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Coldplay – Adventure Of A Lifetime (Official video)

Mostly, it’s business as usual, with more programming. Just two minutes and 20 seconds into the opening, title track, we find the first anthemic “oh-woah”, something of a Coldplay trademark; the kind of thing that has helped sell them in non-anglophone markets. Coldplay’s USP has always been epic consolation, and so it proves here once again on the final track, Up & Up, a singalong that’s hard to resist.

The reinventions just aren’t brave enough. A promised pop takeover by Stargate never quite materialises on Everglow – another Coldplay piano ballad, remarkable for being about the split and featuring Gwyneth Paltrow on backing vocals. If you are the kind of person who shares Facebook posts of inspirational quotes, there’s Kaleidoscope – an interlude featuring a Rumi poem about mindful acceptance, followed up by a snippet of President Obama singing Amazing Grace at the funeral of South Carolina state senator Clementa Pinckney. A poignant touch, but hardly the stuff of dreams.

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Sports Files with Geoff Calkins – April 24, 2012

How Jimmy Sexton became college football’s ultimate power broker

SOMEWHERE HIGH ABOVE Mississippi, the super agent some call the most powerful man in college football is simultaneously clutching his knee with his left hand and an armrest with his right. His eyes are tightly closed.

Jimmy Sexton is riding in a King Air 200, which bounces like a yo-yo through heavy turbulence from a slow-moving thunderstorm. He opens his eyes and shouts at the two pilots in the cockpit.

“Hey, guys, is it going to be like this [the] whole way?” Sexton asks them.

“We hope not,” one of them says. “We’re trying to climb higher to get above it.”

“How long have we been in the air?” Sexton asks out loud to no one in particular.

It had been only 14 minutes.

“Great,” Sexton says. “This is going to be great for your story. The guy whocontrols everything is freaking out at 18,000 feet.”

Indeed, the short flight from Oxford, Mississippi, to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the late afternoon on Nov. 7 is one of the rare occasions in which Sexton, the agent behind the careers of many of college football’s most successful coaches, doesn’t seem completely in control.

BEFORE THIS COLLEGE football regular season ended, there were more than a dozen head-coaching openings, including Power 5 jobs at schools such as Miami, Missouri, South Carolina, USC and Virginia Tech. A handful of other jobs opened as soon as the regular season ended, including Georgia, Rutgers and Virginia, in what might be the most active firing-and-hiring season in recent college football history.

While there’s uneasiness at football offices from coast to coast, the one certainty is that the decision-makers at many of them will have Sexton on speed dial. He’s the go-between for many coaches and the athletic directors who want to hire them.

In many ways, Sexton drives the marketplace when it comes to college football coaches. With a roster so deep, there’s a good chance some of his clients are going to be fired and others are going to be hired — sometimes for the same job.

Sexton is the co-head of the football division of Creative Artists Agency, which represents more than 100 professional players and more than 50 FBS coaches. He personally reps more than a dozen FBS coaches, including Alabama’s Nick Saban, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher and UCLA’s Jim Mora.

That’s why he is considered one of the most powerful people in the sport, even if the 52-year-old single father of three sons doesn’t like the label very much.

“I don’t really understand it,” Sexton said. “I don’t try to be influential. I just try to build good relationships. In this business, it’s all about the relationships you have with your clients and the people who are hiring them.”

Earlier this year, Forbes estimated that Sexton has negotiated about $742.5 million in contracts for NFL players and college coaches, earning about $24.8 million in commissions (the industry average is about 3 to 4 percent). He recently negotiated huge deals for NFL clients including Philip Rivers, Ndamukong Suh and Julio Jones.

“He’s never pissed anybody off,” Saban said. “He’s always done great for me, and I really appreciate it. Not once has somebody been upset about the negotiations. You really don’t want to ruin relationships over those kinds of things.”

Sexton always seems to be on top of everything happening in the coaching world, even if he is rarely in one place for very long. His iPhone is constantly in his hand and his voice mailbox always seems to be full when he doesn’t answer. He has probably accumulated more than one million frequent-flyer miles since football season kicked off in early September.

“He doesn’t slow down,” Malzahn said. “The great thing about Jimmy is that he’s wide awake if you call him at 6 a.m. and he’s wide awake if you call him at 1 a.m. He’s always there.”

Last Saturday, Sexton had clients on opposite sidelines in three of the sport’s biggest rivalries: Alabama (Saban) vs. Auburn (Malzahn), Florida (Jim McElwain) vs. Florida State (Fisher) and UCLA (Mora) vs. USC (Clay Helton).

In those games, Sexton says it’s hard to cheer for one team.

“I think sometimes if you catch yourself rooting for a guy, you’re rooting for the guy who needs it most,” Sexton said. “It’s hard. It’s good for your business, but sometimes they’re beating each other.

“In a perfect world for business, you’d want them all to win enough to where they’d get new deals, but it doesn’t work out that way.”

Sexton works closely with CAA agents Trace Armstrong — who represents Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and Penn State’s James Franklin — and Walker Jones in managing the firm’s college coaches. They oversee a handful of other junior agents and about 30 employees in offices in Atlanta, Memphis and Nashville.

As the dominoes started to fall in recent days, Sexton was right in the middle of the action, landing the two premier jobs for two of his clients. Helton, who has a 6-2 record in two stints as USC’s interim coach, landed the Trojans’ job, and Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart was tabbed by Georgia to replace Mark Richt, who was fired after 15 seasons. The two biggest openings in the country were filled by clients who had never before been permanent head coaches.

Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, another Sexton client who was fired as Florida’s head coach last year, is a candidate for the South Carolina job.

“People talk about how we’re going to make so much money because there are so many open jobs and we’re going to move our people around,” Sexton said. “I don’t look at it like that. I look at it like there are going to be a bunch of schools open, and we’re going to place our clients at the best places for them to succeed. That’s really what it’s all about.”

Some of Sexton’s clients are already trying to land the same jobs. For example, Indianapolis Colts associate head coach Rob Chudzinski is a candidate at Miami, along with former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano and former Hurricanes coach Butch Davis, both Sexton clients.

In many ways, Sexton’s role as adviser to so many coaches seems like a walking contradiction.

“If a job came open and another one of Jimmy’s guys was up for it, I don’t think he has the power to tell an athletics director, ‘Here’s your guy,'” said Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, who is represented by Sexton. “You have to think that he wouldn’t push one over the other and would push both equally.”

SOMETIMES, THE TOPSY-TURVY world of college football puts Sexton in uncomfortable situations. In some instances, he has been accused of having too much influence, as well as having the ability to pull too many strings behind the scenes.

Last year, for instance, Florida fired Muschamp, a Sexton client, and replaced him with McElwain, a Sexton client, then used Sexton’s expertise in negotiating McElwain’s $7 million buyout at Colorado State, a complicated process that included the scheduling of a future game between the schools as compensation. The Gators then paid Muschamp a $6.3 million buyout for the remaining four years on his contract and watched as Sexton landed Muschamp a deal as the defensive coordinator at Auburn for $1.6 million a year, making him the highest-paid assistant in the country.

“Obviously, Jimmy was Will’s agent and he’s Mac’s agent, but he didn’t push Jim McElwain on us,” Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said. “It’s our job to find the coaches. It’s not Jimmy Sexton’s job. The University of Florida is hiring its coaches, and if they work out great or don’t work out, it’s on us. It’s on nobody else. It’s on me.

“In my dealings with Jimmy, the bottom line is I find him trustable. When he tells you something, it’s the truth. Obviously, he’s an agent and he does what he does. … He’s been a straight shooter and I respect him for that.”

But that wasn’t the extent of Sexton’s involvement.

Freeze was also one of the Gators’ top targets — until he signed a four-year contract extension that boosted his salary from $3 million to $4.5 million annually to stay with the Rebels.

Another example of Sexton’s clout: In 2013, with Mack Brown on the hot seat at Texas, Sexton took a 45-minute phone call with former Texas Regent Tom Hicks and current Regent Wallace Hall Jr. about Saban’s interest in replacing Brown. According to e-mails obtained by the Associated Press in November of that year, Sexton told the Texas officials that Saban would consider leaving Alabama for Texas and that coaching the Crimson Tide had put Saban under “special pressure.”

“I don’t hire the coach. I’ve never hired a coach. Contrary to what people might believe, I never hired a coach at Tennessee.”

Agent Jimmy Sexton, a Tennessee alum.

Saban, who said he was unaware of the meeting, dismissed the idea that he’d leave Alabama and joked that he was too old to start over at another school.

But even so, when Texas eventually fired Brown, Sexton was able to negotiate new contracts for Saban, Fisher, Malzahn and Mora at their current schools after they were linked as potential candidates to coach the Longhorns.

At one point, Tennessee (Sexton’s alma mater) hired three of his clients consecutively. Sexton represented former Volunteers coach Phillip Fulmer, who guided UT to a 1998 national championship and was fired after the 2008 season. Then-UT athletics director Mike Hamilton hired Kiffin to replace Fulmer. Hamilton then hired Derek Dooley when Kiffin bolted for USC after only one season with the Volunteers in 2009.

“I don’t hire the coach. I’ve never hired a coach,” Sexton said. “Contrary to what people might believe, I never hired a coach at Tennessee.

“I remember the Lane Kiffin deal like it was yesterday. They let Fulmer go and there was a two- or three-week gap in between. Mike Hamilton called me and said, ‘I need to go talk to somebody. I can’t go talk to anybody for two or three more weeks because everybody is still playing. Who can I go talk to?’ I told him to fly Lane Kiffin to Atlanta and talk to him there. They hired him and the rest is history.”

While Sexton has some influence in which coaches are hired, he doesn’t have much say in whether they’ll succeed. Some of his clients, such as Saban, have been wildly successful, while others such as Dooley and recently fired Rutgers coach Kyle Flood struggled.

“Bill Parcells used to say to me that they don’t sell insurance for this business,” Sexton said. “In other words, you can’t insure success. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Because many of Sexton’s clients compete against one another, he often toes a fine line in regards to what he divulges from his conversations with them. Some of the information his clients share with him might be considered state secrets.

For instance, Sexton was told earlier this season that quarterback Jake Coker wasn’t going to start against Ole Miss on Sept. 19, a decision Saban didn’t tell the media. When Sexton talked to Freeze later in the week, he couldn’t tell him that Crimson Tide backup Cooper Bateman was going to start.

“I’ve been with the guy since 1997 and never once have I felt like I couldn’t trust him with anything,” Saban said. “Anything I’ve ever told him or asked him, even though he represents a lot of guys, I still think I can trust the guy. He never tells me anything about the other guys, and I never ask him. I never put him in that situation. He’s never, ever told me something that I thought I shouldn’t know about somebody else. That’s why you can trust him.”

In the end, both Crimson Tide quarterbacks played in a 43-37 loss to the Rebels, which was Alabama’s only defeat of the regular season.

