Source: blabbermouth.net

In a new interview with “Whiplash”, the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie, DISTURBED frontman David Draiman was asked to name something that he observed and took away from touring with Ozzy Osbourne in the past. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “So much. Ozzy is the godfather of metal. He’s like a father to all of us. I love the man. I love his family. I couldn’t have more reverence for any human being on this planet.

“I think that one of the times that definitely stays in my mind that taught me that sometimes you just need to find the strength to push through was one particular Ozzfest — I think it was our third one — and Ozzy wasn’t feeling so well that day,” he continued. “He was having a little bit of difficulty. And I remember Zakk [Wylde, Ozzy‘s guitarist] and Sharon [Osbourne, Ozzy‘s wife and manager] coming over to me, asking me if I would be willing to take over the set. And I’m, like, ‘No. They want Ozzy. They don’t want me.’ I’m, like, ‘I haven’t rehearsed.’ I said to her, ‘I haven’t rehearsed. I don’t know all the songs by heart.’ And she’s, like, ‘Well, there’s a goddamn teleprompter on the stage. Just read the words.’ I’m, like, ‘Yeah, well, it’s not that simple.’ And then Ozzy had retreated back into his little vocal area, his little draped off area, and he was gargling and using a spray and trying to get himself clear. And he took a few more minutes and then he came back out and he started belting it out, and it’s like he pushed through whatever frog was in his throat, and his face lit up, and the energy immediately changed. And he ended up not only finishing the set, but I think playing an additional 15 or 20 minutes, and, and it was inspiring — it really was.”

Addressing the fact that he will appear at the upcoming “Back To The Beginning” charity show on July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom, which will mark the original lineup of BLACK SABBATH‘s last-ever performance and Ozzy‘s last appearance as a solo artist, Draiman said: “The man has been through so much. The man has done so much, and between Ozzy, SABBATH, you’re talking about the most seminal frontman and the most seminal band for hard rock and heavy metal in existence.

“I couldn’t be more honored [to take part in the show],” he added. “I couldn’t be more humbled to be a part of it. And I’m going to be like a kid in a candy store that day. It’s very, very surreal for me.”

Last month, David told Billboard that he is “elated to be part of” “Back To The Beginning”, “humbled and honored. It’s the most seminal frontman and band for hard rock and heavy metal,” he said. “The second record I ever bought, right after KISS ‘Destroyer’, was [SABBATH‘s] ‘We Sold Our Soul For Rock ‘N’ Roll’. I love Ozzy. I love the Osbourne family. They’ve been so supportive, such a huge part of we’ve become who we’ve become. We could not have done it without them, so I’m intensely grateful. We all are. I hope that I can just do my little part to pay tribute to their legacy.”

DISTURBED kicked off the U.S. leg of “The Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour” on February 25 at Ford Idaho Center Arena in Nampa, Idaho. The trek celebrates 25 years of DISTURBED‘s seminal debut album which launched the band into public consciousness and is one of the most important and influential heavy metal albums of all time. Each night features two sets of music, opening with DISTURBED playing the five-times-platinum “The Sickness” in full, followed by a full set of greatest hits. Openers on the U.S. shows include THREE DAYS GRACE, SEVENDUST, DAUGHTRY and NOTHING MORE, depending on the date.

Last week, DISTURBED announced the European leg of “The Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour” with support from MEGADETH.

Since “The Sickness” was released in 2000, the album was certified five times platinum by the RIAA, spent a total of 106 weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart, and Revolver named it one of “Top 25 Debut Hard Rock Albums.” Billboard said of the title track upon release: “‘Down With The Sickness’ is, of course, the quintessential DISTURBED song, harnessing all the band’s seethe and its now-famous tribal beat and guitar chug into three and a half minutes of alt-metal mayhem. It’s menacing, it’s rhythmic, it’s rebellious.”

DISTURBED recently announced the 25th-anniversary edition release of “The Sickness”. To commemorate the anniversary, the band will reissue the five-times-platinum-certified LP on March 7, exactly 25 years to the date of their original release.

