Disturbed's 'Sickness' is infectious
By Susana Moreno and Amy Silva
"Disturbed is basically the way that the world and this whole infrastructure has made us feel and because we as individuals live outside the norm, and because we play music that isn’t in the same category as everyone else," claimed David Draiman, vocalist of Chicago band Disturbed.
Disturbed is making their mark in a big way, voted last year by Rebel Radio as Chicago’s #1 Homegrown band of the year with constant embrace of radio play of their hit song "Stupify," and a recent spot on HBO’s Reverb, the band has certainly had success.
However, it doesn’t stop there. Their much anticipated album release of "Sickness" is due out on shelves March 7. Its unique sound of hip-hop influence with aggression of uninhibited rock is sure to be powerful musically and lyrically.
The quartet originated roughly three years ago with Dan Donegan on guitar and electronics, Mike Wengren drummer and programmer and Fuzz on bass. The band placed an ad in the Illinois Entertainer and out came Dave Draiman on vocals.
"We are not only a band that plays this type of music but a supporter of the local
music scene", said Draiman. "I think there is a lot of talent in Chicago and we took it very seriously. We did everything to promote ourselves from distributing the material and handing
out samplers at shows.
"Our songs and writing this music is therapeutic. There are so many different things in life that you go through that you can write about and different types of emotions that you can let loose. Your emotions, particularly in the form of music, are the way to cut excess baggage so to speak.
"Each of us had been told be a certain way to conform to specific sense of tradition and morality. Basically, you look at the media and pop culture and what people try to feed you on a daily basis in these packages and that’s what we’re writing against, we are writing our individuality for a complete upheaval of that whole system of values that everyone should follow the same pattern because that doesn’t matter.
"It’s about finding yourself."
The one song that describes Disturbed’s viewpoint is "Dropping Plates." Donegan said "’Dropping Plates’" is about being a band from the suburbs trying to break into the city. We don’t have the political connections. We had to fight hard to get in here and to get heard and that’s basically what that song is about, hitting it hard".
Draiman added, " I don’t think there is a weak point on this album. I don’t think that there is a song that is stiller. There isn’t a single track on the album to just fill up space. Each one of them is powerful and each one of them has its own characteristics to it."
Disturbed hopes to collaborate with bands like tool and koRn in the future but "we’re a baby band" Draiman said, "We first have to go out on the road and get our asses kicked." Disturbed is currently trying to get on the bill with the Ozzfest summer tour.
"We are hoping that were eligible for a spot on the tour but there is a lot of competition" said Draiman.
The new album "Sickness" is due out on the shelves on March 7 and Disturbed encourages everyone to go to their CD release party on March 10 at the Metro in Chicago. For more information on Disturbed visit their web-site at www.disturbed1.com.