“I would never expect — and nor would he — ever cross that line,” Freeze said. “I’m totally confident that he would protect anything that I share with him, as he would with his other clients.”

ACTING LIKE SWITZERLAND in many of the sport’s fiercest rivalries isn’t exactly easy. On Nov. 6, the day before Sexton watched a pair of his coaches lead their teams in two of the biggest SEC games of the season, he flew home to Memphis after spending 10 consecutive days on the road.

When Sexton is away, a full-time nanny and assistant manage his house and help care for his two younger sons, Parker, 18, who is headed to the University of Texas on a golf scholarship, and Blake, 14. His oldest son, James III, 20, is a sophomore at Ole Miss.

Sexton is constantly juggling his sons’ activities, along with the needs of his clients. This week, for instance, Sexton was working on job openings while also attending three of his youngest son’s basketball games. When his sons were growing up, he often attended their Pop Warner football games in the morning, and then they jumped on a plane with him to attend a college football game.

“It’s amazing how he juggles everything and cares for his boys,” said Colorado’s Mike MacIntyre, one of Sexton’s clients. “That’s what makes me feel good about him. I trust him a ton, but I even trust him more when I see how he is with his boys.”

After returning from his extended business trip, Sexton planned to spend a rare night at home. He lives in the suburbs of Memphis on an expansive property he shares with the parents of former Alabama and current Chicago Bears offensive lineman Barrett Jones.

But while driving to a restaurant in Memphis, a friend of Sexton’s called from Oxford and urged him to come there for dinner. Sexton had planned to drive to Ole Miss the next morning to watch the Rebels play Arkansas before flying to watch the Crimson Tide play.

After a five-minute phone call, Sexton pulled a U-turn on Poplar Avenue in his Range Rover and headed back to his house. After packing an overnight bag and calling his nanny to make sure she’d be there to care for his chocolate lab, Shaq, he made the 70-mile drive to Oxford.

Soon, Sexton was having dinner with a few close friends at a trendy new restaurant on the square. He mingled with Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy, the Ole Miss grads made famous in the movie “The Blind Side.” A few minutes later, Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, one of Sexton’s most famous clients and a close friend, stopped by his table to say hello.

Early Saturday, Sexton attended parents’ weekend at his son’s Ole Miss fraternity, purchased a pullover jacket for his youngest son and even took a telephone call from a Power 5 athletic director looking for a new head coach.

He then spent a few hours in the Ole Miss football offices, where he watched Florida struggle to beat Vanderbilt 9-7 to win the SEC East, which, as part of McElwain’s contract, earned the coach a $37,500 bonus in his first season. Then Sexton watched the Rebels play the Hogs from Freeze’s suite at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Sexton kept one eye on the TV, watching Fisher’s Florida State team stay close with No. 1 Clemson before the Tigers eventually won the game, 23-13.

Former NFL and USC defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, whose son, Chris, is the Rebels’ defensive line coach, also watched the game from Freeze’s suite. It was his first time watching the Rebels play in person. When Kiffin mentioned that he’d never watched Alabama play in person, either, Sexton offered him a seat on his plane and a chance to go watch Lane Kiffin, Monte’s oldest son, as well as a return flight after the game.

On the phone before the game, Sexton had jokingly asked Freeze to make sure his team was ahead by three touchdowns at halftime so he wouldn’t miss Alabama’s kickoff. Instead, the Rebels and Razorbacks were tied at 17 at the half when he left the stadium. Once the plane landed in Tuscaloosa more than an hour later, the Hogs and Rebels were deadlocked at 31 heading into the fourth quarter.

After the plane landed on the rain-slicked runway at Tuscaloosa Regional Airport, Sexton and his party climbed into a pickup truck. His son Blake and his friend, who also attended the SEC doubleheader, noticed a gun rack — complete with guns — on the truck’s ceiling.

“Don’t worry,” the driver told them. “They’re not loaded.”

Welcome to Tuscaloosa.

A few minutes later, Sexton was behind the wheel of a rental car, hoping to beat traffic to watch the end of the Ole Miss game. Sexton used several side streets to avoid the crowds on Paul W. Bryant Drive and pulled into a parking space adjacent to Bryant-Denny Stadium.

He was able to watch the end of the Ole Miss game in the North Field Suites. Arkansas tight end Hunter Henry caught a pass on fourth-and-25 and wildly lateraled over his head to tailback Alex Collins, who ran 31 yards for a first down. Meanwhile, Sexton’s assistant, Autumn Clark, was hiding under a table, unable to watch the dramatic ending. Clark played basketball for Freeze in high school and also worked for him at Ole Miss until Sexton hired her.

She might have been the only person in Bryant-Denny Stadium who wasn’t cheering when Arkansas upset Ole Miss 53-52 in overtime. The Razorbacks’ victory meant Alabama would win the SEC West if it won its final three conference games.

Sexton spent the next three hours watching the Crimson Tide dismantle then-No. 2 LSU 30-16 from a luxury suite. He spent much of the night talking to Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, with whom he’s worked on NFL deals in the past. Sexton also showed plenty of interest in a game on one of the TVs: Auburn and Malzahn were upsetting Texas A&M and Sumlin 26-10 on the road. The Tigers were coming off back-to-back losses and desperately needed a victory.

“We need a couple of our guys to rebound,” Sexton said.

Just before midnight, Sexton made his way through the crowd to wait outside Alabama’s locker room, where he greeted Kiffin and Smart as they made their way off the field. Sexton would have to wait a while to see Saban, who spent more than an hour mingling with recruits and filming his weekly TV show.