On February 21, DISTURBED released a new single, “I Will Not Break”, via the band’s own label, Mother Culture Records.

https://blabbermouth.net/

In a new interview with Nic and Big J of the Boise, Idaho radio station 100.3 The X Rocks, DISTURBED frontman David Draiman was asked about the “throwback” vibe of the band’s new single, “I Will Not Break”, which was released earlier this month. David said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It wasn’t intentional, that much I’ll tell you. It came at the end of our recording session. It’s one of the last songs we did. We were really on a roll. And I remember I had said to Danny [Dan Donegan, DISTURBED guitarist] and Drew [Fulk] and Mike [Wengren, DISTURBED drummer] — Drew‘s our producer — ‘give me a beat that’s a good old-fashioned, old-school head bob, something I can really lock in my polysyncopation on. Give me something old school.’ And they did, and, boom, this came out. And it immediately spoke to us. It was a hell of a lot of fun to write and record the songs. Very empowering, very healing for me. It’s a contrast to some of the darkness I was going through last cycle, and being able to celebrate coming out the other end.”

Draiman went on to say that there is plenty of new music on the way from DISTURBED. “We’ve got a lot of amazing new material we’re gonna be releasing piece by piece over the course of the next year or two, culminating with the release of an actual record,” he explained. “But we’re gonna take our time with it.

“These songs are — the problem we had in studio is that so many of them were so strong and so compelling that we had no shortage of single contenders,” he continued. “In fact, we had too many. So we wanna try and give every baby its necessary growth period to be able to grow into a nice big adult song.

“So it’s nice, being able to feel that anticipation and the excitement of it. I can’t wait,” Draiman added. “There’s definitely a lot of the meat-and-potatoes DISTURBED in the collection, but there’s a couple surprises too, and I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised when they actually get to hear everything.”

“I Will Not Break” came out last Friday (February 21) via DISTURBED‘s own label, Mother Culture Records. The track marks DISTURBED‘s first new music since its acclaimed 2022 album “Divisive”.

“I Will Not Break” was helmed by producer Drew Fulk, also known as WZRD BLD (MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, LIL PEEP, HIGHLY SUSPECT),who previously worked with DISTURBED on “Divisive”.

Last week, Donegan spoke to Ryan McCredden of the I-Rock 93.5 radio station about the musical inspiration for “I Will Not Break”. He said: “[That song] came late in the recording process. We were out in L.A. this past September, October and November, just getting the ball rolling. There was no really gameplan of a timeframe or deadline in any way. We had some time off the road with only a handful of shows last fall, so we said, ‘Let’s get back in the room and get things going again and see how the creative process goes.’ And everything was going great. We wrote a bunch of material, tracked it all, and then ‘I Will Not Break’ kind of came late in the session. I just felt like I still had a lot left in me. And I was supposed to be tracking guitars for something else that day, and I just told my producer I felt really creative. I wanted to kind of go with this kind of old-school — I wanted to give something to David that was gonna hopefully trigger kind of that old-school delivery out of David. So we just kind of worked on this heavy groove, this beat, and I just started improvising over it, and as soon as the riff came around, we kind of all just looked at each other, like, ‘That’s the one. That’s the one.’ And then I just continued down that road and put together a rough structure. David wasn’t there at the moment, at the time, so we just kind of worked out the music and put together a rough structure. And when I’d seen him next, I kind of went over it with him and he connected with it. And he kind of gave us those elements that we were looking for — the still melodic, but still quick, rapid-fire syncopation at times and just that kind of delivery we were hoping to pull out of him. And we thought it would be a great lead-off track to share with the fans.”

When McCredden noted that “I Will Not Break” sounds like something DISTURBED could have recorded 25 years ago, possibly inspired by the fact that the band is preparing to embark on a 34-date North American tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their 2000 debut album “The Sickness”, Donegan concurred. “I was going through the archives and going through a lot of stuff here, my memorabilia, gearing up for this 25th-anniversary tour, and I came across some old demo tapes,” he said. “I had actually cassette tapes, if people don’t remember what those are. Back in the day, in the late ’90s, when we got David in the band, we would just set up a little cassette player in the back of the room and hit ‘record’ and record us — crappy version, but record our practices so we could hear us just improvising ideas. And so I was kind of in that headspace ’cause I was listening to these old riffs and these old deliveries of us just kind of improvising, like I said, and it just had me in that headspace. Actually, one of the song ideas was a riff I pulled from 1998 off the demo and I kind of slid it back into the mix. I have a history of doing that. I have a way of sneaking in old ideas and seeing if it triggers anybody, if they remember it and pick up on it, if it’s been that long ago. But I try to get back into that headspace. And so, even though the riff for ‘I Will Not Break’ is brand new, I was kind of in the spirit of that old-school DISTURBED, and that’s what we were hoping to do — trigger [David] in that that kind of way.”

