David Draiman of Distrubed

Walt talks to David Draiman of Disturbed about new music, divorce, working with Ann Wilson, and more.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Yeah, yeah, it's wal fromRock ninety five five. It's always great
to chat with fellow musicians who comefrom Chicago, and today super excited to
be hanging with you. I amwith David Drayman of Disturbed. David,
welcome, Thank you for having me, Brily. It's so good to see

(00:23):
you looking good. By the way, man, I just saw your post
about the fitness regime hashtag down withthe fitness. I love it. How
hard is it to stay in shapewhen you're on the road. Incredibly challenging.
It's not like the healthiest food isalways readily available. It's not like

(00:44):
there's always a well fortified Jim,you know, nearby. And for me
in particular, it becomes even morechallenging because I also have to deal with
the the rigamarole that's so stated withmy really really severe acid reflux disease.
So it's it's a constant challenge,but you know, you kind of get

(01:10):
into a routine, you get intoa pattern, and you just stick with
it and thankfully the performances themselves.I burned through anywhere from five hundred to
seven hundred and fifty calories each timewe play, so that that definitely helps
a lot, just stay active,and by default I end up basically doing

(01:32):
intermittent fasting while I'm out there becauseI can't eat four hours prior to the
show. I can't eat two hoursprior to going to beds, so that
basically, yeah, it kills allthat. So my last meal of the
day, usually on shattes, islike a late lunch. So wow,
that's that's crazy. And you know, like you said, there's so many
hard choices. You know, fastfood is everywhere and you got to stay

(01:53):
away from that. It's it's toughwhen you're on the road. Yeah,
everything's tough when you're on the road. The only thing is being in front
of the fans. That's always Thatis the best two hours of the day.
Oh yeah, So congratulations on thenew album. Divisive is fantastic.
What a powerhouse powerhouse album it is. It's you, it's your eighth album.

(02:15):
Did you approach this record any differentlythan you did the Sickness? Well,
you know, they say that youhave your entire career to write your
first record, and then the restof your career has to be spent living
up to what you did. Soyou know, the process has always been

(02:36):
relatively the same. It always startswith the music. Ninety percent of the
time. We've always worked most effectivelywhen we're in front of each other.
The long distance stuff of just tradingfiles between each other just doesn't have the
same effect. We can get itdone, but nothing substitutes the organic,

(03:00):
real chemistry that occurs when you're infront of each other. So it's it's
pretty much been the same process fortwenty five years now. Well, it's
obviously working right because you came outwith this album that sounds like old school
Disturbed. It feels very comfortable rightat home. It's powerful. Would this
album have been What did it soundlike this if we didn't have the pandemic,

(03:22):
because it feels like you kind oflike went back to what you what
you you know, felt in yourheart where were it started. We were
hungry for the meat and potatoes forsure. Yeah, examine we get back
to Disturbed one on one. Wewere definitely feeling the hunger for the the
aggression and the syncopation and the rhythmand everything that we fell in love with

(03:47):
to begin with. So circling backto it was like coming home and yeah,
we could feel like it completely,you know, in terms of leaving
the ballad side of things that wehad straight into over the course of the
previous two records, something that we'vegrown very much in love with as well,

(04:08):
and so the duet with Anne Wilsonwas definitely a high moment for us
on that record. Yeah, Idefinitely want to talk about that. How
did that come about? Because thatsong is almost I mean like, you've
got all the hard hitting, powerfulstuff on the record, but this song
in the middle of the record justkind of stands out, is like where
the album peaks for me? Howdid that come about? I was in

(04:31):
the middle of a Twitter discussion andit was myself and Bruce Dickinson and a
few other guys who were commenting onwho we thought was the best female rock
voice of all time, and weall were saying, Ann Wilson, she's
the best, one of the bestvoices period, irrespective of genre, irrespective
of male or female. She's she'sa force to be reckoned with, and

(04:58):
she is a treasure. And youknow, she ended up responding and being
very accompanied. You just reached outand said, hey, I took my
shot. I took my shot.Okay, if there's ever a time when
I can ask, now's the time, and I asked her if she would
be willing to collaborate in the future. She was totally down with it,
and we had originally tracked Don't TellMe as just a single song song and

(05:27):
going back to it and then havingher in mind, I said to Danny
at the time, I'm like,now this is the one and this is
where we have to have our firstguest on a Disturbed record, and she's
agreed to do it. I senther the track and she fell in love
with it too, and Danny andI flew out to the West Coast to
meet up with her and her husband, and I had the tremendous honor and

(05:51):
privilege of singing with her and workingwith her on the harmonies and melodies and
getting to see firsthand just what anactual gift to humanity she is. She's
just an incredible woman. Well what'samazing is I Maybe it's not amazing because
you have two incredible voices, butthey sound so good together. I Mean,

(06:11):
you can never be for sure certainthat your voice will work with somebody
else's, but man, it definitelyworks on this track. For sure.
Oh. I couldn't agree more.The first time I was able to hear
it back with our voices combined.It was goosebumps for days. I mean
it, It's truly a surreal andand just you know magical moment really is.

