This is Biography Disturbed is an American alternative metal band formed in Chicago in 1996. At the beginning of their career, Disturbed’s style was close to the alternative metal and nu metal genres, with clear influences from bands such as Korn, Metallica, Tool, Faith No More, and Deftones, but in more recent releases, the band’s sound has moved closer and closer to alternative metal. Since the band was formed, it has sold over 13 million albums worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing bands in recent years. Disturbed has released four consecutive albums that debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
In July 2011, vocalist David Draiman declared that the band would not tour in 2012 and would take a break for an indefinite period of time.
The band’s origins Before vocalist David Draiman joined the band, it was known as Brawl, a group consisting of singer Erich Awalt, guitarist Dan Donegan, drummer Mike Wengren and bassist Steve ‘Fuzz’ Kmak. In the band’s DVD Decade of Disturbed, Donegan stated that the band’s name was originally Crawl, but was changed because it was already in use by someone else. Awalt left the band shortly after the recording of a demo tape, so the other three members went in search of a singer. They placed an ad in a Chicago, Illinois music magazine called the Illinois Entertainer. Draiman answered the ad after going to twenty other auditions that month.
The Sickness (1998-2000)
After renaming the band, Disturbed produced two three-track demo cassettes: the first with demos of The Game, Down with the Sickness and Meaning of life and the second containing Want, Stupify and Droppin’ Plates [10], but did not play live shows. The band’s logo was designed, namely the face of ‘The Guy’. The band eventually signed with Giant Records. In 2000, the band released its debut album, entitled The Sickness, which launched the band into success and notoriety. The album reached number 29 on the Billboard 200 and sold over four million copies in the United States. Before joining Marilyn Manson’s 2001 European tour, bassist Steve Kmak was unable to play with the band due to a fractured ankle caused by the collapse of a fire escape outside Disturbed’s rehearsal room in Chicago. He used the fire escape to get out of the building while the lift was being used to move their equipment downstairs. After a successful operation, doctors strongly recommended that Kmak skip the tour to avoid further serious damage to his foot, but he performed with the band on 11 and 12 January 2001 at a Disturbed concert in Chicago [13]. During the European tour, which included a date at the Fila Forum in Assago, it was Marty O’Brien, bassist of Kilgore and Methods of Mayhem, who replaced him until he was able to return.
Believe (2001-2003)
On 11 February 2001, it was announced that the band had performed a rendition of the song Midlife Crisis for a Faith No More tribute album, however, the rendition was not used. In March 2002, one of their songs, Glass Shatters, was released on the WWF album Forceable Entry, as it was the entrance music of wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin. On 4 June, a DVD documentary about the band, M.O.L. (an acronym for “Meaning of Life”), was released, showing some of the band’s most personal moments in the recording studio and on tour, as well as several music videos and live performances. On 17 September 2002, the band’s second studio album Believe was released, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The music video for the album’s first single, Prayer, was rejected by most television channels, due to similarities with the attacks of 11 September 2001. David Draiman recorded the song Forsaken, written and produced by Jonathan Davis of the band Korn, which was included on the album Queen of the Damned.
Of the recording period of Believe, drummer Mike Wengren, in the DVD Decade of Disturbed, says he remembers very little, as it was a bad time for him and he used alcohol to cope. These were mainly caused by the cancer his mother was suffering from, the tension between him and the rest of the band and his girlfriend who was about to leave him.
In 2003, the band once again participated in the Ozzfest tour and organised the second edition of their tour, Music as a Weapon. The bands Chevelle, Taproot and Unloco also took part in the tour. During the tour, Disturbed debuted an unreleased track, titled Dehumanised, and also reinterpreted Metallica’s famous song Fade to Black. One date of the tour, the one in the band’s hometown of Chicago, was recorded and later released on the album Music as a Weapon II. After the tour ended, Steve Kmak was fired from the band due to “personality differences”. He was replaced by John Moyer, former bassist of The Union Underground. The night Moyer became the band’s new bass player, Disturbed played live at the House of Blues and performed two new songs, Hell and Monster, both of which were later included in the tour edition of their third studio album, Ten Thousand Fists.