According to DISTURBED, “I Will Not Break” is “a necessary song, about becoming stronger than the forces that constantly try to tear you down.” The track includes the stirring lyrics “I’ve had enough of feeling terrified, now I’m deciding that I won’t be hiding from anyone,” which encourages listeners to push back in the face of adversity.

“Divisive” was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee.

According to Billboard, “Divisive” sold 26,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release, with 22,000 units via album sales.

On the all-format Billboard 200 chart, “Divisive” debuted at No. 13.

DISTURBED has had five No. 1s on the all-genre chart, beginning with “Believe” in 2002.

“The Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour” will kick off in Nampa, Idaho on February 25. Produced by Live Nation, each night will feature two sets of music, opening with DISTURBED playing the five times platinum “The Sickness” in full, followed by a full set of greatest hits. The first half of the tour will feature support from special guests THREE DAYS GRACE, featuring the return of original singer Adam Gontier, and opener SEVENDUST, and the second half will feature special guests DAUGHTRY with opener NOTHING MORE.

Since “The Sickness” was released in 2000, the album was certified five times platinum by the RIAA, spent a total of 106 weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart, and Revolver named it one of “Top 25 Debut Hard Rock Albums.” Billboard said of the title track upon release: “‘Down With The Sickness’ is, of course, the quintessential DISTURBED song, harnessing all the band’s seethe and its now-famous tribal beat and guitar chug into three and a half minutes of alt-metal mayhem. It’s menacing, it’s rhythmic, it’s rebellious.”

DISTURBED recently announced the 25th-anniversary edition release of “The Sickness”. To commemorate the anniversary, the band will reissue the five-times-platinum-certified LP on March 7, exactly 25 years to the date of their original release.

“The Sickness” 25th-anniversary edition is available to pre-order on all formats. The deluxe box set will be available via the band’s web site and digitally on March 7, and via all retailers in North American on March 21.

My interview with @ChrisCuomo on @NewsNation last night.#Israel #Gaza #SaveGazaFromHamas#HamasisISIS #NovaFestivalMassacre#BringThemHome #BringThemHomeNow #NeverAgain #NeverAgainIsNow #Peace #Jewish #Proud #Coexistence #AmYisraelChai pic.twitter.com/ks4oxdqLU7

— David Draiman 🟦🎗️🇮🇱✡️☮️ (@davidmdraiman) February 29, 2024

Original article: Jerusalem Post

Over the last 48 hours over 1,000 people donated to the campaign, money will be used to pay for private security for Matisyahu and his family.

A GoFundMe campaign initiated by Jewish American hard rocker David Draiman, lead singer of Disturbed, to raise $25,000 to provide security for fellow Jewish reggae roots singer Matisyahu, more than reached its goal in only two days.

Earlier this month, two Matisyahu shows were canceled – in Tucson, Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico after the venues said they couldn’t guarantee security due to anti-Israel protests that were planned outside the shows.According to the singer, the issue was actually staff who were unwilling to work at the show. The artist said that he had offered to supplement these staff shortages, but he had been refused.

“They do this because they are either antisemitic or have confused their empathy for the Palestinian people with hatred for someone like me who holds empathy for both Israelis and Palestinians,” Matisyahu said in social media posts at the time. “It truly is a sad day when dialogue with those you disagree with is abandoned for hate-mongering and silencing artistic expression.”

Matisyahu has shown support to Israel since beginning of the war
Last month, Matisyahu visited Israel to show solidarity amid the war. He visited army bases and performed for soldiers.

Draiman, who has also been outspoken in support of Israel – often draping his shoulders in an Israeli flag and displaying a ‘F*** Hamas’ banner at shows on the current Disturbed tour in the US, heard about the cancellations and decided to take action.

He launched the funding campaign, writing: “This is David Draiman of Disturbed, and I’m raising funds to provide security for my friend, Matisyahu, an amazing, peace-loving artist, who is currently dealing with unprecedented levels of antisemitism. Matisyahu and I first met years ago when he performed in Miami Beach and I had my management reach out to him when I heard about his unfortunate show cancellations in Arizona. I couldn’t let that stand. Couldn’t let him and his family continue to be terrorized, so this campaign was started. All funds will be wire transferred to Matisyahu’s management team to pay for a private security detail for him and his family for the remainder of his current tour.”

