Disturbed

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Posted on July 1st 2009 by Owen Thomas

Who: Disturbed
What: interview
Where: Canadian tour
When: check myspace for dates

check mysapce for Canadian tour dates
www.myspace.com/disturbed

Disturbed, from Chicago Illinois, formed in 1996. Their debut album "The Sickness" peaked at #27 on the Billboard top 200 albums charts in 2000, going on to sell over 4 million copies in the U.S. alone. Their next three albums "Believe", "Ten Thousand Fists", and Indestructible debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts. Only a hand full of bands has been able to hit three #1 albums in their first week of release.

Recently, they just wrapped up their 4th "Music As A Weapon" tour that hit all American cities. Don't worry, they bootlegged their own sets and available for download through their website. This tour also included Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil, Chimaira. The tour/festival also had tattoo artists and X-Games motor-cross athletes.

Unlike most of their mega-rock band peers, you'll be hard pressed to find any dirt, in fighting and substance abuse stories that plague most groups. You're more likely to find an extremely hard working band with a passion for music rivaled by none.

We had a chance to talk with Dan Donegan, the guitarist and main song writer of the band. Unfortunately Dan was in transit on tour and in a rough spot while we spoke. Here's what we were able to salvage from the overly static phone call.


You've collectively always been driving forward and pushing the envelope. What's next?For the next future album, do you feel any pressure to land that #1 spot again?
Dan Donegan We've never really thought about that. We were shocked, surprised and very excited that we had three #1's in a row. To me, it just goes to show that we have a dedicated fan base that are patiently waiting for new material from us, you know? And when it comes out, they're ready for it and go out to get it. It's a great accomplishment not only for us, but for the fans. It's letting their voices be heard. In a day and age where it's mostly pop-rock and hip-hop that dominates the charts and dominates the airwaves, it's nice to show there's a large fane base for this type of music. When we continue to write, even though those things are always in the back of your head, when it comes down to writing songs, we can't really guess what it is that's working there's no secret formula, you know? If there was, everyone would be doing it and everyone would be successful at it. We just present ideas to each other and work it to the point where it sends a chill up our spine and that's all we can do. We treat it the same way as when we were a garage band 11-12 years ago when we were doing it for ourselves. We're just lucky that the stuff we've created, the fans have found something to connect with. We just try and keep in that mind set of doing it for us. Doing real music and have subject matter that means something you know? It's not just words that are filling up the spaces. It's something that's either personal opinions or issues and I think that's why a lot of fans find something with-in the songs and something they can relate to.

You've done some things not very many can say like playing in Kuwait, playing with Metallica, Judas Priest, Ozzy, multiple multi-platinum albums, Grammy nominations. What achievement are you most proud of with Disturbed?
Dan Donegan - It's over whelming. There's definitely so many times where we have to pinch ourselves and say "I can't believe that just happened. So many times we've been at a show and you look out there. It's just a sea f people and it's overwhelming. And we're sharing the stage with one of out heroes like you mentioned with Judas Priest and Ozzy and we shared a stage with Pantara and all of our heroes. There's so many over whelming moments. And Kuwait, us going there last March was a huge great opportunity for us and paying respects to the troops in person. They're in hell over there and we're giving them a couple hours to escape from it and enjoy themselves at a concert. We've been vocal about being not for the war, but we're for our troops. Our men and women were sent there to do a job and they don't question it. They're there and risk their lives. We've always been pro-military but not too excited about the reasons why they were sent to the war in the first place. We had an opportunity to go and be apart of a concert and give them a couple hours to escape from the realities they live in. It was a great accomplishment for us and our small contribution went along way.

What happened with Intoxication Records? Did you guy put the project on hold or did it just never come to fruition?
Dan Donegan  - Me and David started the label a while ago. We were really aggressively looking for bands for a while.  It was tougher than we realized. There was always something missing from them, maybe it was being lazy or something missing from the band. And for us to sign the first band, we really wanted it to be a band that has their act together. We finally came across a band that we're very excited about and they're on this tour. They're "Art Of Dying" (myspace.com/theartofdying ) and they're from Vancouver. Well, 2 of the guys are from Toronto. They're an amazing band. A lot of talent and they work hard. They're exactly what we're looking for. They're a straight up rock band. Kind of like an Alice In Chains type of vibe to them with these big harmonies. Very melodic. Just great. We're very excited about them. We're just trying to finalize some of the details. He attorney stuff. We have plans on getting them in the studio this fall and making an album.

With you guys self producing your last album "Indestructible", is this something you're looking to do with them or any other bands that are a part of your label?
Dan Donegan - It's hard to say. We'll have opinions and we'll be involved to some point, but we won't be forcing our ideas or telling bands what to do. We'll let bands do their thing and just guide them along the way.

 

 

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