Sexton sometimes avoids seeing coaches after games, especially if two of his clients were coaching against each other.

“I don’t love going to the games where I have both coaches,” Sexton said.

SEXTON WASN’T EVEN an agent when he helped negotiate his first deal. He was a 20-year-old equipment manager at Tennessee in 1983, when Volunteers defensive end Reggie White was considered one of the premier prospects in the draft. During a walk-through practice at the Citrus Bowl, two men in trench coats approached Sexton. One of them was Pepper Rodgers, coach of the Memphis Showboats of the up-and-coming United States Football League, and the other was Robert Fraley, an agent. They knew Sexton and White were close friends and shared a dorm suite at UT.

“It was like a scene out of a movie,” Sexton said.

“Do you know how much money Lawrence Taylor makes in the NFL?” Fraley asked Sexton.

“He’s a great player,” Sexton said. “How much does he make?”

“He makes $400,000,” Fraley said. “He’s the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. We want you to go in there and tell Reggie White we’re going to offer him $1.5 million as soon as the game is over tomorrow night.”

Sexton ran into the locker room and found White.

“Big Dog, you’re about ready to get paid,” Sexton told him.

Later that night, Sexton and White discussed the deal in their hotel room. White told Sexton he’d been contacted by a few agents but didn’t know any of them. He asked Sexton to represent him.

The next day, Sexton called his father, a dentist in Memphis.

“Whatever you do, you better be careful,” his father told him.

After Tennessee defeated Maryland 30-23 in the Citrus Bowl, Rodgers and Fraley found Sexton on the sideline. They handed him a manila envelope that contained a USFL contract.

The next day, Sexton went home to Memphis for the Christmas holidays. Rodgers called him and asked him to invite White to the Liberty Bowl. White agreed to come to the game, but he wanted a date with actress Vanessa Williams, who was singing the national anthem. Their prospective romance ended after a short conversation in a skybox. The date never happened.

Rodgers and Fraley sent Sexton to the Hula Bowl, a college football all-star game in Hawaii, to keep a close eye on White. When Sexton arrived at his hotel, a man approached him in the lobby. The man told Sexton to leave White alone, which Sexton believed was a warning from the NFL.

Eventually, White decided to sign a five-year, $4 million contract with the Showboats, and Sexton had an attorney finalize the deal. White played two seasons in Memphis before the USFL collapsed in 1985, and then he signed a four-year, $1.85 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, who held his NFL rights.

“I started to think it was a viable business,” Sexton said.

“Most of these guys can do anything. Nick Saban could run General Motors. He just happens to be a football coach.”

Jimmy Sexton

After finishing his final year at Tennessee in 1984, Sexton planned to attend law school. But Don Kessinger, a former MLB shortstop, and Kyle Rote Jr., a former pro soccer player, offered Sexton a position at their fledgling sports agency. One of Sexton’s first clients was Scottie Pippen, a budding basketball star from Central Arkansas.

Sexton represented NBA players for about 10 years before transitioning to work full-time with NFL players and coaches. His first coaching client was then-Ole Miss coach Tommy Tuberville. He asked Sexton to examine his contract, and Sexton negotiated a clause into the deal that made it easier for Tuberville to leave if the school’s chancellor or athletics director left. In 1999, Tuberville left for Auburn — shortly after he said he’d leave Ole Miss in a “pine box” — and had to pay the Rebels only a $100,000 buyout.

One of the biggest breaks in Sexton’s career came amid tragedy in 1999. Fraley, who had approached Sexton at the Citrus Bowl more than 15 years earlier, died in the same plane accident that also killed PGA golfer Payne Stewart. Fraley represented New York Jets coach Bill Parcells, who soon hired Sexton as his agent. Parcells liked how Sexton negotiated contracts for a handful of players who signed with the Jets.

“Parcells had a huge impact on me, probably more than any other guy in the business,” Sexton said. “He was very much a mentor to me as far as convincing me that this was a huge business. He would tell me, ‘Jimmy, you don’t get it. The players’ business is great, but the coaching side is where nobody is and there’s a huge need for it.’ He really pushed me that way.”

Sexton then landed another big client when Saban hired him to negotiate his contract when he left Michigan State for LSU after the 1999 season. Current NCAA president Mark Emmert, then the LSU chancellor, was on the other end of the negotiating table.

“I remember when I asked Mark Emmert for $1.2 million for Nick Saban in 1999,” Sexton said. “It’s all I could do to hold a straight face. It really was. When he said yes, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh!’

“That’s not even competitive anymore.”

At a Final Four press conference in 2009, the late Myles Brand, Emmert’s predecessor as NCAA president, questioned schools’ roles in skyrocketing salaries being offered to coaches.

“You have to ask some very hard questions, whether this is really in tune with the academic values, whether we’ve reached a point already that these high salaries and packages for coaches has really extended beyond what’s expected within the academic community,” Brand said.

But Sexton said the market is what has driven the rise in compensation.

“Most of these guys can do anything,” Sexton said. “Nick Saban could run General Motors. He just happens to be a football coach.”

This season, Saban is college football’s highest-paid coach, earning more than $7 million in base salary and outside income.

Sexton negotiated that deal, of course, just like he did when he helped the Crimson Tide land Saban in January 2007. Two years after guiding LSU to the 2003 BCS national championship, Saban left to coach the Miami Dolphins. His two mediocre seasons in the NFL ramped up speculation that Saban would return to college football.

