The pandemic took a toll on Korn guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer. He recently told Finland's Chaoszine that he “had a couple of hard moments” during the Covid lockdown. He said, “. . . I'm faced with the reality of the present moment. When is it gonna end? How are we gonna make our mortgage payments and support our families? 'Cause we all have big families at this point. So there's moments of high stress. What are we gonna do? We can't have another online fu**ing concert. They're done. People are over that.”
Shaffer added that being diagnosed with Covid during the band's recent U.S. tour was tough. He was one of three members of Korn to get it.
Shaffer said, “I had all the symptoms, and it was terrible… There was a little bit of (mental hell as well) — seeing videos of my fill-in play on stage (with Korn while I was recovering from COVID-19). And they came through L.A., which is where we're from, and some West Coast shows that I missed. That was frustrating; that was a little challenging, actually. But nothing a little NyQuil can't handle (laughs).”
Korns's new album, Requiem, will be released on February 4th.