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IGN Gets Down with the Sickness Sat 07 Aug 2010, 07:54
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Disturbed frontman David Draiman reveals details about the upcoming album and gives his take on music videogames.
August 6, 2010
by Jason Lieberman
It has been two years since Disturbed released their 4th studio album Indestructible and now they are back with a brand new butt-kicking album. As the band's lead singer and lyricist, David Draiman has provided his powerful vocal chops and hard-hitting lyrics for the band over the past decade.
IGN was given an opportunity to chat with Disturbed frontman David Draiman in an interview about the band's upcoming fifth studio album, Asylum, the band's progression through the years and the Decade of Disturbed DVD that documents it. We also discuss his gaming habits and thoughts about music games.
IGN: Can you tell us a little about the upcoming album and what it's going to sound like?
David Draiman: Well, it kind of showcases our combined abilities that have been enhanced by tens years of writing records and touring as a professional band. Hopefully, you get better as things go along. We feel like we have. It is a very strong group of material, the strongest that we feel we've ever put together. It's definitely certainly very identifiably Disturbed, but goes in a couple of different directions that people haven't seen from us up to this point. There are some instrumental moments on the record. The songs are more complex, involve more precision, and the hooks are stronger than ever. It is at times as dark or darker than anything we've ever written as times as heavy or heavier than anything that we have ever written and it as times as melodic or more intensely melodic than anything we've written. It incorporates all of the elements from the past records and tries to bring them all to the next level.
IGN: How will it be different from your last album Indestructible?
Draiman: The instrumental moments definitely do make it stand aside and the overall strength of each one of these songs is fairly undeniable. It was interesting when we were having the single discussion on this record, which unfortunately always ends up coming up -- That this time it was even the chairman of Warner Bros. himself was saying "well you have 8 candidates here, which is going to end up being the one?" I don't say that it's necessarily different than Indestructible in that sense, but it is a very compelling and very strong body of work. As far as from a lyrical perspective, it's very different than the aspect that many of the prior records have much more cryptic lyrical delivery. This one is very in your face. Kind of wearing out my heart on my sleeve and it's very much a story telling type of record.
IGN: Why did you guys pick the name Asylum for the song and record title?
Draiman: The song itself speaks about the memory of a lost loved one driving you to the brink of insanity. You can't really let go of them, but on the same level that memory is a safe place for you, a haven that you go to when times are bad. So to the record, it speaks about the chaos and madness of the world we live in. And yet this world is our home and a place where we have to make ourselves feel safe.
IGN: What really inspired you while you were writing these lyrics?
Draiman: Unfortunately, nothing good. I came off of a really bad period of time. The prior touring cycle, I had my fiancee leave me, my best friends betrayed me, and the love of my life at the time, my touring companion, my dog Lisa, I had to put her to sleep during the Music as a Weapon run. It was really difficult for me to deal with and I got into a new relationship with a beautiful wonderful girl and things went temporarily sour just prior to me moving into my new home in Austin, Texas. I moved from Chicago to Austin and I ordered a new pup that was supposed to be ready for me and by the time I got home the puppy ended up dying on the way to me and my girl didn't end up moving in with me at that point in time. So I come off the road, move into an empty house, into a new town that I don't know very many people, and just started this downward spiral of depression. And that's when the lyrics started being penned for this record -- so nothing good came from that.
IGN: Are you guys kicking off a tour for the new album?
Draiman: We're starting on August 12th. We have a show in Sioux Falls and then we play Sturgis with the Scorpions, which were really looking forward to. And then we're starting the Rockstar Uproar Tour, which is us, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Hellyeah, Halestorm, Airbourne, Hail the Villain, and a bunch of other bands I'm sure I'm forgetting. The whole vendor village, a festival area, and there's some sort of wrestling contingent that's coming along with the tour. It's just a big traveling circus and we're really happy to be a part of it. It's going to be a good time for the bands and an amazing time for the fans.
Disturbed
IGN: "Another Way to Die" serves as the first single from the new album. Are you guys in the process of filming a music video for it?
