KORN's touring bassist Roberto "Ra" Díaz celebrated his 38th birthday onstage during the band's headlining concert Tuesday night (March 15) at Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Video footage and photos of the celebration — which included Díaz getting pied in the face — can be found below. A member of SUICIDAL TENDENCIES since 2016, Díaz is filling in for KORN's original bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu who announced last June that he would sit out the band's tour dates in order to "heal" after "falling back" on some of his "bad habits." Regarding how KORN ended up recruiting Díaz to fill in for Fieldy, guitarist Brian "Head" Welch told 97.9 GRD: "Well, there's COVID and everything, so when we started talking about it, it was a thing where we wanted to be careful still and whatnot. 'Cause it was a couple, a few months ago or whatever. So we just started brainstorming and hitting up friends and whatnot. We need the slap — we need the slap bass, we need the finger playing, we need someone, 'cause Fieldy is unique — very unique. So it just kind of happened that way, man, where Ra, he was open because SUICIDAL is not going out until [2022]. I think Mike Muir has a back surgery or something this year. So it just worked out, man. He came down, we jammed. He's a really humble guy, and just very talented. He can play anything — from jazz to slap to anything. He played all the songs with, like, three mistakes out of 10 songs or something — little mistakes. I mean, not even mistakes — it was just, like, 'I thought I heard it that way.' They weren't even mistakes. So we were, like, 'Okay. You got it down.'" In addition to playing with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, Díaz has been part of several recording projects, including a RUSH covers EP that he recorded during the pandemic with Charlie Benante, Brandon Yeagley and Alex Skolnick. Díaz was also involved in the making of Benante's covers album "Silver Linings" which was completed fully remotely during the pandemic in 2020. Last month, KORN guitarist Brian "Head" Welch told Spotlight Report that Fieldy was "just taking a little time to be with his family. He is a great dad," Welch said. "He has so many kids. He has adult kids, teenagers and young kids. He is just taking time, and we are giving him the time. We want everyone to be healthy and happy. "I guess we will go and tour this record," Head continued, referencing KORN's recently released album "Requiem". "I don't know a lot more other than that. We love him very much and we hope to communicate with him during the year at some stage, to see where everyone is at." Welch previously addressed Fieldy's position in KORN during a November 2021 interview with U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine. At the time, he stated: "The best thing to do is stay at home, be with your family, and start processing. He's got to find that healing. I still struggle with it. I had a few slip-ups with my 'bad habits' three to four years ago, so I understand it, but I dealt with it by hitting it head-on and stopping it from becoming a problem. I'm not concerned because I know he's going to be okay." KORN singer Jonathan Davis expressed a more worried outlook on Fieldy's predicament, saying: "I love him; he's my brother. But I watched somebody I care about die and I'm not going to fucking do that again. I refuse to. I will feel guilt for the rest of my fucking life because of that. I tried my hardest but perhaps if I'd been a little bit tougher there'd have been a different outcome. I pray that he can figure it out and get better and come back and be a huge part of this band again."
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