DISTURBED's DAVID DRAIMAN: 'People Are Gonna Come Out In Droves' To See Live Concerts Once Pandemic Has Subsided

August 15, 2020 14 Comments

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On Friday (August 14), DISTURBED singer David Draiman took part in a live interview with "Offstage With DWP", the new online content series from Danny Wimmer Presents, one of the largest independent promoters in the United States. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about DISTURBED's plans to return to the road post-pandemic, Draiman said: "We can't wait to get back out there. Look, this is a necessary evil, everyone. Everybody needs to stay safe. Everybody needs to just take care of themselves, and we need to do what we need to do as a society and as a planet to just minimize the damage from this thing. And if that means that we need to wait to get together and celebrate, then that's what it means. And we'll be there, and it'll happen eventually. And we look forward to it happening. And I think all this built-up anticipation, and once it finally can happen, is gonna make for one hell of a celebration… Once it's safe, and [the fans] really can [attend shows again], and they've been pent up and held back for so long, oh my God — people are gonna come out in droves. I'm confident of it."

This past June, DISTURBED confirmed the rescheduled 2021 dates for its "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour", co-produced by Frank Productions and Live Nation. The amphitheater tour, with very special guest STAIND and BAD WOLVES, will begin on July 7, 2021 at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre and all previously purchased tickets will be honored for their rescheduled dates. "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" celebrates the two-decade anniversary of the band's seminal album "The Sickness". On this tour, the band will perform songs off the album, as well as tracks from their most recent studio release, "Evolution", and their extensive catalog.

Earlier in the year, Draiman confirmed that DISTURBED won't perform "The Sickness" in its entirety on "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour". "No, we won't do the entire album, but we're going to do a ton of 'Sickness' material, deeper cuts, stuff people haven't heard us play off the record for a while, and definitely a huge portion of material will be 'Sickness'-oriented," the singer told Billboard.com.

"You can't, unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on how you look at it — as a band at our level, at this point of our career, you can't just go out and play one record because everybody came on board at different stations," the explained. "They want to hear what they fell in love with. There's definitely new production elements that we're toying with, that are elements that we've maybe used during 'The Sickness' era, but that we're doing in a new and more provocative way. That's about all I can say."

In 2010, DISTURBED celebrated the tenth anniversary of the release of "The Sickness" by reissuing it with exclusive b-sides and expanded artwork, as well as a first-time-ever vinyl edition.

Released on March 7, 2000, "The Sickness" is DISTURBED's best-selling album to date, thanks to such hit singles as "Stupify", "Voices" and "Down With The Sickness".

 

Disturbed Play Israeli National Anthem and David Draiman Criticizes Roger Waters at Rishon LeZion, Israel Concert

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 AARON GRECH JULY 3RD, 2019 - 6:18 PM

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Chicago-based nu-metal band Disturbed played their first show ever in Israel, at Rishon Lezion’s Live Park, where the band’s singer, David Draiman ,performed a cover of the Israeli National Anthem “Hatikva.” Draiman, who is of Jewish descent, also spoke in Hebrew with the crowd, and even wore a shirt in support of the government’s military forces, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

This performance saw Draiman sing the anthem backed by an Italian renaissance instrumental for a little under a minute and a half. “Hatikva,” is based off a 19th-Century Jewish poem, and has served as the nation’s national anthem officially since 2004.

Although this is the band’s first time performing in the country, Draiman, as the son of two Israeli citizens, and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, has been a long supporter of Israel for many years. Prior to this performance, the singer slammed outspoken Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions(BDS) supporter Roger Waters, who conversely, has openly criticized numerous musicians, including Radiohead, Kamasi Washington and Nick Cave for performing in the country.

“You can’t accomplish anything in terms of trying to create peace, in terms of trying to create understanding by shutting things off. There has to be open roads of communication,” Draiman explained according to Loudwire. “You build bridges, you don’t knock them down. And music and entertainment is the perfect way to bridge that gap. And the very notion that Waters and the rest of his Nazi comrades decide that this is the way to go ahead and foster change is absolute lunacy and idiocy — absolute.”

Waters has addressed his position on Isreal numerous times, in 2017 after receiving threats of a boycott of his concert in New York, he explained:

” To peacefully protest against Israel’s racist domestic and foreign policies is NOT ANTI-SEMITIC. Your(Nassau County’s) contention that because I criticize the Policies of the Israeli government I should be lumped in with the Muslim Brotherhood is risible, and again a personal affront. I have spent my whole adult life advocating separation of church and state.”

Israel’s government has been accused of human rights abuses by the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, due to their treatment of Palestinians living in various territories and settlements alongside Gaza.

This is not the first issue that Draiman has been outspoken about either, back in 2016 Disturbed posted a video on their social media expressing support for police officers, while utilizing the contentious Blue Lives Matter  hashtag. Although these causes may be considered right-wing, Draiman has not explicitly sided with one side of the political aisle, siding with Bernie Sanders in 2016, while simultaneously refusing to blame the country’s political divide on the current US president.

“It’s not just the Trump era,” Draiman explained in the Loudwire piece. “The [U.S.] was divided before him, whether people want to admit it or not. I think that Trump is given too much credit. The hatred exists with or without him.”

Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schulz