Disturbed joins us for an #AudacyCheckIn ahead of the band's North American trek in celebration of 25 years since the release of their debut album, 'The Sickness.'
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00:00I will not break, which sounds like something from the sick.
00:02I think it sounds like something from the sickness era.
00:04I don't know if that's what you guys were going for.
00:07You know, when we create these days, brother, we're not,
00:11we're not trying to target any particular era.
00:14We're just writing from our hearts.
00:19So I'm so happy to be here with David Draymond.
00:22I can't believe it's been 25 years of the sickness.
00:25And you know, the sickness is one of the only albums that I
00:29actually remember.
00:29But I remember the exact place I was when I bought it because
00:33I'm from the South side of Chicago.
00:35And every concert I would go to, you guys would hand out this
00:39little cassette tape.
00:40Oh yeah.
00:41It had done with the sickness and the game on it, I believe.
00:44And one side was a smiley face.
00:46And the other side was like, uh, how would you describe that
00:49old disturb logo?
00:51Like an angry face, I guess.
00:53Yeah.
00:54Yeah.
00:55That was the first incarnation of the guy, right?
01:00That's what ended up becoming the three dimensional version
01:03on the 10,000 fists record.
01:04In the early days, it was just that two dimensional face.
01:08So every concert I would go to the Eric on the house of blues,
01:11the rib, the Vic, I was in high school.
01:14You guys would hand me these little black cassette tapes.
01:16And I wanted to see you guys.
01:18We had this thing called the Chicago reader.
01:20It would always say disturbed is playing at champs rock bar,
01:24which was so close to my house.
01:26I was like, I don't know, 19.
01:27I couldn't get it.
01:28I was under age.
01:29So I went to Columbia college.
01:32I would always walk to the orange line.
01:33I'd get on an Adams and Wabash.
01:35There was a tower records right next to that stop.
01:39And I I'm in there, you know, I'd always just go in there
01:41after school looking around and I see the sickness and I'm
01:46like, whoa.
01:46And there were two concert tickets in the CD
01:50for your album release party at the Metro.
01:53Yep.
01:54So I don't know why there were tickets in those.
01:57Did you remember?
01:57Like we put them in there.
02:01Yeah.
02:01And so we're trying to get people to come.
02:03It was kind of an important show.
02:04You know what I mean?
02:05So giving them away, selling them, you know,
02:08we weren't about making money at the time.
02:10We didn't, we weren't about selling our own tickets.
02:12We'd give them away.
02:13We don't, we didn't care.
02:14We just wanted, we wanted bodies in the room.
02:17And we were definitely our own, you know, street team in many.
02:22Yeah.
02:23If there were four shows going on in Chicago at a given night,
02:26if there was one at the Aragon, one at the, you know,
02:29UIC Pavilion, one at United Center, we'd hit them all.
02:33The band would lit up with all of our promotional materials.
02:37And to me, that was always the easiest way
02:40to get directly to the fans.
02:42Here are the fans coming out of another great rock show.
02:45Well, here, if you want some more of this,
02:48you know, say, you know, different flavors,
02:51same kind of family, come on over and check us out.
02:54So it fostered this great sense of community.
02:58It fostered this great sense of like brotherhood and sisterhood.
03:02And it was, I loved it.
03:04Those days were really, really magical days back then.
03:07And it was such a fresh sound because there was nothing.
03:10When the sickness came out, there was nothing.
03:12You have your influences, like you've said, like Bruce Dickinson.
03:15I mean, but you don't sound like Iron Maiden.
03:17You have your own, you, disturbed is disturbed.
03:20You have the disturbed sound always.
03:22So that was such a fresh sound at the time.
03:24Because like you said, that wasn't popular.
03:27I definitely, you know, had a tremendous amount of inspiration
03:31from guys like Jonathan Davis.
03:34That first Korn record was massive for me.
03:39Chino Moreno from the Deftones.
03:41Both those guys wielding rhythm in their vocal deliveries,
03:47the way that they did were hugely inspirational for me.
03:51Guys like Maynard James Keenan from Tool,
03:54you know, those first couple of Tool records,
03:56his power, his resonances, his ethereal nature to his vocal delivery.