Over the last 48 hours over 1,000 people donated to the campaign and as of Saturday night, more than $26,000 had been raised, which Draiman said will be used “to pay for private security for him and his family for the duration of his current tour.”

When asked by the Post on Saturday night what he took away from the speedy and generous reaction to his appeal, Draiman said, “we are united against the scourge of antisemitism. Never again is now.”

Thanks for an unforgettable night at EXIT/IN last night Disturbed! 🤘🔥
Some photos Photos by Kristi Potts (the ones without watermarks were uncredited)

More than 400 leaders from the entertainment industry — including KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons, DISTURBED singer David Draiman and Ozzy Osbourne’s wife/manager Sharon Osbourne — have signed an open letter released by the non-profit entertainment industry organization Creative Community For Peace in support of the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) public commitment to include Israel in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest.

The letter comes in response to others who have demanded that Israel be disinvited from the contest. In December, Iceland’s Association Of Composers And Lyricists published a statement saying Israel’s military action in Gaza made its participation incompatible with an event “characterized by joy and optimism”. In Finland, a petition signed by more than 1,400 music industry professionals accused their national broadcaster Yle of double standards, saying it was among the first to demand the ban on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Creative Community For Peace letter highlights Eurovision’s unique ability to unify people from diverse backgrounds and music’s capacity to effect positive change in the world. The letter states that the annual event, with more viewers than the Super Bowl, is a celebration of unity and should not be used as a tool for politics.

Simmons said: “Music unites people from all backgrounds. It’s the one language that everyone can understand. It’s a beautiful thing and a great way to bring people together. Those advocating to exclude an Israeli singer from Eurovision don’t move the needle towards peace, but only further divide the world.”

The statement is the first of its kind — a call from the entertainment industry unequivocally voicing support for Israel’s inclusion in Eurovision.

“We have been shocked and disappointed to see some members of the entertainment community calling for Israel to be banished from the Contest for responding to the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” the letter reads. “Under the cover of thousands of rockets fired indiscriminately into civilian populations, Hamas murdered and kidnapped innocent men, women, and children,” it continues.

On Eurovision’s impact, the letter states, “We believe that unifying events such as singing competitions are crucial to help bridge our cultural divides and unite people of all backgrounds through their shared love of music.” The letter concludes: “Those who are calling for Israel’s exclusion are subverting the spirit of the Contest and turning it from a celebration of unity into a tool of politics.”

CCFP’s chairman David Renzer and executive director Ari Ingel said: “We join entertainment industry leaders in rejecting the vilification of Israel on the global music stage. After thousands of innocent Israelis were killed, over 360 of them at a music festival as they danced in celebration of life, to see some respond in this fashion is shameful. We hope Eurovision stands firm in the face of this misguided, discriminatory boycott attempt. We want the world to know that the entertainment industry supports the Contest and all this year’s amazing participants, including Israel’s.”

Simmons was born as Chaim Witz in August 1949, at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel, to Jewish immigrants from Hungary. He was the son of Holocaust survivor Flora Klien and a father, Feri Witz, who soon abandoned his family, leaving them penniless prior to emigrating to America in search of a better life.

Draiman, the son of Israelis and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, spends much of his time on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, sharing pro-Israel articles and posts and has often used his fame to speak out against anti-Semitism.

DISTURBED’s song “Never Again”, from 2010’s “Asylum” album, was written about the Holocaust and calls out people who deny it.

Both of Draiman’s maternal grandparents were survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, while many others on his mother’s side were wiped out by the Nazis.

Sharon Osbourne once described herself as “half a Jew”, with the Jewish half coming from her father, the renowned music promoter and manager Don Arden who had represented ELO, THE SMALL FACES and BLACK SABBATH.

“We were brought up in basically a Jewish household,” Sharon told The Jewish Chronicle. “My family, my father’s family, my aunt, my cousins, are all Jewish. And observant Jews who practice and love their religion. So Judaism is the only religion I have, and the only one with which I feel comfortable.”

