Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: David Draiman of Disturbed

No, not necessarily. That was always just meant be our full-production headlining run that we were doing every record cycle. But it’s really transformed into a festival in its own right, and we’re very, very happy about it. We’re very pleased, and hopefully it’s something that will be able to carry on, either with us or without us. It seems to have taken on a life of its own.

I think that the growth of the band, the enhanced interest in the actual tour itself, the name recognition factor of the festival, the sponsorship that has come along with it. There’s various factors that have contributed to transforming it. And some may say that now is not the wisest of times to go as big as we are with it, given the environment in the economy, but we felt that making an investment in our fan base was warranted considering how much of an investment they’ve made in us this cycle.

Oh yeah. A lot. [laughs] A lot. But it comes with the territory. It’s a definitely a challenge, but it’s a challenge that we welcome and that we look forward to each day.

I don’t know that anything can prepare you for this. [laughs] But it certainly does help having made the relationships that we’ve made over the course of those festivals, in particular with Mayhem. For instance, we have [Mayhem Festival co-founder] John Reese on board with Music as a Weapon. The whole outdoor contingent is really his contribution for the festival. So it was definitely through making those relationships that helped make this entire thing happen and come together the way that it has.

I don’t know about everything. I don’t, unfortunately, have the luxury of time in that way, nor do I have the luxury of exposure. But I definitely have had the opportunity to go to the side stage and check out some of the opening bands. I caught Spineshank the other day. They’re buddies of ours. The day before yesterday, we saw Crooked X’s set. They really did a great job. I’m very pleased to see that even that early in the day in the middle of the week that they’re still playing in front of a couple thousand people. It’s good. It’s encouraging.

Let me tell you, brother, it’s challenging, especially of recent. I’ve been fighting off this chest cold thing that’s kind of stuck with me for like a month now. My resistance has been falling from the stress of the beginning of the tour. I unfortunately had my dog pass away. I had to put her to sleep in Denver .

It’s been rough. I haven’t exactly been getting the best sleep, nor am I in 100-percent health. But ironically enough, the shows have been going alright. I mean, I’m listening to the audio after the fact and reviewing the mixes, and there’s really not a whole lot that’s making me cringe. So it’s OK. I’m certainly not embarrassed of it. But it definitely is. There’s nothing to hide. Truth be told is that enough people come to the shows with enough personal recording devices anyway that the stuff is online the next day on YouTube or any other number of sites. So I’d rather provide the fans with something that is going to be great sound quality and give them a little bit more of a memento of the experience. Sometimes there’s moments during the show or they remember a certain thing that happened or a certain interaction with the crowd or a certain aspect of the production that unveiled in one song, and they can relive it over and over again by having their own personalized recording of their experience that night. One of the things that the Internet has done for all bands is it’s made us really have to step up our game. Can’t hide anything anymore. So if they’re gonna get it anyway, they might as well get a polished product as opposed to just something that sounds tinny and small. We’ll give them something that they can really value.

It’s rough, man. I have to try and get sleep, which I haven’t been getting. I have to try and hydrate myself as effectively as I can, stay away from alcohol, stay away from smoking anything. I lead a pretty straight-edge life when I’m on the road. People don’t realize that for the singers, in particular the ones who really aren’t blessed with that ironclad metabolism or the invincible, leather, blind lungs that some of these guys have who are able to chain smoke all day and still pull off their sets—I’m not one of those guys. I have to really be very, very disciplined. I have to watch my food intake in terms of the level of acidic foods that I take in. My acid reflux is still pretty much a factor, so I still have to watch my diet pretty vigorously. It’s just a constant challenge, man. It really is, especially when you’re playing for an hour and a half each night. And now some of the aspects of our production require that I am very mobile at times, so my cardio really needs to be up there these days, too. So I hit the gym just about every day. It’s a constant challenge. I won’t kid you.

It was really before any music was ever written. I sat down with the guys—we had a little lunch meeting—and they were wondering where my head was at, in terms of where I wanted to go with things on the record. And I said to them, “Given the last couple years of life experiences, throw at me the darkest, nastiest, most brutal stuff you can.” And they were only too eager to comply.

Being consistent. Musicians always do have peaks and valleys, but I think that one thing that we’ve been able to accomplish is we’ve been able to gain our fans’ trust. They know that when a Disturbed record comes out, it’s gonna be what they expect from us. It’s gonna be the kind of record that they can take to the gym with them and work out to. It’s gonna be the kind of record that gets them through the difficult times in their life. And it’s gonna rhythmic and powerful and melodic and never really going to deviate much from that. It’s really what Disturbed is. And also from a live perspective, they know that every time that they come to a Disturbed performance that they’re going to leave feeling empowered, that they’re going to get that catharsis, that release. As long as we continue to deliver that to them, I think that we’ll be around as long as they’d have us be.

Well, the industry is—I think I’m beyond shock with what has occurred in the industry, at this point. Nothing surprises me much anymore. It’s unfortunate what has happened with the industry. I think that it is going to need to completely collapse before it can be reborn. I think there’s been far too much greed and far too much denial of the future and of technology and of the inevitable, and it’s biting everyone in the ass. And it’s unfortunate. It’s really not unlike the banking industry, to be honest. It’s not like people didn’t see this coming, they just didn’t bother to look.

Nothing planned currently, but we would love the opportunity.

One of those career-defining moments, really. Just fantastic. Hanging with them, training with them, playing in front of 10,000 of them with fully automatic weapons in a mosh pit—pretty surreal. Very informative. It’s just humbling to see how much they sacrifice and how much they go through. To know that they’re there sworn to do their duty regardless of whether or not they agree with its principles. There’s such a duality in war, where even the most gung-ho Marine on the planet doesn’t want to see their buddy next to them die. They don’t want to die themselves, and you start to wonder after a while. But they’ve sworn to do their duty and they do it unquestionably. There’s a lot of honor that goes along with that. We have the utmost respect for all of them.