(06:32):
And the topic is incredible too,because you know, letting go of
a relationship after many, many years, you don't hear a lot of songs
about that. I just went throughit about four years ago and it touched
me. Yeah, it touched me, and I'm going, like I this
topic is so powerful and so manypeople have gone through it, but not
many people speak to it. Sokudos were bringing up the topic, Well,

(06:57):
it was it was Danny's idea tobegin with to go to that subject
matter because he was at the timethat we conceptualized it's still reeling from his
recent divorce, and I had noidea how prophetic it was going to become
in terms of actually being reflective ofmy own recent divorce. So there's there's

(07:18):
only one guy left in the bandthat's still married was most newly married,
our boy John. But yeah,it hits home in a way that I
never expected it too, and itdefinitely fills you with emotion. Is it

(07:39):
going to be released as a single? At some point. Oh, absolutely
fantastic because it deserves to be heardby many, many many many years.
Love it. I couldn't agree more. Thank you. Brother. So you've
said that we're experiencing primal tribal warfareat this time, which I think I
understand where you're going with that.And this record is a wake a call

(08:00):
for everyone. Can you explain thatpeople got more addicted to their sides of
their respective teams and all the jargonand you know, propaganda and culture wars
and that that, and and virtuoussignaling that become associated with them over the
course of the pandemic. I mean, we got removed from everyone and everything,

(08:22):
and everybody had this incredible rabbit holeto go ahead and just delve into
on their respective computers or cell phonesor anything. The Internet is a limitless
source of trying to find the answersto why everything is wrong for you in
your life except for you yourself,and trying to point a finger at everybody

(08:43):
and everything for why you don't havethe things you want. It's it's it
became, you know, just sucha mess of epic proportions, and it
became everybody's. It was already everybody'saddiction, you know, but it was
intensified a hundredfold. It's like ajunkie being locked up in a house with

(09:05):
a whole bunch of heroin. Thenyou can't get away from right it was.
It was crazy seeing just how muchit intensified during that period of time
and how hyper polarized everybody. Itbecame, even more so than you know,
the respective two or three elections haddone to us as a country,

(09:26):
as and as a planet. It'sa very sad state of affairs where the
everyone's favorite pastime is this, yeah, you know, picking aside and only
wanting to hear the thoughts that arealready in your head coming out of the
person you're talking to his mouth.And I think the word tribal is perfect,

(09:48):
I mean, because that's how Ifeel. I feel like we all
subscribe, belong to our tribes,and no matter what our tribes say,
that's what goes. And but thisalbum speaks to positivity and it kind of
brings everybody together, and I think, like we're all in this. We
all love this music, so whycan't we all just get along type of
a vibe? And I love thepositivity. It's it's important. We need

(10:09):
that more than ever right now,No, for sure, for sure we
need we need more tools to bringus together more than ever. And music
is the most powerful connective force inall of creation. You know, there's
not a single nation on the planetthat you know, there's a reason why

(10:33):
every national anthem is sung. There'sa reason why every single movie, every
every piece of a soundtrack has scoredso carefully, and and why sonics are
able to elicit such powerful emotions andpowerful memories in our person I mean it,

(10:54):
it's true magic. You know,the ability that music has to bring
people to together, to take themback in time, to connect an entire
sea full of thousands of people whootherwise would never have a chance to be
connected to each other. It's it's, it's it's it's a miracle, so
true. I mean, whether you'relike Bob in your head to a disturbed

(11:16):
beat and all of the awesome ripsand grooves that you guys put out,
or just being moved by the musicin a movie. It is key to
everything. You listen to a moviewithout the music and it falls so much
flat, right, so flatter thanit does with the music. It's so
important, and I don't think peopleever realize it, because it is a
primal thing that happens when we're injectedwith music, very much so, and

(11:39):
it's not something that can be scientificallydeduced. It's not something that you can
you know with his And don't getme wrong, I have a tremendous respect
for technology, but AI is nevergoing to be able to find the mystical
combination of notes that, for whateverreason makes the hairs on the back of

(12:01):
your neck stand up when you heara specific melody pattern. It you might
be able to have it put togethereedm stuff, You may be able to
have it identify that. Look,we you and I both know that the
average song structure is verse course,verse course, bridge, outro, chorus
to just about every single song inexistence. That there's some science too.