Ten Thousand Fists (2004-2006)
Disturbed’s third studio album, Ten Thousand Fists, was released on 20 September 2005. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling approximately 238,000 copies during the week it was released. The album was certified platinum, having shipped one million units in the US, on 5 January 2006. The band toured with 10 Years and El Niño in support of the album. Disturbed captained Ozzfest 2006 along with Ozzy Osbourne, System of a Down, Lacuna Coil, DragonForce, Avenged Sevenfold and Hatebreed.
In an interview with Launch Radio Networks, singer David Draiman stated that twenty songs were recorded for the album, but only fourteen were included in the final track list. The remaining songs included Hell, which was included on one of the two versions of the single Stricken, Monster, which was included on the iTunes Store pre-order edition of Ten Thousand Fists, later included on the special tour edition of the album along with Two Worlds and Sickened, also included on the single Land of Confusion.
Ten Thousand Fists is the first Disturbed album to feature guitar solos. The band stated that guitar solos are a part of music that is very absent in modern music, and they wanted to reintroduce them. Songs like Stricken, Overburdened and Land of Confusion all feature guitar solos, but they are not the only ones.
Indestructible (2007-2009)
In July 2007, a new track, titled This Moment, was included on the album Transformers: The Album, containing the soundtracks of the film Transformers.
Disturbed mixed their fourth studio album, Indestructible , in Los Angeles, California, in late 2007. In a more recent interview, David Draiman said that they intended to record fifteen songs, but only twelve would be included on the album.
On 6 March 2008, on the band’s official MySpace profile, users could listen to a thirty-second sample of the newly recorded Perfect Insanity. The same month, the song was made available for full download from their website, which led to it being played on the radio by smaller stations and, later, it was played at a concert in Kuwait in front of US troops during the special ‘Operation MySpace’ event.
The first single from Indestructible, Inside the Fire, was available for digital purchase on 25 March 2008. The band toured the United States in April and May, accompanied by the bands Five Finger Death Punch and Art of Dying. The music video for Inside the Fire was released on 2 May on the band’s official website. Disturbed, after making Perfect Insanity a free download, released it on the iTunes Store as a second single on 6 May 2008; the album Indestructible became available for pre-order by the stated release date, 3 June 2008.
On 13 May, Harmonix, the developer of the video game Rock Band, announced that it had reached an agreement with Disturbed and Best Buy to include two tracks from Indestructible in the video game for those who pre-ordered the album from Best Buy’s website. On 3 June 2008, Harmonix released three tracks from Indestructible: the title track Indestructible, Inside the Fire and Perfect Insanity. On 12 May 2009, Harmonix made Stricken and Stupify available for purchase from Rock
Band music store.
Disturbed performed for the first time in a live concert and live on the Internet on 29 May 2008. The concert was sponsored by Pepsi and Deep Rock Drive and the performance was held in Las Vegas.
Indestructible was released in the US on 3 June 2008 and in Australia on 7 June, and became the band’s third consecutive album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. A special limited ‘Internet Only’ edition of the album was released, which included the B-side track Run, a behind-the-scenes DVD with instructional videos, a wrap-around poster, a VIP card, access to special Disturbed events, and a special website with exclusive videos, rare audio clips and more. The band then took part as support at the Mayhem Festival together with Slipknot, DragonForce and Mastodond during the summer of 2008. Between August and September they completed the Music as a Weapon: Australia and New Zealand tour.
On 30 September 2008, the band released, exclusively on the iTunes Store, a live album entitled Live & Indestructible, containing tracks performed at Deep Rock Drive and the music video for the single Indestructible [51]. The band began a tour of Europe, starting in London in October and finishing in Helsinki in November. During the same month and in December, the band toured the United States. The song Inside the Fire was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2009 in the category ‘Best Hard Rock Performance’. In March 2009, Disturbed released the music video for the single The Night.
