Moncton gets Disturbed tomorrow
Published Thursday May 28th, 2009
Chart-topping rockers perform at Moncton Coliseum
It's been nearly a decade since Disturbed broke onto the North American music scene with its hugely successful album The Sickness, and it was a few years prior to that when the metal band started honing its craft.
Over the years, the band has compiled an impressive list of hit songs, including Down With The Sickness, Voices, Inside the Fire, Indestructible and Land of Confusion.
This week, the band performs shows in Moncton (tomorrow) and Halifax (Saturday) as part of a cross-country tour. On tour with the group is Skindred, All That Remains and Art of Dying.
Disturbed -- frontman David Draiman, guitarist Dan Donegan, bassist John Moyer and drummer Mike Wengren -- is nearing the end of the touring cycle for Indestructible, its third consecutive number one album.
The Chicago-based band has been touring for well over a year and, other than some European festival dates on the horizon, the tour is just about over, which could be a good thing as it sounds like David Draiman needs a break.
The singer, calling in to the Times & Transcript prior to a recent show, sounds tired. It's not hard to believe, given the physically demanding show the metal band puts on and the seemingly never-ending life on the road that has its own demands.
"It's not easy, my friend, regardless of what people will tell you," David says. "I never understood why so many musicians turn to abusive drug use until I had been on the road for five, six years. And then you begin to understand why they get drawn into it, why they need it, why they need something to carry them over during the times of abandonment, or loneliness, of loss of anonymity, of loss of self, of loss of any stability and normalcy of life."
The frontman says a touring musician's lifestyle creates a strain on relationships and has physical demands that are difficult to keep up with. But David hasn't fallen into those pitfalls many roadworn and weary musicians do. He lives a "straight edge" life on the road, meaning he doesn't drink or do drugs. He says keeping your head on straight is a matter of prioritizing, but it's not easy.
"You have to decide what's important to you. For instance, myself, I mean I lead a very, very straight-edge sort of lifestyle on the road. I'm kind of like in a bubble -- can't drink, can't smoke, can't hang out late. None of it. My body is my instrument, and I'm not one of those guys that has an iron constitution and can go ahead and obliterate themselves and be OK the next day. I just can't do it, especially with how physically demanding pulling these songs off vocally is. You really need to respect what it takes to pull this off, and you really need to respect your body."
David runs down a typical day on the road for him: he hits the gym, grabs lunch, does some press, eats supper, meets fans at meet and greets and then gets ready for that night's show.
"That's pretty much it, every day," he says.
It's the concerts that are supposed to make the hardships of road life worth it, and David agrees, calling everything else a "means to an end;" that end being roughly two hours of pulverizing music and exchanging energy on stage with fans.
"I'm not tired of writing music and performing in front of crowds, but the life of touring, I've been tired of it for a long, long, long time," he says.
While David relates the life of getting three or four hours of sleep on a tour bus each night and rarely getting a break, he never sounds like he's complaining.
"That's part of what you sign up for, it's part of the equation," he says. "It makes that time that you do have all that much more precious."
Finding a happy medium and balance between work and time off is key, and as Disturbed approaches its 15th year as band, David says the band will likely approach touring a little differently in the future.
"I think that we in the future are going to be a little more selective in our touring and not tour as extensively, not cover territories more than once or twice in a cycle, and really kind of make each Disturbed performance an event," he says. "I don't think that at our age and with the level of strenuousness that this life requires that we can continue beating the hell out of ourselves the way that we have." He says its time for the band to be a little more strategic in how it approaches road life.
The band has been gripping the reins of its career a little tighter in recent years.
The foursome produced Indestructible without the aid of Grammy-nominated producer Johnny K. who usually works with them.
David says the band enjoyed producing the record on its own, and the group will likely continue to do so with future records.
"It definitely makes you rely on each other much more heavily," he says. "Having that outside voice was sometimes helpful but, truth be told, 95 per cent of what has made every Disturbed record from an arrangement perspective and from the way that the songs were actually written was completed prior to tracking, prior to entering into the studio."
Once their summer tour dates are over, David says Disturbed will likely take a month or two off before reconvening to write songs for its next album, which could be out as soon as next spring.
And while the road has taken its toll on Disturbed, its frontman says the band has been fortunate to remain successful for so many years.
"We've survived extinction," he says. "We've been very, very fortunate. I think that we've been consistent. We've put out records that consistently have been what the fans have been looking for from Disturbed. We've been consistent with our live performances. As long as we continue to maintain that level of trust with our fanbase, I think they'll still be there."
n Disturbed will play with Skindred, All That Remains and Art of Dying tomorrow at the Moncton Coliseum. Tickets are on sale now for $49.50 at the Moncton Coliseum, by phone at 857-4100 and online at tickets.moncton.ca
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