04:03All those guys were definitely huge influences
04:06in addition to the Aussies, the Hetfields, you know,
04:13the Dickinson's, the Dio's of the world.
04:16So they definitely were a huge part of who we became and who I became for sure.
04:23What do you think about the adventure that it used to be like as a rock fan?
04:27Because I feel like kids, like I remember taking the train downtown,
04:30go, I was looking for the Danzig three video.
04:33I remember I spent seven hours going from record store to record store,
04:38train, walking, like that's an adventure that kids will,
04:41and even I remember waiting in line for concert tickets.
04:44It was an adventure.
04:45You'd walk there, there'd be a lottery.
04:47It would be a whole, it'd be a party.
04:49It's like, that's gone now.
04:50What kids are, that's something that I feel bad.
04:52I miss it and I feel that we have a generation of fans
04:56that unfortunately will never ever get to experience that.
05:00You know, we've become so detached and so disconnected from everything
05:04with the help of technology.
05:08You know, we don't have physical packaging anymore.
05:11I used to really get into getting records,
05:14opening them up, reading all the liner notes.
05:17Who are they, who was behind it?
05:19You know, what inspired them?
05:21What were the lyrics?
05:22What were they saying?
05:23What were they trying to make me think?
05:25You know, all of that.
05:26And I think a lot of that is now lost.
05:29I think our tendency to consume faster and faster
05:36and more and more rapidly and our attention span,
05:40which gets shorter and shorter over the course of time,
05:43in many ways, it's enabled so much more music
05:47to get on the table and to be heard.
05:49But on another level, there's so much that's getting missed.
05:52And there are opportunities that will never ever be able
05:55to be duplicated or replicated.
05:57I really do feel bad that people won't ever get to experience.
06:00I agree with you.
06:02Since we're talking about 25 years of the sickness,
06:04can we go back to those early days of Disturbed?
06:08How did you and Dan meet?
06:09What's the story there?
06:11Well, he had an ad put out in the Illinois Entertainer.
06:18And that usually was the kiss of death.
06:20You know, there was a curse associated with IE back in the day
06:24that if you ever made the cover,
06:26that you would never end up being successful.
06:28You know, like it was always like rounds would fall apart after that.
06:31And so we were always terrified of that.
06:33But anyway, he had an ad.
06:36And I had been auditioning for the better part of a year at the time.
06:44Band to band.
06:45And there were a bunch that asked me to join,
06:47but no one that really had original material
06:50that really kind of inspired me.
06:52No one that I felt like I wanted to dive into things with.
06:55So I answered his ad.
06:58He had a lot of those influences in the ad that I spoke about with you.
07:02Korn, Deftones, Tool, things of that nature.
07:05Sabbath, Maiden, you know, Priest, Pantera.
07:08And we shared a lot of the same tastes.
07:12And I went to go audition for the guys at the rehearsal spot.
07:15And it was Michigan and Cermak was our old spot.
07:20I walked in and I lived on the north side at the time.
07:23I live in Bucktown Worker Park area.
07:25And those guys were all, you know, Oak Lawn or areas outside.
07:30And I walk in typical stereotype north side.
07:35Or, you know, I got a pair of jean shorts on and sandals and like a white T-shirt.
07:40You know, I couldn't look anymore north side if I tried.
07:43And I come in there with my roommate at the time,
07:48who was the guy who really got me into the new wave of heavy metal at the time.
07:55You know, whether it was Typo Negative or Korn or Deftones.
07:59He really introduced me to all that.
08:01So he came to the audition with me.
08:04And I walk in and the guys look like, you know, they look like the members of Skid Row.
08:09You know, Skid Row meets Testament almost.
08:14Mikey had his long, straight black hair and, you know, is down to his ass.
08:19And, you know, Dan and Fuzz both had feathered flowing locks.
08:24And, you know, the pseudo flannel shirts with the acid-watched frayed jeans.
08:34I mean, the whole nine yards.
08:36And here I am.
08:37We couldn't look any more different from each other.
08:40And then you open your mouth.
08:42They're like, whoa.
08:43Well, it was something like that.
08:47They wanted me to try some stuff with them.
08:50Like, OK, well, can I hear your original material?
08:52And they're like, well, what are you going to sing to it?
08:55Like, well, I don't know yet.
08:56I haven't heard it.