After repeatedly being asked about the Crimson Tide’s opening, Saban famously told reporters, “I guess I have to say it: I’m not going to be the Alabama coach.”

But Sexton had been talking to then-Alabama athletics director Mal Moore behind the scenes. When the Dolphins’ season ended, Moore flew to South Florida. However, Saban refused to meet with him. After spending a couple of days in a hotel room a block from Saban’s house, Moore called Sexton out of desperation.

“Jimmy, we’ve been talking about this for a month,” Moore said. “He won’t even meet with me. We’ve got to make this happen.”

“Mal, just be patient with him,” Sexton said. “You’ve got to hang in there. Do notget on that plane and go back to Tuscaloosa.”

“Don’t worry,” Moore said. “I’m taking this plane to Cuba if Nick Saban isn’t on it.”

The next day, Saban met with Moore and agreed to take the Alabama job.

“Before I ever went to Miami, Jimmy told me, ‘You’ve got to make a decision, man. Is your legacy going to be as a college coach or do you want to take the next step and take a challenge?'” Saban said. “I think he saw after I was in Miami for two years that I was a little frustrated.”

Now in his ninth season at Alabama, Saban has won three national championships and has the Crimson Tide on the brink of reaching the College Football Playoff for the second straight year.

Sexton figures to have his hands in many of the high-profile decisions that are about to be made for schools hoping to land another coach who can be a difference-maker.

FANS WON’T SEE the man working the deals in the background, and Sexton wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The people that think he desires attention or wants it don’t know him at all,” Freeze said. “He’d rather be in a corner unnoticed than to be talked about in that light.”

Sexton is not out front in press conferences announcing the contracts he negotiated. Instead, he prefers for his clients to receive the attention. In fact, a Google images search returns few photographs of him.

“I try to stay back in the weeds,” Sexton said. “Where I see coaches and players have problems is when the agent tries to become part of the show. You’re an agent. You’re only trying to facilitate something for your client, and that’s your job. It’s not to say, ‘Hey, look, I’m Jimmy Sexton.’ I think my clients like the fact that I don’t try to find attention. I want to be the exact opposite of what the stereotype is of an agent.”

But, like on that plane headed for Tuscaloosa, Sexton can’t control everything. As his influence has been felt across the college landscape, his reputation precedes him.

After he wandered onto the field after Saban’s Crimson Tide defeated Georgia 32-28 in the 2012 SEC championship game, fans celebrated the man who brought them the title. Or at least brought them the coach who delivered it.

A chant began to echo across the Alabama student section.

“Jim-my Sex-ton! Jim-my Sex-ton!”

He couldn’t find an exit soon enough

Related posts:

Brian Welch of Korn and his Christian conversion  and deliverance from drugs Part 4

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Korn – Did my time

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Brian ‘Head’ Welch: ‘Life Is About Drugs And Mistakes’
artist: Brian Welch	date: 11/21/2011	category: interviews

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When Brian “Head” Welch crawled out of Korn in 2005 he was addicted to drugs and an alcoholic. He finally pulled himself together and in 2008 released Save Me From Myself, a solo album full of dark synths, epic-length songs and tunes all sung by Head himself. Now three years later Welch has returned to the studio to record his follow-up album [maybe an EP]. “Paralyzed” is the first single from the upcoming record and it is a brutal vision punctuated by the staccato guitars Head made famous in Korn. The vocals rise to nasty growls and descend into melodic passages revealing how capable the ex-Kornman is as a vocalist. It has not been an easy road. Sober now for many years, Head looks back at his first solo album, his time with Korn and reflects on those moments with a clear head. He was unabashedly open in this conversation and didn’t try to cover up the things he’d done with smoke and mirrors. As further testament to his newfound sense of professionalism, he called precisely at 1:30 p.m. for our interview. The phone rang, I picked it up and someone on the other end said, “Hi, this is Ed.” I said, “Oh, man, I’m sorry I’m waiting for a call from Brian Welch. Could you please hang up?” There was a laugh on the other end. “This is Head.” The connection wasn’t great and I thought the voice had uttered, “Ed.” He had a laugh and we jumped into the dialog. UG: You left Korn in 2005 and didn’t record Save Me From Myself, your first solo album until 2008. What were you doing for those three years? Brian Welch: First of all I wanted to focus on my life and what I was doing and Who am I now? I was a single father so I was taking care of that. I was working on music off and on and I also wrote a book in 2006 and the whole year I spent writing my autobiography [Save Me From Myself]. So that kept me busy and just doin’ the everyday dad stuff, the school, and that stuff. When did you seriously start thinking about putting together your first solo album? I was thinkin’ about it since ’05 since right when I left but it wasn’t nothin’ in a rush. It just kinda took its time and then it finally was done. Like I was happy with it and it was good enough to release for ’08 and that’s just kinda when it all came together. Were any of the songs that ended up on Save Me From Myself stuff you had written for Korn? I wrote it after I left the band and it was more like an experimental album and there a lot of songs were about my life change and everything. Just being fed up with the party and stuff like that; it was for that time period. In what ways was the album experimental? It was my first one so I was experimenting with like singing and all kinds of stuff. There’s one nine-minute song on the album and a lot of five- and six-minute songs. There was just like stuff we [Korn] would never do like before. I experimented with string sounds a lot of keyboard synth sounds and we never did that. So it was just like one of those albums I just wanted to do new stuff. You brought in Josh Freese on drums and Tony Levin on basswere you looking for something special in a rhythm section? Yeah, totally. My manager at the time knew those people and stuff and so it just kind of clicked and it just happened. And it was fun to see these legends in there tearin’ it up on my stuff. It was good times.

