BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- On Monday, July 30, Brian "Head" Welch talked to ABC23 about his new book, "Save Me From Myself" which recently reached the top 15 on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Welch is the ex-lead guitarist of nu-metal rock band Korn and is from Bakersfield.

In his interview, Welch discussed topics such as writing his memoir, his past drug addiction, Bakersfield church leaders, his life in solitude, and why he left Bakersfield.

He will have a book signing in Bakersfield August 1, 4 p.m. at Russo’s at the Marketplace, 9000 Ming Avenue.

Interview:

ABC23: First off, I want to say “Save Me From Myself” is an honest look at the reality facing many people today who are caught in the culture of drugs. Its rawness—though honest and inspiring—is filled with language and graphic drug use. What kind of feedback are you getting?

Welch: I’m getting some pretty good feedback. A lot of broken people are getting inspired by it. I’ve had no negative comments about the rawness and realness of it. It’s what people expected, you know. It could actually have been worse. If I wasn’t just trying to be real or tell my story; it could have been one of those tell all books. But I just wanted to tell my story…it’s inspiring people. Listen: Audio 1

ABC23: I have a few questions about the writing process. Now, some people write books, whether fiction or non-fiction chronologically. Did you start at the beginning? Or did you maybe write the second half first, or a bunch of parts simultaneously?

Welch: I think the preface in it I wrote last. But the story I wrote it all how it happened. I went way back and went chapter by chapter.

I just wanted to get the whole story to the people about who I am, where I came from, and I wanted to throw the whole Korn story in there too to about how we all met, because it’s interesting.

I wanted it to be interesting too. I think a lot of people go through what I went through inside and they don’t tell anybody. We have problems when we’re kids, with whatever, with friends, bullies, with life in general what we go through, with drugs, and we don’t talk about a lot of it. And I wanted to talk about it. Listen: Audio 2

ABC23: Looks like the first part about your growing up and days in Korn was the toughest to write, was it?

Welch: It was pretty tough in some parts. But I’d say the toughest thing was writing about some of the physical abuse with my ex-wife. Just writing things about that was just…. Some of the things were just hard to go back and re-think. I didn’t have to share them with anybody. I could have just left them there. But I felt like was helping somebody if I was to share my intimate details.

You could feel the pain when you’re reading it in some of those spots. I did feel the pain when I wrote that. So, it’s truth. Listen: Audio 3

ABC23: What kind of routine did you have when writing? Any time of day?

Welch: I just went for it. It’s like I got energized when I started working.... I went over it many times, many times. I did it during the day, mostly all during the day from like 8:30, 9:00 a.m. til 5:00. Sometimes a lot of weekends. My kid would go over and play with a friend and stay the night and I’d work on it for 12 hours straight. Listen: Audio 4

ABC23: Every writer needs an editor. That’s just how it’s done. And editors can be angels or devils. Talk to me about your editor? Who was your editor and how did they assist in the shaping of your memoir?

Welch: Oh man, the editors were just awesome: Adam Palmer, Jeff Dunn. They were going to ghost write it for me. They interviewed me on video... They were just going to go for it. When they did the first draft I was just correcting so much because they didn’t live it. I lived it. It was the first chapter. Once I started correcting it I just re-wrote it. And that’s when I took over the rest of the book. I just wrote down all the stuff that I went through. I tried to write a book myself. They took it and they turned into editors after that. They re-worded some stuff. They put it together to where it flowed. They were awesome. You know, not everything was perfect. But the book wouldn’t be what it is if they weren’t there to help me.

I still need editors of course. Toward the end, the preface, I wrote that myself. I couldn’t have done that when I started, and they were like, “You don’t need us anymore.” Listen: Audio 5

ABC23: But how did it all start? Some books start out as epiphanies. Was this an idea you came up with and pitched to an agent? Had you prayed about it? I think a lot of writers want to know how this book came about.

Welch: It was just divine, man. I’m telling you. One of my friends, she was in contact with some editors and some book people… I wasn’t even trying to get a book deal. She was talking to someone, an agent. And Harper really wanted the story in a book. They told me and I was like, “I don’t want to write a book. I’m a musician. I want to do an album.” And after I prayed about it, it was like, this is a good chance to tell what happened to me. I dove into it after that. Seems like when God wants to do something for me and through me and stuff, it’s like I’m the biggest road block in his way…But then I get past that and it happens. Listen: Audio 6

ABC23: You’ve never written a book and you’re on the NYT top 20 one week and number 33 the next. That’s awesome.

Welch: Yeah it’s awesome, man. It happened so fast. It was number 20. Then I was so stoked and then it jumped to 15…then it dropped to 33…it’s just crazy. Listen: Audio 7

ABC23: I saw a recent interview with you on Fox television where the reporter interviewing you called Korn’s music “satanic.” A pop punk band can be living a rough lifestyle and have songs filled with harsh lyrics and hard living. I thought maybe you held back a little when she said that. But you were there to talk about your book, not your opinion of Korn being satanic or not. Do you have any thoughts now on what that reporter said about Korn’s music being satanic? I mean, maybe you were offended…

Welch: Well it was like 6:30 in the morning. I just woke up. It was my first live TV interview in two-and-a-half years. Well I’ve never done, I don’t think, except when I was drunk in Korn and doing MTV, TRL. But by myself and talking about this intimate stuff…

And right when she started the interview she said, “That’s almost satanic.”