08:57You know, they're like, well, you're just going to come up with something on the spot?
09:00I'm like, yeah.
09:02They're like, you don't want to do any covers?
09:04I'm like, well, you guys aren't a cover band, right?
09:07I thought you guys had original material.
09:08They're like, no, no, no, we've got originals.
09:10I'm like, OK, well, I mean, we could play covers, too.
09:12But I'd really like to hear what you guys have written.
09:16And they're like, you're just going to come up with something.
09:18I'm like, yeah, just let me hear it.
09:19Does the microphone work?
09:21Like, yeah, OK, give me the mic, turn on the PA, and let's give this a shot.
09:26And they're like, oh, OK, look at this guy.
09:28So they started playing and took me a couple of minutes.
09:33And I had a previous lyric that I had written for a different song,
09:37for one of my previous projects.
09:40And I just started humming a melody in my head.
09:46And when I was ready, I just started spitting it out.
09:49And by the end of my attempt, they finished the song, and they stopped.
09:57And then they're like, you just came up with that?
10:01I'm like, yeah.
10:03They were trying to hide the shit-eating grins that were developing on their faces.
10:10And I was very, very, very unsure, very unsure.
10:15They were very heavy.
10:18They were very much Pantera-esque at that time.
10:22Their previous singer, when they used to call themselves Brawl,
10:28a guy named Eric was singing for them.
10:30And he was very much from the old Phil Anselmo school of vocal delivery,
10:34very guttural, very, very abrasive vocal delivery.
10:40I wasn't used to that.
10:41And I was trying to do my version of what I thought was appropriate for the song.
10:46Well, that song ended up becoming Want, one of the tracks on the Sickness record,
10:52that very first day.
10:55So it was magic from day one.
10:59And I remember being at home with my roommate and talking about the experience with him
11:04and expressing to him that I was unsure.
11:07I didn't think I could complement the heaviness of the music.
11:11And he was like, dude, if you don't go back and continue practicing with these guys,
11:16you're stupid.
11:16Because from what I heard today, there's no doubt in my mind that if you keep going forward
11:20with this, you guys are going to get signed.
11:22And I'm like, OK, let me give it a shot.
11:25So one thing led to another.
11:27We continued to learn from each other and develop as musicians along the way.
11:31And 25 years later, here we are.
11:33Do you miss those days?
11:34Like you just mentioned, you lived with a roommate.
11:36Like, do you miss those days where you're not looking at your Chase or Bank of America
11:41app and you're like, oh, nice.
11:43Yeah.
11:44Yeah.
11:44I wish I was still doing that.
11:46After the divorce, that gets more and more.
11:52But yeah, I miss a lot about the old days.
11:56I miss the vibe of the old days.
11:57I miss the sense of rock community that we had back in the old days, for sure.
12:02Everything that we alluded to, you know, I and that's one of the reasons why I'm so
12:08excited about this 25th anniversary run.
12:11You know, it's yeah, it's a ton of nostalgia, you know, in a bag.
12:15And it's the biggest tour you've ever done, right?
12:18Yeah.
12:18It's going to be massive.
12:21I very, very excited about it.
12:24Very excited about both halves of the bill.
12:26Um, you know, incredibly strong, uh, from seven to us in three days graze to, you know,
12:32nothing more in Daughtry.
12:34I mean, we, we definitely aren't, you know, inviting, uh, you know, uh, laid back bands
12:41on the bill.
12:42Yeah.
12:42Going to make us feel like we have an easy time carrying.
12:45Yeah.
12:46Um, everybody's making us feel like we need to step up our game and we have every intention
12:51of doing just that.
12:52So you're going to have to come out early and do a angel song every night with nothing
12:56more.
12:56Right.
12:57I don't know about half to, but I mean, you want to, right?
13:00I do want to, I do want to.
13:02It's a great song.
13:03Yeah.
13:03I love it.
13:04I love it.
13:04I love those guys.
13:05I have such faith in them becoming part of the next, uh, generation of hard rock headliners.
13:17Uh, I, I truly do believe that those guys are going to take over the reigns among with
13:22a whole bunch of other ones.
13:24There's, there's, there's a slew of them out there that are doing it at such an amazing
13:28level.
