DISTURBED Frontman Says BLABBERMOUTH.NET Detractors Are 'Nasty Little F*cks'

Jeff Kerby of KNAC.COM conducted an interview with DISTURBED frontman David Draiman on Monday, January 30. A few excertps from the chat follow:

KNAC.COM: Do you think that metal is less forgiving than other genres when it comes to their reaction to a band that achieves any real degree of commercial success?

Draiman: "I don't know that it is achieving success specifically that makes hardcore kind of fans disenchanted with a band. It is a part of it, but I know what you're referring to…I don't think it's exclusive to metal though. It's something that is kind of like having a real sexy girlfriend, and in the beginning, you have her all to yourself, but the minute everyone else has had access to her, you just don't feel the same way about her anymore. At that point, she sort of becomes a cheap, worthless slut. I was certainly like that about a band or two in my day as well. It's funny because metal today is such a gray, wide-open area, and with today's definitions of metal, I don't know how we fit into it exactly. I don't know that you could even classify us as metal by today's standards or the definitions that are out there. Metal nowadays is kind of typified by the metalcore bands or bands that are either black metal or death metal consisting of vocals that don't have any melody and are very aggressive or, as I like to call them, Cookie Monster-like. God bless them though. There are many of those bands that I am a huge fan of like SHADOWS FALL or LAMB OF GOD. They are bands that have incredible intensity and musicianship, but we're nothing like them. When people compare us to them, it's like apples and oranges in terms of what today's terms and standards are because we're really not metal — we're more hard rock than anything else. At the end of the day, the categorization or the stereotyping that people do is something I could care less about."

KNAC.COM: Word on the Internet is that DISTURBED has been confirmed for Ozzfest — is this true?

Draiman: "We can neither confirm nor deny such information."

KNAC.COM: So any reports stating that you have…?

Draiman: "They're garbage. I haven't said anything to anybody. I'm not saying it isn't happening, but I haven't gotten any official confirmation myself. Some radio station in Seattle decided to speculate or something. Every radio station interview that I've done at the station though has been with the whole band, and they've heard me every single time, and I've never said anything like that. We're in talks with them, but nothing has been solidified."

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Contrary to his statement above, David Draiman **DID** in fact say that "it looks like" DISTURBED "are confirmed" to appear at this summer's Ozzfest. Speaking to Jolene of Seattle's 99.9 KISW on January 7, Draiman said of the band's upcoming touring plans, "It looks like at this point that we are confirmed for Ozzfest this summer, so that should be a good thing. It's looking like that's what's gonna happen, so…" The actual audio of the 10-minute interview featuring this quote is available online at this location [The quote appears around the 9:25 mark])

KNAC.COM: Being someone who is consistently talked about in cyberspace, what do you take from such conversations? What do you do with the vast negativity that exists there?

Draiman: "I do check them out…."

KNAC.COM: What do you take from that? What can you take?

Draiman: "It depends on where you're talking about — if I go to BLABBERMOUTH.NET, I'm probably gonna see a lot of nasty shit. Basically, you're dealing with a whole lot of nasty little fucks who will only listen to metalcore and death metal. Anything that has any kind of melody infused with the exception of NEVERMORE, which is a great band and actually has some melodic singing going on, they slam. You're talking about a maximum of 250,000 people all over the world like that. God Bless them. They can keep it. I don't give a fuck. Things like that message board are just a means of information for a lot of people. For the people who post and respond, it's like an excuse for them go ahead and lash out at somebody who is doing more with their lives than they ever will. So be it. I don't lose any sleep over it. It is what it is. The higher you climb up the ladder the easier it is for people to shoot at you. Let 'em."

Read the entire interview at KNAC.COM.