The statement goes on to say that singer/lyricist Jonathan Davis, bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer and drummer David Silveria--who, along with Welch, founded Korn in Bakersfield, CA, in 1992--are "personally closer than ever" and are working on a new studio album due out in September.

The group has not indicated whether it will seek to replace Welch, who, along with Shaffer, largely defined Korn's unique sound; the pair was known for playing with seven-string electric guitars rather than the traditional six-string rigs.

In an interview published in Wednesday's (2/23) edition of Bakersfield newspaper The Californian, Welch said he quit the band in January, but didn't go public with his decision until a Sunday (2/20) radio interview with Bakersfield station KRAB-FM.

According to the paper, Welch attributed his decision in part to his 6-year-old daughter, and in part to his disenchantment with the band's dark, morbid image and the excesses of life on the road.

"You're shut in a [tour] bus with your best friends with as much beer as you can handle," he told the paper. "Drug dealers come to the show. I'm growing up right now. I didn't have a chance to [before] with all the free beer I got. I just grew up a little bit. I've got a daughter. I've got to think of my kid. I just want to do the right thing."

Welch told the paper that the band's management tried to keep him in the group by offering to accommodate his daughter during the group's tours, but he wasn't interested.

"What parents would want their kids to go on a rock'n'roll tour, a heavy metal tour?"

Welch also said he wasn't pleased with the group's recent music video for its remake of the mid-'80s funk hit "Word Up," a cut included on the band's 2004 best-of set; in the clip, the band members' faces are superimposed onto the faces of dogs who go to a strip club. Welch described the video as "so dumb that it's not even funny" and said it was "horrible, horrible. It's just not me."

Welch plans to discuss his decision in detail during services at Bakersfield's Valley Bible Fellowship on Sunday (2/27).