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John Moyer Interview - Detroit Live Magazine Sun 03 Oct 2010, 09:17
CrowX
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What do Metallica, Dave Matthews Band, and Disturbed have in common? The answer is a difficult one. With their fifth studio album, Asylum, Disturbed joined the other two as the only rock groups to have four consecutive albums debut at number one. Featuring tracks such as “Another Way to Die,” which deals with the destruction of the world through pollution and other man-made problems, as well as “Never Again,” which talks about the Holocaust, Asylum is an album that will leave you thinking and disturb many. I had the chance to talk with bassist John Moyer as Disturbed was hitting the road headlining the Uproar festival with Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour.
DL: Hey, John. Let’s start off by letting you tell us about Asylum.
JM: Instead of telling you that it’s our hardest or fastest record, I’m going to say it’s just a natural evolution of the band. We keep pushing ourselves musically and lyrically, and especially challenging each other internally to see what we can bring to the table. Lyrically speaking, the songs are a little more personal. David [vocalist David Draiman] has a gift for writing lyrics that are very cryptic, in which you have to dig in and find your own meaning. With Asylum, the cryptic-ness isn’t there so much. He’s very specific on what he’s talking about.
DL: “Another Way to Die” has been doing really well so far. Any other singles to look forward to?
JM: “Asylum,” which is the title track, and it’s about dealing with the loss of someone you care about deeply. The obvious side of it is that it drives you insane, but it’s the double meaning that “asylum” also means a place of safety. I remember when we were hearing the lyrics Dan [guitarist Dan Donegan] gave David a call just to make sure he was ok. He definitely had some demons he was dealing with, as he has on all our records. With all the great things Disturbed has achieved, we still have darkness and demons like everyone else, and David has always been able to access those.
DL: What made you decide to do your first instrumental song? [The opening track “Remnants.”]
JM: Originally, “Remnants” was the beginning of “Asylum,” which in its entirety was a seven minute song. On the record, it opens with “Remnants,” then goes right into the title track, which was a seamless transition.
DL: The Decade of Disturbed DVD accompanies Asylum. How did that come about?
JM: It’s focusing on the last ten years of Disturbed and even further back than that. There’s a lot of footage from even before The Sickness, and you can see David and the rest of the guys doing what Disturbed has always done. It talks about how the band was discovered and how it was never something an A&R guy put together, it was all within. Of course, there’s a piece in there that talks about the former bassist Fuzz, and how I became their new bassist.
DL: Uproar Festival has the best lineup so far this year. What are you looking forward to about it?
JM: The lineup is very powerful. People have been waiting to see Avenged Sevenfold after their hardships and they are rocking their new single “Nightmare,” and Stone Sour never disappoints. Halestorm is real good and the singer rocks, and Hellyeah has a new album that is really good.
John Moyer
DL: How come there’s no Detroit date for Uproar?
JM: It’s all [in] the control of the booking agents and powers that be. On a festival, there are a lot of bands and we have to work around a lot of schedules. I guarantee we haven’t forgotten about Detroit and we will be there.
DL: What about the Music as a Weapon tour?
JM: We were in the studio! We finished touring in July 2009 and started right away. We were in the studio over the winter and spring, and we spent the summer mastering and preparing for the release, and getting ready for Uproar. We turned Asylum out in just over a year, which is remarkable, especially after being on the road for the previous year.
DL: So Music as a Weapon wasn’t intended to be yearly?
JM: It would be great if it could go on without Disturbed, but currently it has to be supported by us. So we’ll have to see what happens down the road.
DL: Any stories from Detroit you’d like to share?
JM: I love Detroit. Bands always play there in their beginnings. Do you remember the I-Rock?
DL: Mini-Harpo’s? It’s still there.
JM: I remember playing there in my previous band and we love playing Harpo’s. Now when we come, we play at DTE and have had such great times. A few years ago, they did Ozzfest on consecutive days and I was playing with Union Underground and Disturbed was also on the tour. Well, I’m an early riser and, of course, the buses all stayed the night in the parking lot. I started walking around and met up with C. J. from Drowning Pool and we were laughing about not having any sleep and the sun is just coming up. After about thirty or forty-five minutes, we see a girl come stumbling out of a Port-a-Potty. Of course she looks like hell, sees us, then sort of wanders into the woods and disappears. She obviously spent the night in there!
DL: Thanks for your time, John. Anything you want to say to your fans in Detroit?
JM: If you’re a Disturbed fan, you’ll really like Asylum and make sure you see us this year. This will be like no other Disturbed show you’ve ever seen!
