Former Korn guitarist Brian Welch finds Jesus

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Welch is sitting in the P.F. Chang's on Mill Avenue in Tempe, eating his usual lemon chicken dinner before he picks up Jennea, now 9, from gymnastics. In the past three years, Welch has quit Korn, quit drugs, found Jesus, moved to Phoenix, and written a bestseller.

His second book, Washed by Blood, hits bookstores on June 24, and his first single as a solo artist, "Flush," premières July 8 on iTunes. The song starts with audio of someone vomiting into a toilet, followed by a flush and then a hammering metal riff that doesn't sound any more "Christian" than Korn. Warner Music will release the solo album on September 9.

In 2006, while he was writing the album, Welch holed up in the Best Western at Northern Avenue and 16th Street in Phoenix. There, he heard a message from the Lord to sell his California real estate and move to Arizona. Welch had one friend in Arizona (also a believer, with whom Welch has since parted ways) and has no other idea why God chose Phoenix.

"God called Israel, Moses, and Jesus to times of preparation in the desert. This is my time of preparation," Welch says. His voice is low, and he speaks in a melodic, easy-mannered rhythm. Now a single dad with sole custody, he has been living in Phoenix with Jennea ever since. He and his wife, who also struggled with meth addiction, divorced in 2001.

Welch still looks the part of a Korn star. He's wearing his trademark braided dreadlocks and ragged beard. A mural of tattoos works its way from his fists, up his arms, under his white T-shirt, and back out his neck — all the way to his beard.

"Are you the drummer from Korn?" a P.F. Chang's waiter asks. He's been nervously attending to Welch for 10 minutes, and he's finally worked up the nerve to pop the question.

"I was the guitarist, actually," Welch answers politely. Welch had been wondering aloud why the hostess and waiter both remembered that he likes a side of butter with his rice. It never occurred to him that they remember his order because he's recognizably famous — at least to metal fans.

"That's good stuff, Korn," the waiter says. "The music is just so powerful. It's like it takes you to another place." The waiter pauses. "Especially if you're high."

After the waiter walks away, Welch quietly says, "Especially if I'm high on the Holy Spirit. All those drugs are counterfeits for God, but when you tell someone that, they don't get it. It sounds crazy."

Had the waiter looked more closely, he'd have seen that Welch's eccentric tattoos are mostly Scripture verses. His favorite is on his neck. It's Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Welch says that quote saved his life, because he had spiraled into an obsessive and suicidal addiction. Because he used to sit in his tour bus, snorting meth and hoping to die by overdose.

In 2005, Welch, who says he grew up without any sort of religion, walked into a church and prayed that Jesus would free him from his addiction. Welch heard God tell him to quit Korn.

Welch was worth about $9 million at the time. Korn was at its peak. Loved by teens. Hated by parents, and known by almost everyone for its controversial lyrics, dark persona, multi-platinum albums, and two Grammys.

Fully aware that Korn was months away from signing a $23 million deal with Virgin Records, Welch e-mailed his resignation to his pals. In a rush of emotion, he announced his 10-year addiction and newfound faith.

The conversion made for a dramatic swing from one end of the morality spectrum to the other, à la Bob Dylan, Alice Cooper, and other rockers who ditched extramarital sex and drugs for God. (Though none dashed their careers on the rocks quite like Welch.)

Korn's notorious lyrics and association with Marilyn Manson, whose violent, sexual, and anti-religious stage antics include burning Bibles and drinking urine, had riled parents across the nation. Suddenly the band's star guitarist and founding member was a born-again Jesus freak.

Locked in a hotel room, Welch quit his meth and Xanax addictions cold turkey, he says. Then he hopped a plane to Israel, where he was baptized.

Welch says he didn't invite the media along but that MTV and CNN called after a local radio interview about his conversion. "I was just wanting to get some drug addicts at the church. The next day, it spread all over the Internet. Then CNN and MTV called, and I just went with it."

Korn's lead singer, Jonathan Davis, retaliated with two fiercely bitter songs to Welch on the band's 2007 untitled album.

"I have been having fun watching my ex-guitar player bash us," Davis wrote on his personal blog, www.buttsexcrips.com. "What can I say but good luck, bro. I'm done with your false crusade. Korn will keep 'polluting' the world as long as we have fans. Life is fuckin crazy. Damn, fuck it."

Davis told Billboard.com, "It really irritated me that he's putting out this book and profiting off of talking shit about us — the guys who gave him everything in his life and put him where he's at."