can do around the world. So yeah, we’re going to hit the States this summer; in two months we’re gonna hit the States for six weeks and then possibly another country in the fall, and then next year we’re gonna go out of the country it would be amazing if we can come back to Australia.”
Loud Krazy Love screens for one night only Wednesday 15th of May at Cairns Event Cinemas in Cairns Central.
© Copyright 2025 | NQ Music Press