“With the Korn guys we were all family but we were dysfunctional and we were drunk the whole time.“

You used a rhythm guitarist on the albumArchie J. Muise, Jr.but did you play most of the guitars on Save Me From Myself? Yeah, totally. I did a lot of em but Archie came in and he was nailin’ some stuff better than me on some of the rhythms so I was like, You need to record some stuff. But I did most of it. In Korn, you and Munky did all the guitars together. How different was it being the sole guitar player in the band? Yeah, it was different. It was more on my plate that I had to come up with the stuff like that. Sure, with the Korn guys we were all family but we were dysfunctional and we were drunk the whole time. So it was good to get away from the craziness but I sure missed havin’ someone to collaborate with like that but it was cool. It was new and exciting so I just went for it. You talk about Korn being drunk pretty much all the time. How was the band able to function in the studio if everyone was drinking? We wouldn’t get wasted while we were recording. We’d wake up, most likely have a hangover and stuff like that, and just kinda wake up, eat and just start recording. And not really start drinkin’ til after; we would keep it together. Certainly one of the experimental aspects of Save Me From Myself was you being the lead singer. Were you influenced by watching Jonathan Davis record all those years? Yeah, totally. Some of the stuff where I’m singin’ now, I’m not the best singer so you know how Jonathan sounds sick sometimes when he sings? He sounds disturbed. And so, yeah, I get a lot of that dark sound like that. It just kinda goes with the style that we do. I learned a lot watchin’ him and a lot of the other bands like the Deftones and Tool and stuff like that. Had you done much singing in Korn? I did some screams and I did a couple backups live but I didn’t do a lot on the records except for the early records like the first two. You knew you wanted to be the singer on your album? Yeah, the reason being I wanted to speak about stuff I went through and I didn’t want another person to do that. It would be weird so yeah, I wanted to try it. I always admired vocalists and it was a cool thing for me to try and do. It was awesome. Flush was the first single from Save Me From Myself. Was that song chosen specifically to sort of introduce Head musically post-Korn? Yeah, and some of the other songs were more spiritual sounding you know. I wanted to release one that was more like just rockin’ and just talkin’ about getting sick of being sick. Steven Tyler said once, I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. That’s kinda what the song’s about and so I thought it would be a good choice to come out with. The video was pretty heavy. Were you concerned about alienating some of your fans? I wanted to do somethin’ visual; I wanted to do a video but I didn’t have my band picked out yet so it was just me. We just did what we could with it. It was pretty heavy but that’s the life. We did interviews with some ex-drug addicts and strippers and all these messed up lives so we just built the video around that. We got some actresses and it was a little heavy but I think it was meant to be for the time. Bob Clearmountain mixed Save Me From Myself. How did you come to work with him? Again that was a manager call. He’s very like well known and everything but I’d never heard of him. My manager was a fan of him and I heard of the artists he’d worked with [Bruce Springsteen; The Rolling Stones; Bon Jovi] and I said, Heck, yeah, let’s go get him. He only mixed four songs and then a friend of mine did the others. How did you feel about your guitar sounds on Save Me From Myself? They’re good and I liked em. I think I’m getting better sounds now on my new stuff. I like the sound of the new song Paralyzed that I put out. The Save Me From Myself record was cool and I had a lot of cool pedal effects and stuff that reminded me of some of the Korn stuff we used to do. But as far as rhythms and stuff I really like the tones we’re getting right now. Washed By Blood was the nine-minute song you mentioned earlier. That had synth strings and big walls of guitars and was a really different-sounding track. Yeah, totally. I just loved the melody and the strings and stuff and that’s how I was feeling back then. I was feeling like peace and I was feelin’ really good about the future. So that’s what came out and it was really good for the time. Is there a fine line between writing songs about your own life and having a lyric come across as too preachy or artificial? Yeah, totally and the new stuff is more about life. Not totally but you’ve got to live and learn. You know what I mean? Everybody warned me too and I was, I don’t care. I’m doing what I want. But I had to do everything in my time. You talked about getting better guitar sounds on the upcoming recorddid you also want to go a bit heavier than Save Me From Myself? Yeah, the producer Jasen Rauch wanted to pull that out of me. That song just came so quickly and he came to me with the idea and then we both worked on it. I’m really stoked on it; it’s really a lot of energy comes when we play live. I’ve been playing it live for a month and I’m really stoked on it. How did you come to work with Jasen Rauch? I signed on with Union Management, the Union Entertainment Group actually, and he’s one of their clients and I liked the band, Red. I liked their stuff so it was just a natural progress that we hooked up. Once we did it it just clicked and we had two songs in three days that I’m really just stoked on. So I’m hitting the studio and looking to finish an EP or an album by November 7th. Who are the musicians on the album? The guys in my band are Michael Valentine playing bass; Dan Johnson on the drums and J.R. is playing guitar too.