13:28You know, I, I would never be able to name all of them, but no, I'm certainly very, very
13:33proud of what they've done.
13:35So March 7th, you put out the three disc, I guess you would call it a sickness, which
13:40has demos.
13:42And then it also has, I think it's from the Metro show I was at there's, I think voices
13:48is on there from that Metro show I was actually at.
13:50So I'm excited about that, but it's mostly, it looks like from a Los Angeles show.
13:54It's, it's from a bunch of stuff from the Palladium show way, you know, way, way long
13:59ago during like, I believe it's the latter third of the sickness cycle, something like
14:05that.
14:06But yeah, a lot of it is from there.
14:07A lot of really cool live stuff, live moments.
14:10Um, and it sounds great.
14:13It's sound.
14:14I can't wait to hear it.
14:16And then you have a new song called, which is awesome.
14:19I will not break, which sounds like something from the sick.
14:22I think it sounds like something from the sickness era.
14:24I don't know if that's what you guys were going for.
14:26You know, when we create these days, brother, we're not, we're not trying to target any
14:32particular era.
14:33We're just writing from our hearts.
14:35Yeah.
14:38You know, we can't help but gravitate towards the rhythmic, syncopated, heavily, uh, you
14:46know, melodic type of, you know, big anthemic chorus thing.
14:51We love that.
14:51That's, that's what it is.
14:53So, you know, going back to our wheelhouse is a very comfortable and very empowering
14:58thing to do.
14:59We, we, we have fun doing it.
15:02And that song was just a blast to play.
15:07I just rehearsed it with the guys, you know, this past week.
15:12It sounded amazing where we've all got, you know, big ass grins on our faces as we're
15:17playing it.
15:18It's, it's, it's a trip.
15:20And there's a lot more where that came from.
15:22We have a whole new records worth of material that we are going to be releasing piece by
15:29piece over the course of the next year or two until we finally released the whole thing.
15:34And it is incredibly strong.
15:38It's as strong as anything we've ever put out.
15:40There's definitely some more surprises in the body of work too.
15:44I'm not going to give too much away, but this lead track, I will not break.
15:49I have every confidence is going to end up taking its place among the strongest of our
15:55singles out there.
15:56Yeah.
15:56And it sounds like live, that thing will really hit.
15:59Oh yeah.
16:00And, and you're coming off divisive, which I think is one of your best albums.
16:04Don't tell me with Ann Wilson.
16:06Have you considered, since you don't have any female singers, just putting her up on
16:10the big screen for the tour, because her facials in that video, it's like beautiful.
16:19I'm with you about that.
16:22I would have a major issue just singing along to somebody on screen.
16:27Oh yeah.
16:29I know that there's a lot of bands that would be okay with that.
16:34For me personally, I got to have it live, you know, and it's not casting any judgment
16:42on those who do what they do differently.
16:44It's just how we do what we do.
16:46And I don't think I could get forgive myself.
16:49And I'm, and I don't think that Ann would forgive me either if I did it that way.
16:54So I think whenever we do have the opportunity to have a female guest, maybe we'll pull it
17:01back out.
17:02But for the time being, I think that baby's being put to bed, at least for the duration
17:06of this cycle coming.
17:07Yeah.
17:08Are there any other, like, like remembers a song?
17:10I don't think you've played in like 14 years and I've got, when you see remember live,
17:15oh, it's so great live.
17:17Like, is that a song you might bring back?
17:19I'd love to hear that again.
17:20Maybe I love that song.
17:22That's always been one of my favorites.
17:23In fact, that was the one that I thought would go all the way on the Believe record.
17:31That was the one that I thought was going to be the biggest hit.
17:35Prayer ended up being the biggest one from that record.
17:38But I love the song.
17:41It reminds me of what a challenge it is to live this life and to try and be a musician
17:46and to, you know, face the adversity that comes along with it and the challenges that
17:50come along with it.
17:51I love the song.
17:53Who knows?
17:54Anything's possible.
17:55So you guys are playing the final Black Sabbath show ever, and a big part of my childhood
18:00was going to OzFest.
18:02I went to every OzFest, and you guys were a part of a lot of those OzFests.
18:06Do you tell me about what it feels like to be at this final Black Sabbath show and what
18:11are you doing there?
18:12I guess you don't want to ruin the surprise.
