Disturbed
Disturbed’s Music as a Weapon Tour is bigger than ever

By Jeff Niesel


The economy’s in shambles and concert tickets aren’t selling like they used to. But don’t tell Disturbed singer David Draiman. The frontman for the Chicago-based industrial hard rock act says the upcoming Music as a Weapon Tour, which his band essentially curates, will be the biggest installment yet. The fourth tour the guys have put together, it’ll feature like-minded hard rock acts Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil and Chimaira, all playing on the mainstage alongside Disturbed. And this year, it’s become a bona fide festival.

“It’s always our largest undertaking each record cycle,” Draiman says of the tour, speaking in a recent phone interview. “This year is the largest production we’ve ever tried to put together. It’s encompassing one of the strongest bills we’ve ever assembled. We have an extreme sports contingent coming along with us: motocross guys and half-pipe guys. We have a troupe of about 20 multi-media guys and sponsorship from Samsung, Sprint and Harley-Davidson. It’s turned into a true festival. We’re offering the whole thing at under 40 bucks; we’re trying to be sensitive to the economic times.”

Draiman says the band’s able to pull it off simply because it knows its loyal fans will show up, like they always do when the group issues a new studio album.

“It’s a testament to the dedication of our fanbase,” he says. “They’re still willing to come, and they know we’re not looking to take advantage of them. In today’s touring environment, rock fans have to pick and choose what they see. We’re hoping that as strong and reasonably priced it is, it’ll be an easy choice.”
Many of the bands with whom Disturbed has played at Ozzfest and various other festivals over the years have called it quits. Not Disturbed. The guys haven’t strayed far from the industrial metal formula they delivered so successfully on their platinum selling debut, 2000’s The Sickness.

“It’s the type of music they can listen to in the gym, the type of music that gets them through the difficult times in their life, the type of music that strips them of their pain and makes them feel powerful,” Draiman says. “Each album has been progressing in terms of its melodic nature and artistry but has always remained very rhythmic, very pummeling and very melodic at the same time.

It all started over ten years ago when Draiman auditioned to join a pre-existing band called Brawl. Given that he had been through his share of bands, fronting mostly punk acts before meeting the Brawl guys, Draiman knew he didn’t want to just play cover tunes.

“That was my fifth or sixth audition that month,” he says of his initial meeting with Brawl. “Everyone had been cool, but nothing I felt compelled to join. I came upon these guys whose tightness, musicianship and intensity was so intense. My worry was that I couldn’t compliment the ferociousness of the sound. That was my hesitation to join. What we did was so compelling. When they were doing auditions, they were jamming cover tunes. I said, ‘With all due respect, I don’t want to know how well you can cover other songs.’ I said, ‘I want to hear original material. Give me a microphone and let me try something.’ Within five minutes we knew what was happening. I hate to sound stereotypical, but there was magic that happened that day.”

Draiman admits he was initially taken off guard by the success of The Sickness?

“I did not expect the impact that it did make,” he says. “In fact, just the day before yesterday, it officially scanned four million. I never thought in a million years that would happen. Not this style of music or our songs, as abrasive as they were. Not as dark as the subject matter is. No way this will ever have the mass appeal we’ve been able to achieve. We all feel very blessed for it.”
By 2002’s Believe, the band had matured and that carried through onto 2005’s Ten Thousand Fists of Fury and last year’s hard-hitting Indestructible, an album that reveals the band’s classic metal influences.

“That’s where we come from,” Draiman explains. “We’re a band that listened to Sabbath, Maiden, Priest and Pantera. These are the bands that made us play. We keep on heading back in that direction because it’s what we love.”

And yet, Disturbed is distinguished by its balance between introspective lyrics and heavy music.

“The lyricism should never suffer for the aggression,” Draiman says. “The subject matter should remain poignant. It always will, since I’m the one writing the lyrics. It needs to come from a true, deep place in my heart. Otherwise, it can’t be performed with any kind of conviction. Fans always know a fake and they know when one isn’t. I would dare anyone to challenge the genuineness of my emotions. This has been therapy not only for myself, but also for the millions of fans we have for ten years now. I cling to this like a lifeline.”