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Korn's Jonathan Davis Unleashes New Pet Line with Superstar L.A. Designer Ashton Micheal
Korn's Jonathan Davis Unleashes New Pet Line with Superstar L.A. Designer Ashton Micheal originally appeared on L.A. Mag.
Grammy award-winning, multi-platinum-selling metalers Korn continue to tour and make new music, but the Bakersfield band's lead singer Jonathan Davis enjoys other creative pursuits, too. Three years ago, he merged his love for animals and fashion into a pet brand named after his biggest hit, 'Freak on a Leash.' Last month, he took things up a notch, joining forces with local designer Ashton Michael —known for making stagewear for everyone from Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani to Jelly Roll and Teddy Swims— to offer rock ' roll looks for pets. Here, Davis discusses his dog-driven new project and what's started this pet fashion line in 2022. What gave you the idea and what inspired the styling?I had just got my dog Dante… I had other dogs previously that I'd just lost that year. It was horrible. I always say that God's worst joke is to give us the most beautiful, amazing pets and take them away from us in 10 years. But I was just sitting around talking with my girl,, and thought, 'how cool would it be if we made clothes for pets? For Dante, we wanted clothes, leashes and harnesses that represented the kind of stuff we would like to wear. You know, when you go to Petco or any of these other places, it's all pretty generic. I'm not saying it sucks but… it's just not my style.
Agree. Pet accessories and clothes are usually cheaply made and have no personality. Have you always been a big animal lover?
I love them so much because I couldn't have them growing up… the kicker is I'm deathly allergic to dogs. I was around them all the time because my grandparents had them and everything, but I could only go over there for an hour or two, because after that much time, I'd get really sick. I had asthma really bad.
Me too! I just recently got a maltipoo/doodle and I'm doing pretty good with him. Slightly allergic but it's manageable.
I didn't get a doodle. I got a purebred Moyen poodle. I had a boxer lab and I was deathly allergic to him. Then I had a poodle, Beast, from the rescue and I was allergic to him too. Sometimes they're hypo-allergenic and sometimes they are not. With Dante, I'm fine. He sleeps with me and gets in my face.
So in terms of style inspiration for Freak on a Leash, what were you thinking?
Well first we did collars in fluorescent, really loud colors. And now, this latest collection we got Ashton Michael, who dresses me, and we did a collaboration together. This is my favorite one because there's so much cool stuff— jackets and bandanas. And I love the toys, the first collection of toys had an eyeball and zombie hand. Now we got a paddle with devil horns and a ouija board.
So you obviously have rock fans in mind for this pet line.
Yes and a lot of people are loving it.
What was Ashton's input?
He does all this really cool leather work. That's his thing. It's like harnesses in black leather with gold hardware…I thought that would look really cool on a dog or a cat. So I thought let's see if we can get together and do something. He's used to dressing music artists so we took inspiration from that and from me. Like my three piercings over my eye that I've had since '92, he put references to those on the leashes and on the collars. You'll see the three little D rings in there. So he's representing me and the band.. I really love what he came up with and he's just really talented.
Some pets don't like to wear clothes though.
If they don't like them, then don't put them in clothes. Some do like them, though. There's all kinds of dogs and some like sweaters and stuff like that. I used to have a Chinese Crested. They love a sweater because they don't have any hair so it keeps them warm. I put clothes on Dante, and he likes it sometimes, and then he wants it off. So I take it off. If they are rolling on the ground trying to take it off, take it off and try later.
Does some of the studded stuff require caution?
We try to make them not too incredibly sharp. Sometimes it sucks if you're grabbing your dog and those spikes hit you. Dante wears the spiked ones and it's totally fine.
Dante sounds like your test model.
He's my baby. He goes everywhere with me, and I love him to death.
What materials are you using in this collection?
Leather mostly. There's some nylon leashes too. I'm trying to get some vegan leather stuff in, but that's further down. I'm just a small little company and it's hard to source sometimes.
What's the process like for Freak on a Leash conceptualizing pieces?
I'll come up with some ideas, we'll talk about it, and then we get drawings from our partners at Killer Merch. We'll just have a meeting, and we'll start looking at everything. It starts as an idea and then we get the drawings, and then we get samples made and I bring them home and put them on Dante. We try them out. We didn't like the buckles because they were hard on the neck. Once we get the product that we like, we just send them out to be made. And that's when we start doing our drops.
What are some things you'd like to make in the future?
I just plan to keep having fun playing dress up with dogs. But I'm definitely going to do a cat line soon too.
Are you allergic to cats also?
Yes. But we know there's cat people and dog people. So I want to represent both. We did the green, the neon collar last time with the little teeny rhinestones. That was for a cat or small dog. But I want to do one that's just dedicated to our feline friends… the little shits.
Shifting gears to your music… the hit song that inspired the pet business' name, 'Freak on a Leash' seems to be enjoying a resurgence. In fact, your music in general seems to be getting appreciated again. Why do you think that is?
Last year was 30 years since the first album. And yeah, I think when we came up it was one of the last big times in music, not just for metal, but rock. Now I think music in general, there's too much. There's too many options and you can get lost. I'm not mad at it–anyone can make a song and put it out there. But in our time, there was MTV. It was different. I think people are missing the way it was, and they're latching on, remembering and reliving that time. The older people and now younger ones too. Like at our shows, we're doing stadiums and there's young kids with their parents…somehow it just all comes back together. And I love it.
This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 10, 2025, where it first appeared.
