Korn [ tickets ] decided to do things their way with their sixth studio album, "Take a Look in the Mirror," opting to self-produce rather than enlist the likes of a big-name knob-spinner like Brendan O'Brien or Ross Robinson.

The result is a fierce, jagged album, loaded with vocal gravel and trademark guitar stylings that made many lay pretty pennies down for seven-string axes a decade ago.

Vocalist Jonathan Davis, bassist Fieldy, drummer David Silveria, and guitarists James "Munky" Shaffer and Brian "Head" Welch are getting ready to saddle up for the Projekt Revolution Tour, playing alongside the likes of Linkin Park, Snoop Dog, The Used, and Less Than Jake.

The 33-year-old Davis recently took time out from a chicken-and-rice lunch at his Hollywood home to chat with liveDaily about Projekt Revolution, the album, the video for "Y'All Want A Single" (which shows the band demolishing a record store) and bagpipes.

liveDaily: Did you have a relationship with Linkin Park or Snoop Dogg before the Projekt Revolution Tour?

Jonathan Davis: We toured with Snoop Dogg on Lollapalooza in '97, and we played a show with Linkin Park in Mexico City. They're managed by our same manager, and they're really cool guys. It's awesome to have them ask us to come out and be on their tour, because it's fun sometimes not to headline--you don't have all the headaches. We'll play right before Linkin Park; it's all good with us.

How do you guys write material?

As a band, we get together and jam. The guys start playing stuff, and I'll pick out riffs, "That, right there, that's cool." And then it just progresses into a song. When we get everything laid down and the song is done, that's when I step in and start putting melody lines on top and writing the lyrics. Then we go into the studio to get it on tape. It's just the way we work, it's easier that way.

You guys produced "Mirror" yourselves, and I'm wondering if over the years--no disrespect to Ross Robinson or Brendan O'Brien--has it been a gradual thing where you've thought, "I want to do this myself," especially since you're taking on different production projects?

Over the years as I've worked with--through Ross, Brendan, all the different producers that we've worked with--I'm like, "You know, yeah, I can do this." Producing is basically taking the material and getting it on tape.

Was "Untouchables" a template for the sound of the new album?

Yeah, that's true, because [on "Untouchables"] we tried every single thing you could do to make a record, and found the best way to do it. As we did that, it was great, and that showed us a template for recording. Not making music, but recording.

"Let's Do This Now" has this really cool intro with bagpipes, of all things. Now I heard you started with this in high school?

I went to Highland High School [Bakersfield, CA], and they had a pipe band there. I really wanted to learn how to play bagpipes, so I signed up for the pipe band. Self-taught, more than anything, but then I started going through some professional coaches. I actually competed in the games and stuff, got into it really heavy into it and then got into the band. And [the pipes] just sat. Then one day we were in a rehearsal studio and David told me to "pick those f---ers up" and that's when we did our first song, "Shoots and Ladders" [from their 1994 self-titled debut album]. At the time, everybody was freaking out about Korn, "I've never heard anything like this!" For me to walk off the stage, grab the bagpipes and come out playing them ...

... it doesn't get more punk than that.

No. It took it over the top.

Where did you guys film the video for "Y'All Want a Single"?

That was a Blockbuster that got sold, or whatever. We rented it out and put all those CDs in there and built the place out. The song was basically--we feel the record industry and entertainment industry in general is basically run by a couple of huge corporations that have monopolized everything. So the little guys and, in the end, the consumers get ripped off. Clear Channel owns 43% of all the radio stations, and all the venues we play. We're put in a position where, if we don't use Clear Channel, they'll drop our spins on the radio stations, they won't advertise our stuff. It's an unfair advantage. Same thing with record companies. They've been screwing artists and consumers over, for forever. The average price to press a CD is 50 cents. It's about $1.50 for everything. [And you sell it for] $25? Come on.

Kind of makes you happy you're still doing this after 10-plus years. You guys have hung tough.

Yeah. We're just taking a stance with, we did sell records, we do sell records, so they have to listen to us. So we make the records we want to make. We never had them come back and say, "Well, this is the kind of record we want to put out." That didn't fly with us. Now we're getting ready to do a greatest hits and we're off Sony, so we're free agents. And we're not going to sign to another major label; we're just going to do it ourselves. It's time for a new business model.

Music, I think, in general, totally sucks. Corporate rock now is all this pop-punk stuff that's about nothing. Nothing's dangerous anymore. Nothing has any meaning, and that's why it's not selling. Hip-hop really sells a lot because that stuff is dangerous, and it's great; it's music. [sighs] It's just an ailing business.