Draiman: It's already been filmed. The final edit should hopefully be complete any day now.
IGN: It's been almost 10 ten years now since Disturbed's first album The Sickness, how do you think you guys have progressed as band since then?
Draiman: If anything, over the course of time our respect for each other has grown. We definitely value what everybody brings to the table in this band. We definitely know that no one element really is the same without the other. We really cherish our blessing that we've been able to find something like this together and we value it tremendously.
IGN: Will Dan (guitar), Mike (drums), and John (bass) contribute to the vocals on the album?
Draiman: They do some gang vocals, like in the track "Asylum" and in the chorus. They have additional tracks on there where they add to the gang vocal. They're not doing any specific individual vocalization or harmonizing, but they have a number of gang vocal moments.
IGN: Can you tell a little more about the hour long documentary Decade of Disturbed and some of the other features on the limited edition of the album?
Draiman: The Decade of Disturbed will be available to everyone for free. On the limited edition, you'll get a hard copy of the DVD and if you buy the record alone you'll have a code to download the entire movie for free. It's basically detailing the past 10 years of being in the band Disturbed and of how we started things, how things began, how things have grown and developed over the years, the ups and the downs, the challenges, the accomplishments, A look into the actual personas and characters of the band members. It's actually really funny. For much of the time of the video. [laughs]
IGN: Are you a gamer yourself?
Draiman: I like playing videogames man. I love them.
IGN: Is there a certain game you guys play on the tour bus?
Draiman: The other guys aren't really that into it. I'm kind of the guy that is the videogame guy. I love Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, I love the Need for Speed series, and the most recent one Need for Speed: Shift. I was completely lost in the whole Dragon Age series for I don't know how many months.
IGN: What's your favorite game of all time?
Draiman: Oh man that is tough. I used to be the biggest fan of the whole Resident Evil series. Those are some of my favorites.
IGN: You guys have had a few tracks added to some of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games. How do you generally feel about all these music games?
Draiman: I think they're amazing. I think it's incredible that it was videogames that brought rock music to a whole new generation of people. It's wonderful. The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned.
Disturbed frontman David Draiman reveals details about the upcoming album and gives his take on music videogames.
August 6, 2010
by Jason Lieberman
It has been two years since Disturbed released their 4th studio album Indestructible and now they are back with a brand new butt-kicking album. As the band's lead singer and lyricist, David Draiman has provided his powerful vocal chops and hard-hitting lyrics for the band over the past decade.
IGN was given an opportunity to chat with Disturbed frontman David Draiman in an interview about the band's upcoming fifth studio album, Asylum, the band's progression through the years and the Decade of Disturbed DVD that documents it. We also discuss his gaming habits and thoughts about music games.
IGN: Can you tell us a little about the upcoming album and what it's going to sound like?
David Draiman: Well, it kind of showcases our combined abilities that have been enhanced by tens years of writing records and touring as a professional band. Hopefully, you get better as things go along. We feel like we have. It is a very strong group of material, the strongest that we feel we've ever put together. It's definitely certainly very identifiably Disturbed, but goes in a couple of different directions that people haven't seen from us up to this point. There are some instrumental moments on the record. The songs are more complex, involve more precision, and the hooks are stronger than ever. It is at times as dark or darker than anything we've ever written as times as heavy or heavier than anything that we have ever written and it as times as melodic or more intensely melodic than anything we've written. It incorporates all of the elements from the past records and tries to bring them all to the next level.
IGN: How will it be different from your last album Indestructible?
Draiman: The instrumental moments definitely do make it stand aside and the overall strength of each one of these songs is fairly undeniable. It was interesting when we were having the single discussion on this record, which unfortunately always ends up coming up -- That this time it was even the chairman of Warner Bros. himself was saying "well you have 8 candidates here, which is going to end up being the one?" I don't say that it's necessarily different than Indestructible in that sense, but it is a very compelling and very strong body of work. As far as from a lyrical perspective, it's very different than the aspect that many of the prior records have much more cryptic lyrical delivery. This one is very in your face. Kind of wearing out my heart on my sleeve and it's very much a story telling type of record.
