KORN’s RAY LUZIER: Why I Moved From Los Angeles To Nashville

BLABBERMOUTH.NET

In a new interview with the "Drum Candy" podcast, KORN drummer Ray Luzier explained his decision to relocate his family to Franklin, Tennessee nearly a decade ago. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I moved [to the Nashville area] — June, it'll be eight years here, which is nuts, 'cause I'm still in a band based in Bakersfield, California. I always joke with people, 'I have a two-thousand-mile commute to work.' "When Head [KORN guitarist Brian Welch] rejoined the band in 2013, I said to him first thing, 'cause he lived out here [in Nashville], and I said, 'When are you gonna move back to Cali?' And he said, 'I'll never live in L.A.' And I said, 'How are you gonna be in the band?' And he was, like, 'There's airports and Internet, isn't there?' And right at the time, [my wife and I] had just had our first kid; it was almost three years into it. And I was thinking to myself, 'Man…' 'Cause my wife never really got L.A. And I was, like, 'Man, I wonder if we can get out of here,' if it was feasible enough. So I got permission from the band." Luzier, who was raised just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before moving to Los Angeles in 1988 to pursue a career in music, added: "Jon [KORN singer Jonathan Davis] is really adamant about stuff on the cuff, like, 'Ray, come up here. Drive up to [Bakersfield]. I've got this idea. Play drums on it and drive back down.' It was a two-hour commute for me when I lived in L.A. This only happened a few times where I've had to jump on a plane the next day and go out there. But for the most part, [Head] is right. We meet at the airport. If we do a European tour, we meet at the airport. If we do a record, we all meet in Bakersfield. I have a four-hour flight. That's nothing to me; I live on airplanes." Luzier married his longtime girlfriend, model Aspen Brandy Lea, in June 2016. The nuptials took place at the Keys Creek Lavender Farm in Valley Center, California in a "totally private" ceremony attended only by the couple's two sons, now-11-year-old Hudson Ray and six-year-old Beck Jagger. Luzier and his wife started dating in 2009 after she interviewed him while on assignment for Rivalry Nights. It was one of his first interviews as a member of KORN, having spent the initial two years of his tenure with the group as a session drummer. Ray lived in Los Angeles for 16 years before moving to Nashville. KORN's latest album, "Requiem", was released on February 4 via Loma Vista Recordings. The LP was produced by Chris Collier and KORN. "Requiem" entered Billboard's Hard Rock Albums chart at No. 1. The band sold 23,000 equivalent album units in the February 4-10 tracking week, according to Billboard. Of that sum, 20,000 units are from album sales. "Requiem" also landed at No. 2 on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts. On the all-format Billboard 200, it arrived at No. 14. KORN kicked off a short run of shows with SYSTEM OF A DOWN on January 31 in Phoenix, followed by dates in San Diego (February 1) and Los Angeles (February 4 and February 5). KORN's headlining tour with CHEVELLE and CODE ORANGE will launch March 4.