Every Hard Rock and Heavy Metal band has to deal with a certain amount of restriction from the media.
W (Nando Machado) : Hi, John.
John Moyer : Good morning, Nando. How are you today?
W (NM) : I'm fine, thank you for your time. So, I'll start by introducing myself; I'm one of the presenters of Wikimetal, which is the number one Heavy Metal and Hard Rock podcast in Brazil.
JM : Great, congratulations. Thank you for keeping Metal and Rock alive.
W (NM) : We know that Disturbed is a very successful band when it comes to sales figures, and the numbers are truly impressive. How does a Metal band, a Hard Rock band, achieve these great numbers?
JM : You know, it's the fans, we have really good fans, first of all. Since this band started, which was before I joined the band, the fans were really fast. I've been with the band for seven and a half years, and they've been loyal for ten years. But way before that, it's been 16 years when we go back to before they signed their first record deal. Even when they were playing on the streets of Chicago – they were playing in small bars – the fans were already so into the band that they were getting tattoos of a band without a record deal, that's pretty bold. And the other thing is that we've always been pretty consistent, I think. We have five albums released in the last eleven years and great singles on all of them. And part of that is also because we try to grow and evolve because of the fans, because they've been with us, but we still know what makes us sound like Disturbed and why people like the band's sound, and we try to stay that way. So we try to be true to ourselves and try to offer something consistent, but I think the beginning is the connection with the fans. So, the commitment to this, I think, has allowed us a successful career so far, but we still feel we have to go higher, we feel we have more to do. There are more places we want to go, more places we want to play, and that's why we're going to South America, because it's a place we've never had the opportunity to go before and that's very important to us.
W (NM) : But do you have any specific marketing strategy or any media support? Because it's not very common for Hard Rock bands, Metal bands, to get media support. Can you complain about the media support or does it help you?
JM : I think that, as a genre, we all suffer. But as long as you guys are doing your podcast and radio stations are playing Hard Rock and Metal, that's a force that's always good in the beginning, that's known, and we do everything we can for you, the true support of Hard Rock and Metal. Besides that, you're right, we're not on TV, we're not on reality shows, we're not in magazines like People, things like that. We're not something you saw on newsstands and then took a look; you have to discover us through our music, that's part of it. When I think about the Grammys, they don't have any Hard Rock or Heavy Metal categories. This is the American Grammy, but I'm sure it's the same with the other Grammys. As a genre, we're not receptive; I think every Hard Rock and Heavy Metal band has to deal with a certain media restriction when we play this kind of music.
W (NM) : Do you think David Draiman's views on file sharing on the internet helped keep fans engaged?
JM : To be honest, I don't really know David's opinions on file sharing specifically. But I can say for myself that, at the end of the day, if we don't buy music, we don't make money, and it not only hurts the bands but the whole industry. When people share files and don't pay for them – which I understand, it had to happen eventually, and I understand it did – but when that happens, it makes things difficult for the entire music industry. So there are fewer bands developing because there's less money for the record labels. It's great to be able to keep the music out there, and I like the internet for downloading music; I think that's great. I think it's there, and we need to pursue it, but sometimes having it for free hurts the industry as a whole. But I think whatever promotes us out there, at the end of the day, is valid.
W (NM) : Yes, you're right. That's exactly what we tell our listeners. We know that everyone can download music for free, but if you really like this artist or if you appreciate their music, you should go and buy it. How would you define Disturbed's musical style?
JM : Powerful, rhythmic, aggressive, and melodic.
W (NM) : Would you label the band?
JM : It's different, I think it falls somewhere between two labels. I think we're Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, can we be both?
W (NM) : Yes, I think so. It's strange, because everyone likes to label things, right? But I don't see any problem in saying that you are a metal band and, in my opinion, you are a classic Heavy Metal band, just played in 2011, it's easy to see that.
JM : I like that, a classic metal band, sure, we're okay with that. An element of hard rock, a classic metal band, yeah, that's cool.
I can say with absolute certainty that Duff from Guns N' Roses was a major influence on me.”
W (NM) : Is it true that the band will stop playing for a while next year? Is this just a break or is the band breaking up?
