Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch recently took to social media to show his appreciation for alternative metal peers Deftones.
In a newly uploaded video, the guitarist is seen wearing a collaborative Deftones and Dickies throwback shirt, a design that was officially resurrected by the band last autumn. During the clip, Brian “Head” Welch also plays a short acoustic cover of the double-platinum 1997 Deftones single, “My Own Summer (Shove It)“.
The footage concludes with Brian “Head” Welch spending time with Israel Arvizu, the son of retired Korn bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu. Israel Arvizu is currently the bassist for the nu-metal group PlaYuH.
The public show of support highlights a positive shift, given the well-documented historical rift between the two bands. While Korn and Deftones were closely associated and toured together frequently in the 1990s, tensions arose following the release of the 2000 Deftones album, White Pony. In an effort to distance themselves from the nu-metal categorization, Deftones deliberately separated themselves from acts like Korn and Limp Bizkit.
In 2017, Brian “Head” Welch openly discussed the separation and specifically referenced Deftones vocalist and guitarist Chino Moreno.
“Chino, Chino don’t like Korn or any of us man. He won’t tour with Korn ’cause we’re not cool enough for him.”
He further elaborated in the same interview:
“I think they [Deftones] got too cool for us somewhere down the line. No but, he just said some stuff recently in the press and it got out there that [he wouldn’t tour with Korn] and then all these fans hit him and said [Welch made an angry expression] so the next day he was like ‘I love Korn, I want to tour with them next year.’”
While the proposed joint tour never materialized, members from both groups have been seen socializing together in the years following the 2017 interview, indicating that the professional tensions have cooled behind the scenes.
