DISTURBED Singer: 'There Is Not A Single News Source In Existence That Is Simply Reporting The News'

DISTURBED frontman David Draiman was recently interviewed on “The Rubber Room” radio show, which airs on Australia’s Triple M. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether the current political climate will inspire more artists to use their lyrics as commentary on social issues such as poverty, government, class struggles and global politics:

Draiman: “We’ve never shied away from that; it’s always been a staple of our message. Besides the overall point of what DISTURBED does being empowerment and transcending the obstacles of life and enabling you to feel powerful, it’s also been reflecting simply on those things in this world that we do feel passionate about, that do affect us.

“You can’t really help but notice all of the chaos that is engulfing this world unless you’ve got your eyes closed. It’s certainly inspired us in the past, and it will continue to inspire us in the future. And I think you’re right — I think that your prediction of a wave of politically driven music is probably on the horizon. I mean, SYSTEM OF A DOWN is in the studio recording a new record. I can only imagine what Serj [Tankian] and company are going to be putting together for this. Typically, as long as the messages are infused within the music, that helps make it more powerful.”

On how the current political climate will influence the next DISTURBED album:

Draiman: “I think that I will still be as hypercritical as I always have been, I will still be as angry as I have been and as defensive in a continually downward-spiraling, maddening world. It won’t be any different for me, let’s put it that way. Will I be influenced, will I be inspired to write about aspects of it? I’m certain, but I always am; that’s nothing new for me. Only time will tell just how much of this is hot air and how much of this is actually something we need to really be concerned about. I mean, everybody is their own worst enemy, in a way — they whip themselves up into a frenzy; people almost feed off of it these days. Life would be so boring if you didn’t have ten tons of things to bitch about. I think that everybody needs to kind of wait and see where the dominoes fall and then start making their assertions after that.”

On the media bias in coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign:

Draiman: “Well, that’s the difficulty of it is that every single story that you may see — clickbait or not, valid or not — is biased and has an agenda. And everything is not pure. There is not a single news source in existence that is simply reporting the news; they are reporting it with their own spin, and it’s always been that way, but it’s much more prevalent and obvious these days in the digital age when we are just barraged by information on a daily basis. People, when they engage in social media, it turns people into monsters — it really, truly does. People lose their goddamned minds over it. People need to remember what gentle political discourse can be like, what respectful political discourse can be. You can disagree with somebody’s beliefs and that doesn’t mean you want to kill them and cut them off from your Facebook list or whatever the case may be. People are taking things more seriously and more personally, I think, than they ever have, and almost to a fault. Social media continues to whip people into this extreme polarities of frenzy. It’s a shame, because a tool which can really be used to help greater understand each other and that can provide this instant connection with everyone and keep you connected has become a bullying toy and a toy of intolerance and [misinformation].”

Draiman said a while back that he thinks people are overwhelmed in general now by all kinds of media. “People are barraged by information these days, and so much of it is utter and total nonsense, and not based in fact, and such fluff and propaganda and we’re just barraged by it,” he said. “It’s up to people to seek out the truth where they can find it, in a real way.”

DISTURBED released a new live album, titled “Live At Red Rocks”, on November 18. The disc was recorded at an August 15, 2016 show at the famous Colorado amphitheater during DISTURBED‘s tour in support of current album “Immortalized”.

“Immortalized” was released in August 2015 and became DISTURBED‘s fifth album to enter the Billboard 200 album chart at No. 1 — a feat shared only with METALLICA and DAVE MATTHEWS BAND.

Interview (audio):