Also in March, they began their fourth Music as a Weapon tour, which ended in late May. The tour featured the bands Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil and Chimaira, who played on the main stage. The band released a second version of their rendition of Midlife Crisis (by Faith No More) on the album Covered, A Revolution in Sound, which includes bands such as Mastodon, The Used and Avenged Sevenfold. This cover was originally recorded for inclusion on Indestructible, but this did not happen.
Asylum (2010-present)
In a November 2008 interview, David Draiman spoke briefly about the band’s fifth studio album, stating that the album would be as “dark” as its predecessor, Indestructible, if not darker[55]. Draiman added that the album is “still identifiably Disturbed, but shows more maturity”. The writing of lyrics for the fifth album began towards the end of 2009. In a later interview with Mike Wengren and John Moyer, it was said that, based on Draiman’s feelings in recent years, the new album would be more aggressive, angry and vigorous, but musically it would be similar to their Believe album. Wengren also said that it would be released in the spring or summer of 2010. In addition, Draiman confirmed that they were working on a new DVD. A countdown clock appeared on the home page of the band’s website that ended on 12 January 2010 at 17:00 EST showing a trailer for the upcoming DVD, titled Decade of Disturbed.
In a June 2009 interview with FaceCulture, Draiman said that the DVD being produced would be ‘the chronicle of the decade of Disturbed’s existence. It’s designed to show our growth over the decade’. He also spoke more about the fifth album: “A couple of [riffs] that Danny came up with are really amazing. But they’re just little bits… it’s not even in two-three part progression [yet]’.
On 23 March 2010, the band released a reissue of their first album, The Sickness, adding the extra tracks God of the Mind and A Welcome Burden, with an updated cover and remastering and mixing of the track list. It was, for the first time, available in vinyl format. On 26 February 2010, Harmonix announced the download availability of a second Disturbed song pack for the Rock Band game, containing the remastered 2010 version of Voices, The
Game and Meaning of Life.
On 8 February 2010, it was announced that the band had entered the recording studio in Chicago, Illinois, to begin recording their fifth album, tentatively scheduled to be released in the summer of 2010. Guitarist Dan Donegan stated that the band had written 15 to 18 songs. It was later confirmed that the title of the album was Asylum.
Disturbed recorded a rendition of the song Living After Midnight by the British heavy metal band Judas Priest for the tribute album Metal Hammer Presents… Tribute to British Steel.
On 20 April 2010, approximately two months after they entered the studio, Disturbed announced that they had finished recording the album and were ready to start mixing in Los Angeles. As they had done for their last work, Indestructible, Disturbed declared that they had produced Asylum themselves. On 28 June, Disturbed revealed the album’s cover art and release date of 31 August via their official website. On 9 July 2010, the track list was made official and posted on the website. Asylum debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
Then, in August, together with Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Hellyeah, Halestorm and others, they headlined the first annual Uproar Festival. Then, in October, it was announced that singer Draiman’s throat was in a ‘serious condition’ and the US tour had to be cancelled as the healing process could take up to four weeks. Towards the end of the year, it was announced by Disturbed that they would begin their fifth tour, Music as a Weapon V, in 2011, with Korn as co-headliners and Sevendust, In This Moment and Stillwell as backing bands. In January 2011, they were chosen along with Godsmack and Megadeth to headline the Mayhem Festival in the summer, the following month their appearance at the Download Festival was confirmed, and in May they announced their performance at the Rock on the Range Festival in Columbus, Ohio.
On 14 March 2011, MTV entered 14 bands, including Disturbed, in the Musical March Madness tournament. After defeating defending champions Coheed and Cambria and advancing to the semifinals, they lost to future tournament champions Green Day by a margin of 0.34%.
Mascot
Disturbed’s mascot is ‘The Guy’. It was originally just a drawing of a face with a wide grin, visible painted on the wall in the Stupify video. The Guy eventually became the official mascot, fully animated by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane in the artwork and music video of Land of Confusion. He also appeared on the cover of three of the band’s albums: Ten Thousand Fists, Indestructible and Asylum.
Discography
2000 – The Sickness
2002 – Believe
2005 – Ten Thousand Fists
2008 – Indestructible
2010 – Asylum
2015 – Immortalized
2018 – Evolution
2022 – Divisive
