DISTURBED Drummer: 'Everything For Us Has Always Gotta Be Done Naturally And Come From The Heart'

DISTURBED drummer Mike Wengren says that the band did not make a conscious effort to come up with another song that would have the potential to repeat the crossover success of its triple-platinum smash “The Sound Of Silence”.

Last week, DISTURBED revealed that its seventh studio album, titled “Evolution”, will arrive on October 19. The band also shared the official music video for “Are You Ready”, the first single from the LP.

“Evolution” marks the first DISTURBED album since 2015’s “Immortalized”, which featured the aforementioned SIMON & GARFUNKEL cover.

Unlike most DISTURBED tracks, or the majority of songs on mainstream rock radio, “Silence” was driven by piano and strings and featured only minimal acoustic guitar; i.e., no electric guitars, bass or drum sets.

“Silence” was a massive hit on Billboard‘s rock charts after its release in December 2015. It spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart, two weeks atop the Rock Digital Song Sales chart and reached No. 3 on Hot Rock Songs. Further, the song reached No. 42 on the Hot 100.

In a brand new interview with the “Joe & Borna” program on the Wisconsin radio station 102.9 The Hog, Wengren was asked if the success of “The Sound Of Silence” made the DISTURBED audience more receptive to a more mellow sound from the band.

“I do think that the success of ‘The Sound Of Silence’ definitely opened the door for us in that regard,” Mike replied (hear audio below). “But that wasn’t something that we necessarily wanted to chase [on ‘Evolution’]. I think that being able to put some balance on this record was more of an artistic thing for us. I think if we were trying to chase something, it would come across as… I just don’t think it would work. Everything for us has always gotta be done naturally and come from the heart.”

DISTURBED recently launched an online poll to ask fans which type of track should be unveiled as the first single from the new LP, with the choices being “Heavy” and “Ballad.” Wengren told “Joe & Borna” about getting the public involved: “Putting the voting up online for everybody, for us, it was a way to give the fans a voice. And with social media nowadays, it’s so easy to reach people. And our fans have always been so supportive and so passionate, we just thought it was a great idea to just get ’em on board in the very beginning and hear what their opinion was.”

“Immortalized” was DISTURBED‘s fifth No. 1 album in a row and ended a four-year hiatus for the group.

Guitarist Dan Donegan told The Pulse Of Radio that “Evolution” contains “some really killer stuff,” with “nice new twist and new turns that we’re taking, and some experimenting on it. There’s still always gonna be those things that are signature DISTURBED because of the way we play or the way David [Draiman] sings, there’s gonna be an identity there, but there’s definitely some things that we’ve took a departure on as well,” he said.

Like “Immortalized”, DISTURBED‘s new album was recorded at The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada with producer Kevin Churko.

DISTURBED only has one show on its schedule so far for the rest of 2018, at the Austin City Limits music festival on October 13 in Austin, Texas.

Photo by Travis Shinn