Korn guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch has addressed the narrative that he’s supposedly “renounced” his religious beliefs, following an interview he did earlier in the year with Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn.

During that interview – an appearance Head made in March on Flynn’s podcast, No Fuckin’ Regrets – the nu-metal pioneer said he believed he “went too far” in boasting about his faith when he became a born-again Christian in the mid-2000s.

Head’s religious awakening came to a peak in the early months of 2005, when he’d quit from his role in Korn to pursue a career in Christian rock. It came around the time he’d shed a long-standing drug addiction, battling alcohol, methamphetamines and Xanax.

When Flynn asked Head if his faith had become his “new addiction”, the guitarist said: “I got obsessed with it, just like I was obsessed with the drugs. I believe I did, for sure. And I had to come out of that and find normalcy, because there’s nothing worse than a freakin’ irritating religious person just shoving it down your throat – there’s nothing worse than that.”

In the wake of Head’s appearance on the podcast, some media outlets – particularly those with a focus on Christian musicians – interpreted those comments as the guitarist renouncing Christianity. But in a new interview posted to his own YouTube channel, Head clarified his stance on religion, saying he still has “an amazing relationship with God” that he’s “very confident in”.

“When I first became a Christian,” he explained, “I was coming off of methamphetamines, first of all, and I had a massively powerful encounter where God was revealing himself to me. And so those two sides of the coin – coming off of meth and a powerful encounter – I didn’t know how to react…

“I was overzealous, I was obnoxious with my faith, and it took me a while to bring it down. So that’s all I was trying to say in that video, in that podcast with Robb Flynn.”

Take a look at the clip below:

Korn are currently gearing up to release their 14th studio album, ‘Requiem’, on February 4 via Loma Vista. The record – flanked by lead single ‘Start The Healing’ – will come as the band’s first since bassist Reginald ‘Fieldy’ Arvizu announced he’d be taking a “hiatus” from the band earlier this year.

Fieldy said he’d be stepping away from Korn back in June, saying he had fallen “back on some of [his] bad habits” and needed “some time off to heal”. The band’s frontman, Jonathan Davis, opened up about the news last month, noting the vulnerability of watching “somebody I care about die” and how he’s “not going to fucking do that again”.

November also saw Davis open up about the after-effects of his fight with COVID-19, saying that the experience left him “scared shitless”. He was one of three members to contract the virus on Korn’s recent tour, alongside guitarist James ‘Munky’ Schaffer, and drummer Ray Luzier.

While each incident caused them to postpone some tour dates, the band still carried on performing in select cities. About two weeks after his diagnosis, Davis returned to perform with the band, albeit sitting on a throne through most of their set. The band recently announced two of their rescheduled shows for 2022, setting new dates for comeback gigs in San Diego and Phoenix.