It just flew over my head. I was like, “Whatever lady. I’m live on TV now.” What am I going to do, argue with this lady? I’m at her show. So I just let it go, was kind of laughing about the whole thing. She even called and said, “How do we keep our kids from turning out like you?!”

I was just laughing at all the stuff she was saying. It was funny to me. But whatever. She’s conservative.

That video wasn’t satanic. It was Tomb Raider. It was Angelina Jolie. It was a movie. That’s what she was seeing. So, I wasn’t quick enough to go over. I just wanted to get on with the interview and just talk about the book.

I could have been like, “Satanic? What do you mean by that?” But it was kind of intimidating, me being there. I felt like I was the guest and they were in charge. It was their deal. Listen: Audio 8

ABC23: Bakersfield became a difficult challenge in your spiritual awakening. It’s a place where you grew up, had groups of friends, and made new spiritual friends. Yet, your book mentions Bakersfield as a challenging place for you personally. You hint at the conflict between being pulled toward different denominations.

Welch: I think it was mainly not Bakersfield with that. I think it was just men, humans, you know? Humans disagreeing on things.

Like Pastor Ron at Valley Bible. He didn’t want me to get confused. There were so many cameras and eyes on me that wanted to talk to me and wanted to see what I was doing.

He didn’t want me to get messed up in my beliefs.

But I believe God was leading me over to this other church because of the deeper things of God. And he wanted me to grow fast. So it was confusing to me. Because I was at this one church. I got led there. So I thought well I should be loyal to this church because I got saved there. But then God was doing something else.

There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in churches, and I just had to get away from churches for a while. God led me out…A lot of people would say, “What?”

Yeah, he (God) did. He led me out and he wanted me to be in seclusion with him, to get to know him. But he led me back into a church at my new place where I live.

It’s all good. But I think it was just men. Just us humans down here. I don’t think it was Bakersfield. Listen: Audio 9

ABC23: Why do you think Bakersfield church leaders talked to you directly rather than having their associate pastors mentor you? Do you think any of them got caught up in you having been a rock star?

Welch: Maybe a little bit, yeah. Because when I decided to give my testimony at Valley Bible and I told the church leader that. First thing he said was “Why don’t you pray about it. Make sure this is what God wants you to do.”

He didn’t ask me to give my testimony. It was all me. But when all that stuff came. There’s MTV, CNN at the church. I think that we all got caught up in it.

It was pretty crazy. They (Valley Bible) were getting hit by thousands of emails daily when all that stuff happened. I think everybody was affected by it. It was way crazier than any of us thought it would be. It was nuts.

I got overwhelmed and I’m sure the church got overwhelmed too. I believe it just all happened for a reason. All that stuff, because it was God’s will that he wanted me to get out of town and go into seclusion with him for a while.

It wasn’t because anyone was bad or taking advantage of anything.

He uses things to push people into a direction that he wants people to go. Listen: Audio 10

ABC23: Your book clearly mentions that you had to get out of Bakersfield to continue your spiritual growth. You write of moving into the deserts of Arizona. It’s quite mysterious the way you write about it. You moving deep into the desert reminds me of the Thomas Merton book "Thoughts in Solitude." I don’t know if you’ve read that book. What are your thoughts on solitude in the desert and spiritual growth?

Welch: I’m going to write that down, hold on (pause)

I believe anybody and everybody that are Christians should get solitude and be alone with God. That’s where we change. That’s where we get personal with him. That’s where religion gets put on the side.

It’s not about going out and doing and being a part of the church, or being this and that. Which is good. And people do it for their season. In order for us to be effective in this world we’ve got to be transformed by God…

I hooked up with a friend that lived there (Arizona). We both felt that we’re supposed to be connected. And he had a recording studio out there.

I moved there just to stay in a hotel to record some music. I was so energized. I wanted to do something for God. I was so excited about my new life. But when I got there I felt led to buy a house and just totally move there… I tried to do recording then I just stopped recording. I was like, “I’m going to solitude. Just going to be with God at my house for hours everyday.” Listen: Audio 11

ABC23: One of ABC23’s myspace friends wanted me to ask if you now find yourself mentoring others.

Welch: I just barely got out. I’ve been hanging with my child. I’m really mentoring her, teaching her about the stuff. She’s nine years old…I’m going slow, taking my time…I’m just getting started, you know…

ABC23: You hid your meth addiction for a long time. What does opening up about it mean to you? And what’s your feeling on what the government is doing about meth in society?

Welch: It makes me feel good. A lot of this stuff I shared was embarrassing. It was hard. It was a secret. No one was going to know what happened. But it makes me feel good seeing how people, you know, drug addicts, former drug addicts. They’re coming up to me at these book signings saying, “I’m just really inspired by your book. I needed this.” People are crying…just tears of gratitude...And it’s such a good feeling to see that and feel that from them. It just makes me feel—boom—I did the right thing by sharing this stuff.

I didn’t know if it was the right thing. I was having second thoughts about sharing the stuff I was sharing. But at the end of the day when you get a response like that it just makes you feel real good.

That stuff (politics) is over my head. I’m just out of my cloud—two-and-a-half years…

I’m just trying to do my part in sharing where it (drugs) took me and the bad places where it took me. I have a platform where people listen to me. I’m just trying to make a dent, positively.

That’s how I’m doing it. Listen: Audio 12

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