Disturbed (band)


Disturbed is an American heavy metal band from Chicago, formed in 1994. The band includes guitarist Dan Donegan, drummer Mike Wengren, lead vocalist David Draiman and bassist John Moyer. Donegan and Wengren have been involved in the band since its inception, with Draiman replacing original lead vocalist Erich Awalt in 1996 and Moyer replacing original bassist Steve "Fuzz" Kmak in 2004.
Disturbed's debut album, The Sickness, was released in 2000 as a commercial success, mainly due to the singles "Down With the Sickness" and "Stupify". The band then released the albums Believe, Ten Thousand Fists, Indestructible, and Asylum, all of which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Disturbed went into hiatus in October 2011, during which the band's members focused on various side projects, and released The Lost Children, a compilation album containing previously unreleased songs. They returned in June 2015 and released their sixth album Immortalized that same year. They followed it up with the albums Evolution and Divisive.
The band has over 17 million records sold worldwide, six RIAA certifications for their albums, singles from all eight albums reaching the top ten of the Mainstream Rock chart, and two Grammy Award nominations.

History

Early years (1994–1996)

Before David Draiman joined Disturbed, guitarist Dan Donegan, drummer Mike Wengren and bassist Steve "Fuzz" Kmak were in a band called Brawl with vocalist Erich Awalt. Before changing their name to "Brawl", however, Donegan mentioned in the band's DVD, Decade of Disturbed, that the name was originally going to be "Crawl"; they switched it to "Brawl", because the name was already being used by another band. Awalt left the band shortly after the recording of a demo tape; the other three members advertised for a singer. They posted an advertisement in the local music publication in Chicago, Illinois, called the "Illinois Entertainer". Draiman answered the advertisement after going to twenty other auditions that month. Guitarist Dan Donegan commented on Draiman: "You know, out of all the singers that we had talked to or auditioned, he was the only singer who was ready to go with originals. And that impressed me, just to attempt that".
With regard to Draiman being the singer for the band, Donegan said, "After a minute or two, he just starts banging out these melodies that were huge...I'm playing my guitar and I'm grinning from ear to ear, trying not to give it away that I like this guy, you know, because I don't want to, you know... 'Yeah, we'll give you a call back. We'll, you know, discuss it.' But I was so psyched. Chill up my spine. I'm like, 'There is something here.'" As drummer Mike Wengren commented, "We clicked right off the bat." Draiman then joined the band in 1996, and the band was renamed Disturbed. When asked in an interview why he suggested to name the band "Disturbed", Draiman said, "It had been a name I have been contemplating for a band for years. It just seems to symbolize everything we were feeling at the time. The level of conformity that people are forced into was disturbing to us and we were just trying to push the envelope and the name just sorta made sense."

''The Sickness'' (1997–2000)

After renaming the band, Disturbed went on to record two three-track demo tapes, the first containing demos for "The Game", "Down with the Sickness", and "Meaning of Life", while the second had demos for "Want", "Stupify", and "Droppin' Plates". The artwork was composed of the band's newly created mascot, The Guy. The band eventually signed with Giant Records in August 1999 and opened for Ministry at Chicago's Riviera Theatre around the same time. In 2000, the band released its debut album, titled The Sickness, which launched the band into stardom. The album peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200, and it has sold over four million copies in the United States since its release. Before joining Marilyn Manson's 2001 European tour, bassist Steve Kmak was unable to play with the band due to a shattered ankle, caused by falling out of a fire escape outside Disturbed's rehearsal hall in Chicago. He took the fire escape to exit the building while the elevator was being used to move their equipment downstairs. Kmak skipped the European trek of the tour, but he did perform with the band on January 11 and 12, 2001 at Disturbed's show in Chicago. During the European tour, Marty O'Brien replaced Kmak until he was able to tour again.

''Believe'' (2001–2003)

In 2001, Disturbed covered the song "Midlife Crisis" for a Faith No More tribute album that was eventually abandoned. The cover was later rerecorded and released on the compilation album The Lost Children in 2011. In September 2001, production of their second studio album began. On June 4, 2002, Disturbed released a documentary DVD about the band, titled M.O.L., which showed some of the band's more personal moments in the studio and during tours, as well as featuring several music videos and live performances. On September 17, 2002, Disturbed released their second studio album, titled Believe, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The music video for the first single from the album, titled "Prayer", was pulled from most television stations, due to perceived similarities with the September 11, 2001 attacks. David Draiman recorded vocals for a song titled "Forsaken", a song written and produced by Jonathan Davis of the band Korn, released on Queen of the Damned.
In 2003, the band once again participated in the Ozzfest tour and started another one of their own tours, titled Music as a Weapon II. The bands Chevelle, Taproot, and Ünloco toured with them. During the tour, Disturbed debuted an unreleased song, titled "Dehumanized". After Disturbed finished the Music as a Weapon II tour, Steve Kmak was fired by the band because of "personality differences". He was replaced by John Moyer; Moyer's last band, the Union Underground, had recently become inactive. On 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 are B-side tracks on the band's third studio album, Ten Thousand Fists.