(12:26):
But to find why this note combinationor this particular appegiation, or this particular
descending progression as opposed to this ascendingprogression happens to resonate within the human soul.
That's not scientific. That's souls feel, and that's something that no matter

(12:48):
how far technology ends up developing,we won't ever be robbed up. And
you're so good at the melody thingbecause I love the fact that a disturbed
song hits so hard, it bounces, it's got the groove and everything.
But and you can sing every oneof these disturbed songs, and where where
does that melody come from? Howmuch hard is it to find those right

(13:09):
combinations of notes. It's a blessingand it's not something that can be taught.
It just isn't. There's I thinkthe powers that be every single day
of my existence, that we canstill find them, that I can still

(13:31):
find them, that they haven't beenhidden from me yet, that there's still
plenty of water in the well,so to speak, to draw from.
It's so miraculous, and it's creation, it really truly is. And it's
always improvisation. It's always feeling aroundin the dark and trying to see which

(13:56):
patterns work and which fit within thebed of music that you're trying to create
them in, and and waiting untilyou finally achieve the right combination that does
achieve the desired effect. It's it'sa lot of trial and errors. Sometimes
sometimes it comes out you know instantly, there's no calculated means of it.

(14:20):
You know, there's there's so manygreat proficient players in this world there's so
many people who are virtuosos at theirrespective instrument. Okay, but the actual
song writers in this world that canactually write a hit song and have that
hook that no matter what musical bedyou put it in, it's still going

(14:43):
to hook you. That is agift I will never take for granted any
day of my life. Well,you do it very well, and we
are all appreciative. It sounds sogreat on the new record too. I
just love that you just a tourin Europe. How different are European crowds
than the crowds in the US.You know, I often compare the difference

(15:11):
in terms of passion. US getsall the tours all the time. Europe
doesn't get them quite as often.And let's even go away from music for
a second. There's just something differentculturally there. Go to a European football
match, right what we call soccerhere in the States, or and then
go the only thing that comes closeto the level of coordinated intensity that exists

(15:39):
at a European football match is goingto like a college football game in the
United States. I'm not even sayingthe NFL NFL greats are, yeah,
great, but you go to acollege game. That's a whole different level
of passion and energy, and that'salmost sometimes there, sometimes even exceeding it,
but it's almost you would see atlet's say, when we just played

(16:03):
Novar Rock in Austria, or whenwe just played Release Festival and Athens,
or when we just finished our lastshow in Tel Aviv, the level of
intensity of passion of having the crowdsinging every single word to every single song
louder than I can possibly do itwith the whole pa behind me. I
mean, it's so transcendent and sogratifying and so intoxicating. It's absolutely overwhelming.

(16:33):
And if anyone from the United Stateshasn't had the opportunity to experience a
European festival crowd, you need todo it at least once in your lifetime
too. Put it on your bucketlist for sure. For sure. Yeah,
So you're about to kick off,to take off your take your life
back to her here in the States. What is one thing that diehard Disturbed

(16:55):
fans are going to be surprised aboutthis upcoming tour. Well, we're definitely
going to be pulling deep into thecatalog. We're going to have a different
audible every night, Now, alot of the set is very structured because
we're bringing out massive production, alot of pipro, a lot of toys

(17:17):
that we have never played with before. So there's going to be a large
majority of our one and a halfto two hours that we're up there that
are going to be everything that they'relooking for hit wise, and all the
bells and whistles go along with it. But at least every night that we
play there will be one song thatis different. And you know, we're

(17:37):
really we're not trying to go towardsthe rest of the singles and the catalog
per se, even though we'll probablydip into their from time to time,
but we're looking at some of themore obscure stuff. We're looking at some
of the songs that we've either veryvery rarely played live or have never played
live before. Wow, it's goingto be fun for everybody, for us

(18:00):
and them. We're very much lookingforward to it. I was gonna ask,
so does that keep it fresh foryou when you pull out a something
that you haven't played in years ormaybe never played before. Oh? Yeah,
yeah. It also means quite abit of homework as we're out there
on the road as well. Exactly, exactly for sure do you get do
you feel a little bit of nerveswhen you play in front of a Chicago

(18:22):
hometown show. I don't know thatnerves or what I would call it anymore.
It's excitement, you know, especiallyin Chicago. You know that what
I will always refer to as theWorld Music Theater. There was where I
saw all my favorite shows growing up. You know where I you know,

(18:45):
where we've shot the video for Downwith the Sickness, you know, headlining
our first radio show there. It'ssuch an iconic venue. It looks like
a hard rock, heavy metal venue. It has that vibe, it has
that you know, incredible spirit,and I look forward to that energy every

(19:07):
time we play. Well, weare all looking forward to seeing the power
and the music that you're going todeliver at what is now called credit Union
One Amphitheater, different title than whenyou even announced this tour at the beginning
of the year, but that isAugust thirtieth breaking Benjamin and Ginger and to
David saw such a pleasure to getto speak with you. Cannot wait to

(19:27):
see Disturbed later on this summer herein Chicago. Thanks for taking the time
to hang out with me. Thankyou for having me, Brother, be
well talk you got it, youtoo, Yeah,