'Got the Life'

By CHRIS PAGE, Californian staff writer
e-mail: cpage@bakersfield.com

Sunday November 10, 2002, 12:00:00 AM

In recent years, the band has taken the advice of its management and financial advisers, who have told the musicians to diversify their income opportunities.

Like other megastar artists with an influx of fast cash and a new spot on the Internal Revenue Service's 50 percent tax bracket, Korn's members turned to investments to help protect from the instability of the fickle pop music world.

Welch, the most fiscally responsible of the bunch, bought real estate.

Davis accepted work scoring the soundtrack for the horror movie "Queen of the Damned," which was released to lukewarm reviews in 2002. His soundtrack was Kornish, with more of an electronic edge.

Arvizu Jr. released an album of hip-hop tunes based on backing tracks mostly purchased from successful rap producers along with his own stale rapped lines about smoking marijuana and living the gangsta lifestyle. Critics panned the album (Rolling Stone wrote, "The good news: It's only 40 minutes long.") and sales were miniscule.

Silveria, meanwhile, opened his own sushi restaurant in Los Angeles.

"When you're in a band for so long, you want to keep yourself sane, so you go off and do other things," Davis told The Californian.

In 1998, Davis did just that, after getting advice from his father.

"I told him, 'Who makes more money than you?' " Rick Davis said, "and he said, 'The I.R.S.' And I said, 'No, more than that ... the record company. They make six bucks for every dollar you make.' "

Soon after, Korn and The Firm opened its own label, Elementree Records. The label functioned as a boutique of sorts whereby Korn could find an act it liked, connect it with a willing record company and then earn profits from the band's subsequent album sales.

Davis has since said that he earns more money per Elementree album that he does on Korn's own releases.

The first act signed to Elementree was Orgy, an alternative-metal act including former SexArt guitarist Shuck. The group released its debut album, "Candyass," on Reprise Records in '98 and earned a hit with its cover of New Order's "Blue Monday." The album went platinum.

The next group signed was Videodrone, a band based around the players in Bakersfield's Cradle of Thorns. The group released a self-titled album, produced by Arvizu Jr., in 1999 on Reprise. Videodrone tapped into Korn's resources by getting Davis and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst to guest-sing on the album.

Davis even helped finance the band's video for a song called "Ty Jonathan Down," paying $30,000 of his own money toward the production.

But the project was not successful, even after a tour with Rob Zombie and Korn in 1999.

"We were thrown to the wolves ...," Videodrone singer Elam said. "Elementree and Korn were so busy with their thing, they didn't have a lot of time for the label. But they hoped the bands they signed would be treated fairly."

Ultimately, the album didn't recoup the $500,000 it cost to make, and Videodrone was dropped from its label.

These days, Davis and Korn are taking a more active role in Elementree Records. It bought a state-of-the-art recording studio and Davis is producing acts himself. The most recent act is rapper Marz, who is slated to release a debut album in January. During a recent recording session, Davis phoned his father and asked him to come down to lay down keyboard tracks.

"We had one of the most incredible afternoons," Rick Davis said. "The roles changed. Suddenly, he was the one behind the glass and I was the one taking orders."

He's credited on the album as "Pops Davis."

Click here to continue to "More money, more problems"