{"id":598526,"date":"2026-04-21T23:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/598526\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T23:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:55:07","slug":"fieldy-reflects-on-retiring-from-korn-and-what-led-him-to-step-down-covid-happened-thats-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/598526\/","title":{"rendered":"Fieldy Reflects On ‘Retiring’ From Korn And What Led Him To Step Down: “COVID Happened. That’s It.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

When bassist Reginald \u201cFieldy\u201d Arvizu stepped down from Korn in 2021, most fans thought it would be a temporary arrangement. A statement issued by the man himself<\/a> at the time saw him offering in part:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past 6 years I\u2019ve been dealing with some personal issues that at times have caused me to fall back on some of my bad habits and has caused some tension with the people around me. It\u2019s been suggested to me to take some time off to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fieldy went on to say to his bandmates in that very statement, \u201cJonathan, Munky, Ray and Head, I love you and I don\u2019t want to bring any tension or bad vibes to the circle.\u201d Korn would go on to continue on without Fieldy, enlisting the services of Roberto \u201cRa\u201d D\u00edaz in his place since. While some took Fieldy\u2018s mention of \u201cbad habits\u201d to mean potential substance abuse, Fieldy would later shutdown that speculation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the years since, Fieldy has admitted that he hasn\u2019t kept in touch with his Korn bandmates, letting years lapse without a word being spoken between then. To this day it has remained a bit of an ongoing mystery to most fans of the pioneering n\u00fc-metal band as to why Fieldy continues to sit on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

Now, in a newly shared interview originally conducted late last year, Fieldy gave a clear answer as to the circumstances of his departure. Fieldy sat down alongside his ex-L.A.P.D. bandmate Richard Morrill for a joint interview on a podcast dubbed Shady Characters<\/a>. The friendly chat charted the pair\u2019s musical path together and their eventual divergence, including insight into L.A.P.D. \u2014 a band that also included future Korn members James \u201cMunky\u201d Shaffer and David Silveria.<\/p>\n

Morrill even went on to share his thoughts on watching his aforementioned former bandmates go on to change the heavy music world without him and more in the discussion. Perhaps due to the level of comfort, and the pair already being acquainted with the show\u2019s hosts, Fieldy didn\u2019t dodge the question when it came to what saw him exit the band.<\/p>\n

As he himself revealed in this chat, his aversion to the COVID-19 pandemic was a chief factor in what initially led him to step down. When asked directly what led to him taking time off from the band, Fieldy replied [transcribed by theprp.com]:<\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID happened. That\u2019s it. I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019m not going out there.\u2019 That\u2019s what happened, \u2019cause it was new. Now. I\u2019m like\u2026 The whole time \u2014 I mean, I didn\u2019t get vaccinated or anything \u2014 but when you reflect on it, that\u2019s what happened. They\u2019re like, \u2018We\u2019re going to Florida and all this.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019m not going to get vaccinated.\u2019 I\u2019m not going. I go, \u2018People, this is weird right now.\u2019<\/p>\n

But I mean that\u2019s kind of what happened. But it gave me time to sit, and once you sit, you can reflect and you\u2019re like, you\u2019re kind of just waiting you know to what\u2019s next, \u2019cause I don\u2019t know what the rest of this day is going to bring. I\u2019m just on fire for whatever, whatever is ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fieldy also went on to say of the perspective he holds now after reflecting on exiting the band he spent decades in:<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what it is. You see bands, and bands kind of just go through these motions. This isn\u2019t anything new. I mean, from L.A.P.D. to all these bands. I mean, Chili Peppers have Flea and Anthony [Kiedis], you know? It just happens like that sometimes. A lot of bands \u2014 not sometimes, almost every time. It\u2019s rare that all the same [members stay in a band.]\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, I look back at my life and like, you know, almost 30 years with Korn, that was a blast, man. I mean, it was\u2026 I can\u2019t explain it. It\u2019s like you\u2019re going on you\u2019re going to the ultimate [thrill]\u2026 It\u2019s not easy. But it is a blast. I don\u2019t look back going, \u2018That sucked.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I could look at it and complain, but how are you going to complain? That was everything everybody dreams of. And I got to go almost like a vet. I put in 30 years and now here I am. You know? it\u2019s like I\u2019m cool with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if he would consider himself \u2018retired\u2019 from Korn at this point, Fieldy stated, \u201cI\u2019m retired from Korn today, but we\u2019ll see what the day brings tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it was brought up that the death of Limp Bizkit bassist Sam Rivers last October saw fans hope that Fieldy would be the one to take over Rivers\u2018 role, Fieldy said he hadn\u2019t heard about that fan-led campaign. He did however relay the following about his aforementioned late friend:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m friends with all the guys in Limp Bizkit. So you know, it hurt my heart, man. I heard about that because I\u2019m friends with Sam and all those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kicked it all the time. I used to go out \u2014 my son showed me \u2014 he\u2019s like, \u2018Dad, check this out\u2019 \u2014 And it\u2019s like [a video in which] I\u2019m playing a Limp Bizkit bassline on tour with them and then he comes up, Sam comes up, and he like looks at me and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh.\u2019 And I give [the bass] to him. It\u2019s like a gag we did every single night. \u2018Cause you\u2019re in a different city. It wasn\u2019t like today, you do it one night and It\u2019s all over the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we were doing that and I\u2019m like listening to it and I told my son, \u2018That\u2019s a dope bass player.\u2019 Look how much better he\u2019s playing that than me. The way that he moves his fingers and the way that he finesses the strings. He\u2019s sick. So I even knew that, because the first time I went down to Jacksonville, I picked up John Otto [Limp Bizkit drummer] and Sam, and I went back to their house and John Otto had a drum kit in there and Sam had his bass stuff.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know these kids. And they\u2019re like, \u2018Hey, you want to jam with John Otto?\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019ma show these kids what\u2019s up right now.\u2019 You know, because we were playing somewhere in town, and this is in the beginning of Korn \u2014 it was like a little club or something like that. So, I get on, do my my clickity clackity, you know. And I go, \u2018You play man.\u2019 You know, I already killed it in my head. He plays. he gets done. I\u2019m like, \u2018I suck man. You are dope. You\u2019re so much better than me.\u2019 I told him straight out. I remember that. I was embarrassed. I\u2019m like, \u2018You rip.\u2019 That\u2019s one of my two favorite rhythm sections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fieldy also touched upon the this photo from last August<\/a>, which suggested that he, Sepultura drummer Greyson Nekrutman and Cypress Hill\/ex-Fear Factory, etc. bassist Christian Olde Wolbers had a new project in the works. Fieldy stated of that:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing another project. We got two rough songs done with Greyson [Nekrutman] from Sepultura on drums. He\u2019s a sick drummer\u2026 He\u2019s like a jazz drummer. He can play the old school jazz way, but fast. Like that guy, that guy\u2019s an insane drummer. He\u2019s one of the sickest drummers I\u2019ve ever worked with. And you know what? Every drummer I worked with is dope. David Silveria, Ray [Luzier, Korn drummer] Mikey [Bordin] from Faith No More and Ozzy, who else did we work with? Brooks Wackerman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fieldy also mentioned that he and guitarist Sean Olsen had sent a new song to Morrill to work on, describing it as a \u201crough project.\u201d You can learn a whole lot more about L.A.P.D. and the bands that preceded Korn, as well as what Morrill and Fieldy have been up to lately in the below chat.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When bassist Reginald \u201cFieldy\u201d Arvizu stepped down from Korn in 2021, most fans thought it would be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,215769,96966,216],"class_list":["post-598526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-fieldy","tag-korn","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}