For more information go to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and make sure you check out Disturbed live at the Fillmore on October 15.
What do Metallica, Dave Matthews Band, and Disturbed have in common? The answer is a difficult one. With their fifth studio album, Asylum, Disturbed joined the other two as the only rock groups to have four consecutive albums debut at number one. Featuring tracks such as “Another Way to Die,” which deals with the destruction of the world through pollution and other man-made problems, as well as “Never Again,” which talks about the Holocaust, Asylum is an album that will leave you thinking and disturb many. I had the chance to talk with bassist John Moyer as Disturbed was hitting the road headlining the Uproar festival with Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour.
DL: Hey, John. Let’s start off by letting you tell us about Asylum.
JM: Instead of telling you that it’s our hardest or fastest record, I’m going to say it’s just a natural evolution of the band. We keep pushing ourselves musically and lyrically, and especially challenging each other internally to see what we can bring to the table. Lyrically speaking, the songs are a little more personal. David [vocalist David Draiman] has a gift for writing lyrics that are very cryptic, in which you have to dig in and find your own meaning. With Asylum, the cryptic-ness isn’t there so much. He’s very specific on what he’s talking about.
DL: “Another Way to Die” has been doing really well so far. Any other singles to look forward to?
JM: “Asylum,” which is the title track, and it’s about dealing with the loss of someone you care about deeply. The obvious side of it is that it drives you insane, but it’s the double meaning that “asylum” also means a place of safety. I remember when we were hearing the lyrics Dan [guitarist Dan Donegan] gave David a call just to make sure he was ok. He definitely had some demons he was dealing with, as he has on all our records. With all the great things Disturbed has achieved, we still have darkness and demons like everyone else, and David has always been able to access those.
DL: What made you decide to do your first instrumental song? [The opening track “Remnants.”]
JM: Originally, “Remnants” was the beginning of “Asylum,” which in its entirety was a seven minute song. On the record, it opens with “Remnants,” then goes right into the title track, which was a seamless transition.
DL: The Decade of Disturbed DVD accompanies Asylum. How did that come about?
JM: It’s focusing on the last ten years of Disturbed and even further back than that. There’s a lot of footage from even before The Sickness, and you can see David and the rest of the guys doing what Disturbed has always done. It talks about how the band was discovered and how it was never something an A&R guy put together, it was all within. Of course, there’s a piece in there that talks about the former bassist Fuzz, and how I became their new bassist.
DL: Uproar Festival has the best lineup so far this year. What are you looking forward to about it?
JM: The lineup is very powerful. People have been waiting to see Avenged Sevenfold after their hardships and they are rocking their new single “Nightmare,” and Stone Sour never disappoints. Halestorm is real good and the singer rocks, and Hellyeah has a new album that is really good.
John Moyer
DL: How come there’s no Detroit date for Uproar?
JM: It’s all [in] the control of the booking agents and powers that be. On a festival, there are a lot of bands and we have to work around a lot of schedules. I guarantee we haven’t forgotten about Detroit and we will be there.
DL: What about the Music as a Weapon tour?
JM: We were in the studio! We finished touring in July 2009 and started right away. We were in the studio over the winter and spring, and we spent the summer mastering and preparing for the release, and getting ready for Uproar. We turned Asylum out in just over a year, which is remarkable, especially after being on the road for the previous year.
DL: So Music as a Weapon wasn’t intended to be yearly?
JM: It would be great if it could go on without Disturbed, but currently it has to be supported by us. So we’ll have to see what happens down the road.
DL: Any stories from Detroit you’d like to share?
JM: I love Detroit. Bands always play there in their beginnings. Do you remember the I-Rock?
DL: Mini-Harpo’s? It’s still there.
JM: I remember playing there in my previous band and we love playing Harpo’s. Now when we come, we play at DTE and have had such great times. A few years ago, they did Ozzfest on consecutive days and I was playing with Union Underground and Disturbed was also on the tour. Well, I’m an early riser and, of course, the buses all stayed the night in the parking lot. I started walking around and met up with C. J. from Drowning Pool and we were laughing about not having any sleep and the sun is just coming up. After about thirty or forty-five minutes, we see a girl come stumbling out of a Port-a-Potty. Of course she looks like hell, sees us, then sort of wanders into the woods and disappears. She obviously spent the night in there!
DL: Thanks for your time, John. Anything you want to say to your fans in Detroit?
JM: If you’re a Disturbed fan, you’ll really like Asylum and make sure you see us this year. This will be like no other Disturbed show you’ve ever seen!
For more information go to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and make sure you check out Disturbed live at the Fillmore on October 15.