“I just want the best-sounding product so it’s all working better and it’s gonna be the best thing.“

Is this record taking a more band approach than the Save Me From Myself record where you tended to do a lot of it by yourself? Uh, yeah, we’ll track it all separately but it’s all different now because my solo album was all me and that’s how I wanted it to sound and I did that and it was cool and I’m glad. But this time I’m givin’ it to the producer and allowing him to produce me and write with other people. I just want the best-sounding product so it’s all working better and it’s gonna be the best thing. The writing has been going smoothly? Yeah, we’ll have a few done before this year is done; we’ll have like six or seven. Would you mind commenting on some of the Korn stuff? Yeah, no problem. The first Korn record was pretty important in the development of that type of music. When you were making Korn, did you have any idea of what you were creating? A little bit but there was no way no one could predict the impact it had. We knew that it was special and there was a couple people that came to the studio like this guy named McG who is a movie producer now who did Charlie’s Angels. He hadn’t done nothin’ when we met him and he was just a friend of one of the guys that we hooked up with through the record. He came and listened to it while we were recording and he was like, Dude, this stuff is gonna be huge and we’re like, What? You’re crazy. He said, It doesn’t sound like nothin’ out there and sure enough he was right. He did our videos and later on he blew up too and he’s doin’ movies now. Yeah, we knew we had something unique but we didn’t know it was gonna impact that hard. What was it like playing guitar with Munky on that first record? That was always when we were jammin’ in the studio. That was always live and we’d write the songs live. Nowadays it’s differentyou write it on computer and do that but back then it was just get in a room with a bunch of friends, get some beers and jam out. So that was how we did it and it was really fun back then. The first time an audience really heard Korn was with Blind, the first single. Was that a good representation of who the band were at that time? I think it’s really cool; it’s so different. Even now I play Blind in my set. I love some of the stuff we did and I play two or three songs in my set of Korn’s just because I like it and I’m proud of it. So that was a really cool song because it had a fat riff and the verses were really melodic and everything and a chorus that grooved. So I think it was a good introduction song to Korn fans. When you look at the Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 album, how does that collection of songs stand up for you today? Yeah, it’s a trip and it’s humbling. Just really stoked because there’s a lot of musicians out there that are better than us that are just rippers and are just so good. And for us to make it so successful it’s almost a crime. But we did have a unique sound and stuff like that but it’s just funny how we were just these dudes partying, having fun and making music and we just made it so big. I’m pretty thankful to be part of it. What do you remember about recording A.D.I.D.A.S.? Actually it’s funny cause I called in sick that day and they all wrote it without me. There’s like that one and Y’All Want A Single off a later record [Untouchables] and two others off later records that I wasn’t a part of cause I was sick and I didn’t come in. It was a drug sicknessI did drugs the night before and stuff like that so I lied to them at the time cause I didn’t want to feel like a loser [laughs]. I wasn’t a part of that song but I remember they wrote it and A.D.I.D.A.S. stands for all day I dream about sex and they were all reminiscing about their childhood and how they used to say that in school. So everybody was excited about that and I liked it and it was a really cool melody and the guitar part was pretty catchy. The nrr nrr nrr nrr nrr, that thing was catchy. Look In the Mirror album was your last record with Korn. As your final statement with them what do you think about the album? I was on drugs that whole recordI was on crystal methamphetamine. You asked earlier about the studio and I was really havin’ hard time in the studio then. I think that it shows. I think it’s lacking the production and I think it’s not good at all. It’s one of our least-selling records. There are a couple of okay songs but I just really don’t like the drum sounds. It wasn’t horrible or nothin’ but it’s just one of my least favorites and it was in my darkest times so I don’t think it held up as much. I wrote some stuff but I just wasn’t in my primeI was definitely lacking then. So eventually the drugs really did impact on the band. Yeah, totally. In the beginning it didn’t with the alcohol but the drugs took us all down later on in one way or another. It’s strange that bands don’t get into drugs until after they’ve become successful. You’d think that when a band is fighting to become successful is when the drugs and drinking would happen. It’s just a party and everyone wants to party with the band after the show. And everybody wants to go hang out with the girls and stuff and it’s a cycle that most bands go through. It’s pretty jacked up.

“There was no way no one could predict the impact the first Korn record had.“

If Korn hadn’t been pulled apart by drugs and you stayed with them, what kind of music do you think you’d be making now? I think everything happened the way it was meant to be so I don’t really think about that. I’m glad it happened actually because I got humbled by it and it taught me about what life is really aboutabout drugs and mistakes. Do you talk to any of the guys in Korn? Yeah, totally. Jonathan and Fieldy came and visited us at a solo show about a month ago but I haven’t seen the guitar player, Munky, though. I haven’t seen him or talked to him since ’05. I think there’s some bitterness on his part about that still but we got nothin’ but good vibes towards each other and we’re just doing our own thing. Did you hear any of the last Korn album? Yeah, there’s a couple songs I liked. They’re still doin’ it and I’m proud of em. I interviewed Munky a while ago and he really had nothing but positive things to say about you. Oh, that’s cool. He’s up and down you know. I went and hung out with Jonathan and stuff like that and I just heard about some comments he made because they were talking about us getting back together and stuff. I don’t wanna do thatI’m doin’ my solo stuff and I’m happy doin’ the smaller things that I’m doing. And I have no desire but I heard the comments saying that, I don’t wanna talk to him. We made four records without him. So he’s up and down a little but I think overall we’ve got nothin’ but love for each other. His bitterness about you leaving was probably because he was really hurt when you left. I totally agree with you. You’re finishing up your tour now? Yeah, we have one more show with the band, Red, and then we’re off into the studio for the next three months. I’ll be glad to get home. I’m so stokedI’ve got some good ideas and I’m just really excited to get some new stuff done. Dude, I’m like done playing these songs liveI need new material. I mean it’s ’08 and I’m tourin’ on these songs. I’ve got one single out, Paralyzed a month ago so I’m at my wits end. But I’ve been building up the fanbase and stuff like that so it’s a good time to get some new music. Interview by Steven Rosen Ultimate-Guitar.Com 2011

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Brian Welch of Korn and his Christian conversion  and deliverance from drugs Part 3

Brian Welch: From Korn to Jesus

Uploaded on Aug 22, 2008

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Korn guitarist Brian Welch speaks on God, sobriety

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NEIL BLAKE | nblake@mdn.netBrian “Head” Welch talks at Bullock Creek High School auditorium about his transformation from a drug addict to a follower of Jesus on Wednesday. Welch spoke openly about his band, Korn, and their rise to fame and his  struggles with alcohol and substance abuse.

