West Newton native Luzier performs at First Niagara Pavilion

From playing on a Muppets drum set on a farm outside of West Newton to having Korn fans tattoo his signature on their arms, Ray Luzier said he has never forgotten growing up in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

"My parents taught me great values and morals and I'm grateful for that," he said.

Luzier performed in First Niagara Pavilion last weekend with Korn, headlining the Mayhem Festival with Rob Zombie, Lamb of God and Five Finger Death Punch.

The festival featured three stages, 12 bands packed into 17 tour buses and 12 tractor-trailer trucks, with a staff of 100-plus.

This was the first time Luzier has played near his hometown since 2002 when he was touring with David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar.

Luzier's mother, Sharon Luzier, said at least 40 members of the family attended the festival over the weekend.

"Every time I see him, he gets better and better," she said. "It was incredible."

Luzier arrived Saturday morning from Michigan and was able to visit home for just three hours before returning to Burgettstown to perform.

"We stuffed him full of burgers and corn-on-the-cob and took him back," his mother said.

Sharon Luzier said it was like a class reunion, recognizing many people from Yough.

The venue was filled to capacity, but she said the weather was perfect and the crowd wasn't too much to handle.

"It wasn't as wild as everybody thought it was going to be," she said, calling the Mayhem Festival "very well organized."

The crowds have reached between 18,000 and 22,000 at each stop on the 26-city tour, which continues until Saturday, ending in Oklahoma City.

Luzier said even though he has traveled the world and performed for countless people, he is still grateful for his childhood in West Newton and his supportive parents.

"I've never changed where I've come from and that's important," he said.

Luzier, 40, grew up helping his parents on a 118-acre farm outside of West Newton.

He said he used to help bale hay, but his allergies would act up so much that his eyes would swell shut.

Instead of helping in the field, he would sit at his drum kit and play along to his sister Laurie's records.

"I honestly think if it wasn't for my allergies being so bad, I'd still be on a farm," he said.

Laurie, now Laurie Salvio, runs Critter Country Animal Farm in Smithton with her husband, Rob.

Luzier played in the marching and concert band at Yough High School and graduated in 1988.

He wanted to pursue a music career after high school, so his parents packed him into an old church van and drove cross-country to Hollywood so he could enroll at the Musicians Institute.

"He couldn't read music very well," his mother, Sharon, said. "He would hear a song — he'd played Motley Crue and Kiss his whole life — he'd hear it and then play it, but going to school taught him how to read music much better."

Luzier went on to teach at the school for nine years between gigs and touring.

He performed with David Lee Roth for eight years, with Army of Anyone — a band including members of the bands Stone Temple Pilots and Filter — for two years and auditioned for his place in Korn in late 2007.

Sharon Luzier said she has seen her son play in dive bars and dress up in costumes for cover bands because he loves performing, it's not about fame or money.

"He's very dedicated, he's very serious about music," she said. "This just isn't for the crowd, because he could care less."

Now, Luzier has seven drum endorsements, has his own signature line of drumsticks, performed on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and played on more than 40 albums.

In the fall, Korn will go to Europe to tour with Ozzy Osbourne, one of the same artists he saw perform in Pittsburgh when he was young.

Being from West Newton seems to make him appreciate his situation so much more than if he grew up somewhere else, he said.

"I've been on tour since 1994 and I never once take it for granted," he said. "Had I not left West Newton when I was 18, I would have never seen 35 countries in four and a half months in 2008."

Luzier said he followed his passion and took risks, and he encourages other young people from West Newton to do the same.

Opportunities come at different times and it's never certain how they come about, he said.

"Whatever you want to do, you have to go for it," he said.