IGN: Why did you guys pick the name Asylum for the song and record title?
Draiman: The song itself speaks about the memory of a lost loved one driving you to the brink of insanity. You can't really let go of them, but on the same level that memory is a safe place for you, a haven that you go to when times are bad. So to the record, it speaks about the chaos and madness of the world we live in. And yet this world is our home and a place where we have to make ourselves feel safe.
IGN: What really inspired you while you were writing these lyrics?
Draiman: Unfortunately, nothing good. I came off of a really bad period of time. The prior touring cycle, I had my fiancee leave me, my best friends betrayed me, and the love of my life at the time, my touring companion, my dog Lisa, I had to put her to sleep during the Music as a Weapon run. It was really difficult for me to deal with and I got into a new relationship with a beautiful wonderful girl and things went temporarily sour just prior to me moving into my new home in Austin, Texas. I moved from Chicago to Austin and I ordered a new pup that was supposed to be ready for me and by the time I got home the puppy ended up dying on the way to me and my girl didn't end up moving in with me at that point in time. So I come off the road, move into an empty house, into a new town that I don't know very many people, and just started this downward spiral of depression. And that's when the lyrics started being penned for this record -- so nothing good came from that.
IGN: Are you guys kicking off a tour for the new album?
Draiman: We're starting on August 12th. We have a show in Sioux Falls and then we play Sturgis with the Scorpions, which were really looking forward to. And then we're starting the Rockstar Uproar Tour, which is us, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Hellyeah, Halestorm, Airbourne, Hail the Villain, and a bunch of other bands I'm sure I'm forgetting. The whole vendor village, a festival area, and there's some sort of wrestling contingent that's coming along with the tour. It's just a big traveling circus and we're really happy to be a part of it. It's going to be a good time for the bands and an amazing time for the fans.
Disturbed
IGN: "Another Way to Die" serves as the first single from the new album. Are you guys in the process of filming a music video for it?
Draiman: It's already been filmed. The final edit should hopefully be complete any day now.
IGN: It's been almost 10 ten years now since Disturbed's first album The Sickness, how do you think you guys have progressed as band since then?
Draiman: If anything, over the course of time our respect for each other has grown. We definitely value what everybody brings to the table in this band. We definitely know that no one element really is the same without the other. We really cherish our blessing that we've been able to find something like this together and we value it tremendously.
IGN: Will Dan (guitar), Mike (drums), and John (bass) contribute to the vocals on the album?
Draiman: They do some gang vocals, like in the track "Asylum" and in the chorus. They have additional tracks on there where they add to the gang vocal. They're not doing any specific individual vocalization or harmonizing, but they have a number of gang vocal moments.
IGN: Can you tell a little more about the hour long documentary Decade of Disturbed and some of the other features on the limited edition of the album?
Draiman: The Decade of Disturbed will be available to everyone for free. On the limited edition, you'll get a hard copy of the DVD and if you buy the record alone you'll have a code to download the entire movie for free. It's basically detailing the past 10 years of being in the band Disturbed and of how we started things, how things began, how things have grown and developed over the years, the ups and the downs, the challenges, the accomplishments, A look into the actual personas and characters of the band members. It's actually really funny. For much of the time of the video. [laughs]
IGN: Are you a gamer yourself?
Draiman: I like playing videogames man. I love them.
IGN: Is there a certain game you guys play on the tour bus?
Draiman: The other guys aren't really that into it. I'm kind of the guy that is the videogame guy. I love Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, I love the Need for Speed series, and the most recent one Need for Speed: Shift. I was completely lost in the whole Dragon Age series for I don't know how many months.
IGN: What's your favorite game of all time?
Draiman: Oh man that is tough. I used to be the biggest fan of the whole Resident Evil series. Those are some of my favorites.
IGN: You guys have had a few tracks added to some of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games. How do you generally feel about all these music games?
Draiman: I think they're amazing. I think it's incredible that it was videogames that brought rock music to a whole new generation of people. It's wonderful. The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned.