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The post Travis Kelce Gets “Down with the Sickness” at Super Bowl After-Party, Gets Invited to Disturbed Show appeared first on Consequence.

Social media clips of Travis Kelce partying after the Super Bowl in Las Vegas have been rampant, with the champion tight end cutting it up with girlfriend Taylor Swift and his fellow players in the aftermath of the Kansas City Chiefs’ overtime victory.

One in particular has been making the rounds in heavy metal circles, as it sees the football star getting down to Disturbed’s anthemic “Down with the Sickness” — and impressing the band’s singer David Draiman in the process.

The clip shows Kelce pumping up the crowd from the DJ booth as he appears to shout “Go baby!” during the “ooo ah ah ah” refrain while the metal banger blasts through the speakers.

Draiman re-shared a couple of the Kelce clips and extended an invite over X/Twitter, first writing, “Hey @tkelce, you’re welcome at one of our shows anytime,” and later remarking, “Well done @tkelce … Come and do it live with us?”

Back in November, Draiman defended Taylor Swift at a Disturbed show. When he joked to a female fan, “I know this isn’t Taylor Swift, but we’re doing our best,” some of the crowd booed at the mention of the pop superstar’s name. He then exclaimed, “Shut the fuck up! Taylor Swift kicks fuckin’ ass!”

Disturbed’s 2024 tour already passed through Kansas City in early February, but there are still 10 more dates on the itinerary if Kelce wants to drop in. You can pick up tickets to Disturbed’s upcoming shows here.

Watch the clips of Kelce getting “Down with the Sickness” below, along with one of David Draiman defending Swift.

Well done @tkelce 🤘🏻
Come and do it live with us? @Disturbed @Chiefs #downwiththesickness pic.twitter.com/ENIAYU7QgH

— David Draiman 🟦🎗️🇮🇱✡️☮️ (@davidmdraiman) February 13, 2024

Hey @tkelce, you’re welcome at one of our shows anytime 🤘🏻pic.twitter.com/NpKJlZnV0h

— David Draiman 🟦🎗️🇮🇱✡️☮️ (@davidmdraiman) February 13, 2024

Original Article: msn.com

During their Take Back Your Life 2024 tour stop at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT on Saturday, February 12, rockers Disturbed stopped their performance to address a fan in the crowd who had been holding up a photo for them to see throughout the night.

“What is your story,” Disturbed frontman David Draiman asked as he approached the fan at the stage barrier. “You’ve been holding this picture up to me the entire show. What’s going on?” Fighting back tears, the fan explains: “This is my best friend Mark. I’ve known him since I was 11… He unfortunately lost his life to addiction on January 17th this year. It’ll be a month on Wednesday.”
“It’s definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through,” the fan continues as her emotions get the best of her. Still standing on the barrier, Draiman leans in to comfort her with a hug, and then gets down to floor level to look her in the eye when he says, “Come with me.”

The video then cuts to David and Kaylee on stage, where Draiman introduces her to the arena while giving her a chance to share the name of her late friend, Mark Rivers, with everyone in attendance. After another hug, Kaylee is welcomed to stay on stage as the band performs their single, “The Light,” in honor of Mark. “Breaks my heart,” Draiman says addressing the crowd. “Unfortunately, not everyone gets saved. Not everyone survives the darkness.”

“The key is to let the memories of the people we love live long beyond us,” David continues. “To keep them in our hearts, and to keep their souls radiant wherever they are. All you have to do is just think about them. Keep them in your mind, keep them in your soul, and the people you love are never ever truly gone.”

Finally, Draiman explains, “Sometimes it takes the right song to bring us back to the memory that we so deeply miss. I know I still miss so many of my dearly departed friends, we lost so many of them: Chester [Bennington], Scott [Weiland], Chris [Cornell]. That’s part of the reason why we write the songs that we do. Because life, no matter what the storybooks tell may you, is not f***ing easy. Not everything is sweet. Sometimes we have to look into the darkness in order to dispel the darkness.”

“I have a secret you may not realize,” Draiman says as he walks back to address Kaylee again personally: “Sometimes darkness can show you the light.” Watch the touching clip above.

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During this tour run Disturbed has brough up a lot of fans on stage to share their stories about their battle with Depression. We have heard many stories from many fans and it lets us know we are not alone in our battles. Check out the video below that was posted to their official facebook page.