Prediction: Brian “Head” Welch Will Be Back in Korn by the End of 2013

Following a one-off performance of “Blind” with the band this summer, it has now been announced that guitarist Brian “Head” Welch will play two full shows with Korn in June, at Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park. And if you think this isn’t just the start of a stroll down a road that leads to him returning to the band full-time, you also probably thought that the Coal Chamber reunion wouldn’t have U.S. tour dates or lead to new music.

And let me make another prediction: David Silvera ain’t gonna be very far behind.

All of this is inevitable. Korn are still a very, very successful band, but a reunion of the original line-up would draw even bigger crowds and more cha-ching, especially when you consider that their key fan base from the 90s — adolescents — are now in their twenties and starting to realize that they are not going to live forever and are thus starting to feel nostalgic. If Korn can get a decent package of similar bands together — say, the aforementioned Coal Chamber and maybe Limp Bizkit — they are going to put more asses in seats than you’d see at a donkey tea party. This is how Poison and Cinderella lured Vince and myself to their summer shows at the turn of the century (arches bad back), and it will work for Korn, too. Then Jonathan Davis can go be on Celebrity Apprentice and someone can make Nu-Rock of Ages: Bawitdaba and Neil Strauss can help Limp Bizkit pen The Nookie: Confessions of the World’s Most Hated Rock Band. AS IT HAS BEEN BEFORE, SO IT SHALL BE AGAIN.

The silver lining in all of this, I guess, is that current Korn drummer Ray Luzier, who seems to have been asked to step out of the frame in the above photo, can now go back to using his talents for making better music… albeit with less profitable bands. I hope he wisely invested some of that Korn Kash.

[via Metal Insider]