Korn guitarist, former drug addict and reformed Christian Brian “Head” Welch stepped out onto Bullock Creek Auditorium’s stage last night to tell his story after a fitting introduction — that we are all “children of God,” whether we’re black, white, straight, gay, dressed in leather or tattooed.

Fitting, because Welch looked just like a man you’d never want to cross. Dreadlocks hung down to his waist, tattoos crawled up his arms. His iPhone — from which he opened with a Psalm — was linked by a long, thin silver chain to his black pants.

His honesty, though, was instantly disarming. Pacing back and forth, Welch told his life’s story in quick, almost nervous words, speaking with the humor and charisma of a man without pretense. He told listeners early that you can tell when someone’s faking it, and promised to be as genuine with them as he could.

Welch was in Midland to talk about his tumultuous past and journey to Christianity via metal music and drugs. Brought to Midland by the STEP UP organization and numerous area churches, he spent the afternoon visiting recovering substance abusers in the Ten Sixteen Recovery Network in Midland before Wednesday evening’s talk.

He rewound back to age 10, when he discovered the guitar as a young boy living in Bakersfield, Calif. As his life went on, it never really involved Christianity — church “felt like a funeral,” and even though he had a friend and an adult in his life both work to get him interested, nothing permanently stuck.

As he grew older — into his late teens and early 20s — he stayed outside of faith. “Music, my friends, and having a good time — that’s all I knew,” he said, noting his experiences with alcohol and marijuana: “That’s what life is like without God, and I lived that way for years.”

Welch moved to Hollywood around age 20 to follow friends who were already pursuing music there. It wasn’t a quick road to the top, though — Welch worked as their roadie, paying the rent by working for Pizza Hut and as a furniture mover.

After a move back to Bakersfield, when he was about to give up on a life in music, his friends invited him to join their band. From those beginnings, Korn was born, and within a year, they’d landed a record deal.

That’s where things started to take a marked turn, both for the better and for the worse. While Welch was touring with Korn, he started using speed.

“When you get that big, every coke dealer wants to come out and give you their stuff,” he said, from girls to drugs. Over the years, Welch slipped deeper and deeper into his addiction, trying numerous drugs, including Vicodin and Xanax.

He had a few short recoveries. The first came after his marriage and the birth of his daughter, lasting four months, until Korn’s bassist asked him at a concert, “you’re not going to watch Rage (Against the Machine) sober, are you? Have fun with that.”

Other recoveries were similar stories.

Eventually, Welch’s marriage — his wife was also addicted during those years — collapsed. The turning point came when a group of Realtors he’d invested with invited him to church. There, he met people who weren’t “perfect” — for example, the pastor had beaten his wife before committing himself to Christianity, eventually saving his marriage.

The message stuck with Welch this time, and though he had some backsliding, he started making his way toward recovery. He said he had to turn down some temptations to make it work, though — Korn signed a $25 million record deal shortly after he left the band.

But today, Welch is sober, and has a new reputation among metal musicians for his beliefs. Gene Simmons once mentioned it to him at a concert: “So, are you over all this Jesus stuff yet?”

Welch said he doesn’t let it bother him, and that it’s almost a badge of honor. “That guy (Simmons) knows me as the Jesus Guy, even if he’s kind of mocking,” he said.

His career has turned around, too. Korn has reunited, all sober, and another member is Christian as well. Besides his former band, Welch works with another musical project, Love and Death, and is the author of multiple books, including “Stronger: Forty Days of Metal and Spirituality.”

Kurt Faust, founder and president of STEP UP (Success Through Education and Positive Coaching), was instrumental in bringing Welch to Midland. Faust said he’s always been a “metalhead,” even when he was a counselor at H.H. Dow High School.

“But I drew the line at death metal,” Faust said, “because as a counselor I could see the negative impact it was making on kids — and Korn was under that line.”

Since Welch’s direction change, though, he’s become the kind of person Faust wanted to bring to Midland.

“There are a lot of Brians in this town,” Faust said — a lot of people who are struggling and could use a role model like Welch.

Nonetheless, Faust said he was nervous about the event. “It’s an incredible risk,” he said, “because it’s a very conservative community.”

The audience, about 200 strong, didn’t seem to mind.

Dave Vercellino, associate pastor at New Life Vineyard Church in Midland, said he was impressed by Welch’s story.

“It gives us all hope,” he said, that no matter how bad the choice we make might be, we can still turn our lives around.

Sylvia Claes, 19, was brought by her friend, who wanted to expose her to Christianity.

“I liked how real his story was,” Claes said,” like he said at the beginning, you can tell when people are being phony.”

Though the next few days and weeks will keep him in Los Angeles shooting music videos with Korn, Welch can’t reliably predict where he’ll be in the long term. Two short years ago, he would have never placed himself where he is now.

As far as speaking, Welch said he does it to help other people who are in the dark like he was — “people who are stuck.”

“It’s nothing about me,” Welch said.

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