18:14I'm honored beyond belief, dude.
18:16I mean, there's no individual in the world who I revere more than Ozzy.
18:24He's like a father to so many of us, the godfather of metal.
18:30Between Ozzy and Sabbath, the most seminal frontman and band for hard rock and heavy
18:35metal in existence.
18:37You know, I've been a fan since I was a little boy.
18:41It's still very, very surreal to see my name on that list, to be honest.
18:49I couldn't be more humbled and honored to be a part of it, and I'm going to do all I
18:53can to make my contribution as powerful as everyone else's.
18:58What does that feel like?
18:59I wish it could be the whole band, to be honest.
19:01I wish all of Disturbed was coming there, but I will do my damnedest to represent us
19:08in their stead.
19:09I know it's definitely a packed bill.
19:11What does it feel like when you're just looking through your phone and it's like,
19:13oh, Bruce Dickinson just sent me a text message or something like that?
19:17That has to be surreal.
19:18Also, it doesn't get it doesn't stop being surreal.
19:22You know, it's funny.
19:24I ran into Bruce when we just supported Maiden in Mexico not too long ago, and, you know,
19:33I ran into him into the hotel hallway and just knowing that we know each other to the
19:39extent that we walk up to each other and give each other a hug and shoot the shit for a
19:44little bit of itself is surreal.
19:48It's not lost on me.
19:49I still get nervous when I meet my heroes, and he's still mine, so it's still pretty
19:58incredible.
19:58Now, you know, we just had the Super Bowl, and next year is Super Bowl 60 at the 49er
20:04Stadium.
20:05So if there's one year that Metallica should headline the Super Bowl, it's in their home
20:10stadium.
20:11Super Bowl 60.
20:12Now, here's my idea.
20:13You guys come out and do the sound of silence.
20:16Pink, Lady Gaga, because, you know, you have to have pop stars because they want a lot
20:21of they want more female, even though tons of women love hard rock and metal.
20:24That's what they claim.
20:26Oh, no, women will watch.
20:27Yeah, right.
20:28So we bring out Lady Gaga, Pink, Miley Cyrus.
20:31You guys come out, bring out ACDC, Pyro, Visuals, Metallica.
20:36Master of Puppets is huge because of Stranger Things again.
20:39That would be the greatest halftime show ever.
20:41I'm sold, dude.
20:43Where do we sign?
20:45Bring out Jelly Roll and Post Malone.
20:47I mean, these are pop stars that are also like Post Malone during Nirvana was.
20:51I don't know if you've seen that, but that's so.
20:52Yeah, he did a great job.
20:55I love that he's incredibly talented.
20:57I would love to have the opportunity to collab with him one day.
21:01I've actually, you know, spoken to him briefly about it.
21:05Maybe maybe he needs a little casual reminder.
21:08We could do something amazing, dude.
21:11Hey, Post Malone, come on.
21:12Let's set it up.
21:13Yeah, and something I really want to do.
21:15I mean, Metallica has been deserving of this.
21:19For decades at this point, and if there was anybody in the entire hard rock and metal
21:24world that should be playing the Super Bowl halftime show, it is Metallica.
21:30I would humbly, humbly request that I just be considered to sing the national anthem.
21:36I haven't won that my whole life.
21:39And then once Metallica's had their shot, if they want to consider us a couple of years
21:44down the line to go ahead and play halftime, give me a call.
21:49So it's the Sickness 25th anniversary.
21:51You're doing two complete different sets.
21:53The first one, the entire Sickness album, right?
21:56And then the hits or whatever else you want to play.
21:58It's the first time we've ever played the Sickness album in its entirety front to back.
22:02We've never done that before.
22:04So that in and of itself is going to be an interesting experience.
22:07And then there'll be a greatest hit set after that as well.
22:11I'm so excited.
22:12And the new song, I Will Not Break, love the song.
22:15It's like I said, it's Sickness era.
22:18I love all the eras, but it's a Sickness era.
22:19It feels that way to me.
22:21And I'm so excited, David.
22:23And I really appreciate you stopping by.
22:25My pleasure, brother.
22:26Thank you for having me.
22:27Thank you, man.
22:28Have a great day.
22:29You will do.
22:29Take care.
22:30Bye-bye.