JM : This is the first time we're finishing the cycle of an album and not making plans. We don't really know what we're going to do… we just want to stop for a while and reassess it later. Normally we go on a break and within two months we're already writing new songs and working, and we've done that after every album; we're always writing after two months and we always have a new album written and recorded the following year. And then we go out and tour for a year, so it's been quite hectic. So this is the first time we're going to stop and not make plans, not decide when we're going to come back to playing or not, what the next thing will be, and then we'll see. It could be five months, five days, or five years, we're not really sure. We'll just call it an indefinite hiatus.
W (NM) : There's a classic question on our show, one we ask all our interviewees: imagine you're in your car listening to rock music or your iPod on shuffle and a song starts playing, a song that makes you want to bang your head against the wall, wherever you are. What song would that be? Because we're going to play it on the show now.
JM : I want them to play Redneck by Lamb of God.
W (NM) : Redneck, by Lamb of God. This is the first time we've played Lamb of God on the show.
JM : For sure, if you don't nod your head to this song, then your neck must be broken, because there's no denying it. Redneck, by Lamb of God.
W (NM) : So, tell us a little about your influences as a bassist? Who were you listening to when you chose the bass?
JM : One of my favorite albums was Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses. I really love that album and the bass playing on it, by bassist Duff McKagan, and I really learned a lot from his riffs, from Guns N' Roses. The bassist from Black Sabbath, I played a lot of his songs when I was growing up. I played a lot of Metallica and a lot of Ozzy Osbourne songs; Rudy Sarzo and Bob Daisley. I mostly played for the songs, but I can say with absolute certainty that Duff from Guns N' Roses was my biggest influence.
W (NM) : Whose idea was it to create The Guy?
JM : That was David's idea. It originally started as a two-dimensional figure with eyes and a happy face on our first album. You'd be shocked at how many tattoos of this image there are out there. It was just a two-dimensional happy face – that was on our first album – and when we made the "Ten Thousand Fists" album we decided to turn it into a more three-dimensional character and gave it a body and a form, and it progressed from there.
W (NM) : Once again, can you choose a song from your band for us to listen to now, one that you're very proud of?
JM : I'll tell you something, I'm a big fan of MMA, Mixed Martial Arts, you know? Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? So, this song is called The Warrior, you should play it. It's a song about being an MMA fighter, UFC, it's a type of fighting we have here in the USA, there are many Brazilian fighters here and they are good. So this song is called The Warrior.
W (NM) : Ok. Do you practice Jiu-Jitsu?
JM : No, I don't practice, but I love watching.
W (NM) : Okay, so let's listen to The Warrior by Disturbed. Tell us a little about your experience playing in Kuwait.
JM : It was Operation MySpace, we played at a place near Kuwait, at a camp called Buehring. We played for about 10,000 troops; there were 4,000, but some troops came from other camps and it all grew very quickly; before we knew it, there were a lot of people there. It was a very interesting show; Filter played and Jessica Simpson was also part of the show and some of the Pussycat Dolls, so it was one of the strangest shows we've ever played.
W (NM) : Seriously, Pussycat Dolls, do they still play?
JM : Yes. That was in 2008 when we did Operation MySpace, so it's been a while.
W (NM) : Disturbed's first album was released in 2000, right? In your opinion, what are the best or most important metal bands to emerge in the last decade?
JM : Slipknot, Stone Sour, those are great current bands. And there are other metal bands, I'm a big fan of System of a Down, there are a few others out there.
W (NM) : Do you agree that in recent years Heavy Metal has become more “mainstream,” perhaps because of all the documentaries that are being shown now, but do you agree that Metal is now stronger everywhere?
JM : Well, we hope so, I hope you're right. I hear that too, I think it's great if that's the case. It's hard to say, we only play shows, we're strong contenders for Metal.
W (NM) : I want to thank you once again for your time. I know you're busy, and congratulations on your success. We appreciate it when new bands become successful; it strengthens the entire scene and makes new generations realize that there is hope. And many young people are still playing or becoming musicians because of these new bands, so thank you very much for everything you've done for Metal.
JM : Thank you very much, that's very kind of you, thank you.
W (NM) : Okay, Mr. John Moyer, thank you very much for your time.
JM : Thank you, see you soon.
W (NM) : See you later, bye, bye.