''Ten Thousand Fists'' (2004–2006)

Disturbed's third studio album, Ten Thousand Fists, was released on September 20, 2005. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, while also selling around 238,000 copies in the week following its release. The album was certified platinum, shipping 1,000,000 units, in the United States on January 5, 2006. The band toured with 10 Years and Ill Niño in support of the album. Disturbed headlined Ozzfest 2006 along with System of a Down, Lacuna Coil, DragonForce, Avenged Sevenfold, and Hatebreed.
In an interview with Launch Radio Networks, Disturbed vocalist David Draiman stated that twenty songs were recorded for the album, but only fourteen made it to the final track listing. The remaining songs included "Hell", which was included in one of the two "Stricken" singles; "Monster", which was included as an iTunes pre-order bonus for Ten Thousand Fists, then later included on the Ten Thousand Fists Tour Edition; "Two Worlds", which was also included on the Tour Edition of Ten Thousand Fists; and "Sickened", which was included in the "Land of Confusion" single. Ten Thousand Fists is the first album released by Disturbed to feature guitar solos. The band stated that they felt that guitar solos are a part of music that is absent in a lot of modern music, and they wanted to bring some of that back. Songs like "Stricken", "Overburdened", and "Land of Confusion" all feature guitar solos, as well as many others.
In 2006, a European tour was scheduled but was rescheduled twice due to Draiman having troubles with severe acid reflux, which affected his voice, as related by Draiman himself. Later that year, Draiman underwent surgery for a deviated septum which affected his voice. It was successful, and ever since then, Draiman has limited his drinking on the road. In late 2006, Disturbed headlined another one of their own tours named Music as a Weapon III; the bands Flyleaf, Stone Sour, and Nonpoint toured with them. Disturbed completed the first leg of their Music as a Weapon III tour in late 2006. Soon after, Draiman stated that there was not going to be a second leg to the tour and that instead the band was going off the road to start working on their fourth studio album.

''Indestructible'' (2007–2009)

In July 2007, a new track titled "This Moment" was released on the soundtrack to the film Transformers. Disturbed mixed their fourth studio album, titled Indestructible, in Los Angeles in late 2007. In an earlier interview, David Draiman said that they were going to record fifteen songs, but only twelve would be on the album.
Indestructible's first single, "Inside the Fire" was made available on digital distribution services for purchase on March 25, 2008. The band also toured in the United States in April and May 2008 with the bands Five Finger Death Punch and Art of Dying. The music video for "Inside the Fire" was released on May 2, 2008, on the band's official website. Disturbed released their previously free song "Perfect Insanity" on iTunes Store as a second single on May 6, 2008, and the album Indestructible become available for pre-order for the release date on June 3, 2008. Indestructible was released in the United States on June 3, 2008, and in Australia on June 7, 2008, and became the band's third consecutive number one debut on the Billboard 200. A special "Internet Only" limited edition of the album that includes the B-side track "Run", a making-of DVD with instructional videos, wrap-around poster, VIP laminate, access to special Disturbed events, and a special website with an exclusive video, rare audio and more was also released. Disturbed played their first live online concert on May 29, 2008. The concert was sponsored by Pepsi and Deep Rock Drive. They performed in Las Vegas. The band toured in support of the "Mayhem Festival" alongside Slipknot, DragonForce and Mastodon during summer of 2008. Disturbed also completed a tour of Australia and New Zealand through August and September 2008.
In May 2008, Harmonix, the developers of the video game Rock Band announced they had reached a deal with Disturbed and Best Buy to offer two tracks from Indestructible for play in Rock Band to those who pre-ordered the album from Best Buy's website. On June 3, 2008, Harmonix released three tracks from Indestructible; "Indestructible", "Inside the Fire", and "Perfect Insanity". On May 12, 2009, Harmonix released Stricken and Stupify to the Rock Band music store.
file:Dan Donegan and John Moyer.jpg|thumb|left|Dan Donegan and John Moyer in 2009
On September 30, 2008, the band released an iTunes-exclusive live album entitled Live & Indestructible, made up of songs from Deep Rock Drive, as well as the music video for "Indestructible". The band started a tour of Europe, starting in London during October 2008 and finishing during November 2008 in Helsinki. In November and December 2008, Disturbed toured in the United States. The song "Inside the Fire" was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" category. In March 2009, Disturbed released a music video for the single "The Night". The band began their Music as a Weapon IV tour in March 2009 and it ended in late May. The tour, also dubbed a "festival", featured the bands Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil, and Chimaira on the main stage. The band released a second cover version of Faith No More's song "Midlife Crisis" on the album Covered, A Revolution in Sound, which also included bands such as Mastodon, The Used, and Avenged Sevenfold. This cover of "Midlife Crisis" was originally recorded for Indestructible, but the band decided not to include it on the album.