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00:00It's 93.3 WMMR in Philadelphia. Our guest today has sold millions of records, has performed in
00:07front of millions of fans around the world, including at our own MMR-BQ with a few different
00:12acts. I think you would recognize his baritone anywhere. It's David Draymond of Disturbed.
00:17Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me. Normally, I'm not one to
00:22comment on people's appearance in an interview, but you did just post about your recent weight
00:28loss and you look great. It's clear that you're feeling great, which is the most important thing.
00:33And I'm not going to ask you what your workout routine is, because I'm sure that you've been
00:37asked that a million times now, but I do want to know what you eat on your cheat days.
00:41You know, my cheat days wait for me at the end of a tour, because all the things that I really like
00:48to eat are very problematic regarding my acid reflux. Like spicy stuff?
00:56Pride stuff, spicy stuff, chocolate, coffee, everything in life that's fun and good, you
01:05know? So I do on the road because of the acid reflux. So I have to stop eating four hours
01:15prior to the set and about two hours prior to going to sleep for the night. So effectively
01:21on show days, what I'm doing is by default intermittent fasting. So my last meal of the day
01:28is usually a late lunch, and then I don't eat until the next morning. So that in and of itself
01:36gives me a little bit more wiggle room as far as caloric intake is concerned, or as far as having to eat
01:44super duper clean. But burning through anywhere from 500 to 750 calories every night I perform
01:54definitely helps. And part of just the discipline and the regimen that's required for me to be able to
02:05pull off these songs that are, albeit my own fault for being so challenging, but they are challenging.
02:14Um, you know, if you listen to just about any other rock band in existence, and don't get me wrong,
02:21there are quite a few of my colleagues, whether it's, um, Corey or Jacoby or any number of those guys
02:27that, um, you know, definitely utilize staccato rapid fire vocal delivery. Sure. When it's part and parcel
02:37of almost every single one of our songs, and it is so, um, heavily laden throughout each song with literally
02:45very few rest periods and very few moments where there isn't vocal in a song, the older I get, the more
02:52challenging they become. And, um, the more strictly I have to adhere to a very severe amount of discipline.
02:59That's something that I didn't think about until now is that a lot of singers, as they age, worry about
03:03their range in terms of the notes they can hit, but you're worrying about the aggression. And like
03:10you said, that staccato and the back and forth between, uh, this beautiful operatic singing that
03:15you do and then straight up screaming. What's that felt like over the past 20 years to, uh, you know,
03:21as your body ages, your voice ages too. So I'm sure you've had to make some adjustments.
03:25Your vocal cords thicken with age, whether you like it or not, uh, it's just a fact of life.
03:32And I wish I could say that my range hasn't been somewhat affected. There are definitely notes that
03:37are more difficult to hit, uh, nowadays than they were 20 years ago. Uh, and you, you, you just try and
03:44make as many adjustments physically as you can. Um, I won't hide behind the fact that there are a couple
03:52of the more challenging songs that we've dropped a half step so that they're a little easier for me
03:57to perform live because I'd rather perform them in the manner that the fans are used to hearing,
04:04at least as far as the melodies are concerned, then have to cheat parts of the song or hand the
04:10micro over to them and let them sing the part. Cause that's not what Vince Neil style.
04:14Well, you know, whatever works, whatever works. Truth be told is like, you know, no,
04:20it's interesting that you bring that up. It's, it's not just Vince. I mean, there's a bunch of guys who,
04:25who do that very, very often. Um, for me personally, I, I don't, I don't get enough self-satisfaction
04:35out of it. I, I, on a selfish level, I need to be singing these. I need to be feeling them. I need to
04:44be singing with the crowd as opposed to just giving it to them. And, and I know what it's like to be
04:51that guy going to the show, waiting for that incredible moment on the course that I fell in
04:57love with for, you know, the singer that I am waiting to hear and not getting it and like, Hey,
05:03I didn't come here to sing it. I came to hear you sing it. So I, I always wanted to try and live
05:08up to a standard that I try to look for when I go to live shows myself as a spectator. So it,
05:15it, it's multi-tiered, I guess you could say. Sure. Well, you'll be singing it. We'll be singing
05:21it. Everyone's going to be feeling it on August 21st. When you come to our area, Camden, New Jersey,
05:26Freedom Mortgage Pavilion with Breaking Benjamin and Ginger. And you just posted that there's
05:32new production, new surprises, big rock show. So I know you don't want to give everything away,
05:39but what can we expect to see when you come to town? Well, everyone knows how much we like fire.
05:44There's going to be a lot. Pyro, pyro, pyro. Love it. Here for it. Yeah. There's going to be plenty
05:49of it. It's going to be a rig that we've never used before. I don't think that anyone's ever used
05:54before. Um, and, uh, we need to be very, very careful during our rehearsals to make sure that we know
06:01where to stand at exactly what time so that we don't end up getting cooked up there, but, um,
06:06it's going to definitely be a lot of fun to play with all these new toys that we have. And, uh, I,
06:13I can't wait to unleash this spectacle on the summer crowds. Have you ever had any close calls
06:19with the pyro? Yeah. Yeah. A couple of times. I, um, I've definitely been in the wrong place at the
06:25wrong time. And thank God we've had pyrotechnicians that knew when to put that emergency stop in place
06:31so that I didn't end up getting roasted. Uh, you know, sometimes you forget just how much is involved
06:39with, um, your positioning during these moments and people don't realize, you know, just how much
06:45pre-planning and pre-meditation is built into every single one of the scenes that are behind each
06:52one of these songs. So it it's complex. And, uh, yeah, if, if you're not where you're supposed to
06:59be, when you're supposed to be there, you could get a very rude awakening. Yikes. Well, MMR is actually
07:05giving away a really cool prize ahead of the show. We are giving away the chance for a winner and three
07:11guests to go backstage pre-show for what you're calling a keg crusher barbecue with a bunch of beer,
07:18a bunch of food and a whole bunch of merch as well. Signed set lists and autographed guitar,
07:24um, vinyl, all sorts of stuff. And disturbed has always delivered these elevated experiences
07:30to fans from the beginning. And I know one time we gave away, like, I think it was playing air hockey
07:36backstage with some of the members of the band, which was really, really cool. Can you speak to
07:41the connection that you have with your fans and what it's like to be able to give them these
07:46opportunities? I love it. Uh, I mean, I love that the connection continues to get stronger as the
07:53years go by. I love that we get the opportunity to hear these amazing experiences and these stories
08:00of how the fans have used the music to help themselves heal from, uh, traumatic experiences
08:07in their lives or help them to triumph over adversity and get over obstacles in their life.
08:13I, I, I, it never bores me. It never, um, it never gets mundane. I, I, I, I really cherish those moments
08:24and being able to hear these stories and put human faces to them and, uh, you know, to feel the level of
08:32emotion. I mean, these, these experiences are as much of an experience for us as it is for them.
08:39And, and, and we actually really look forward to them every time we play.
08:42That's so beautiful. I spoke with Ann Wilson recently, and she had some lovely things to say
08:49about you. She called you Shakespearean in your delivery and you, uh, you got a chance to work
08:58together on a song that's on the new disturbed album divisive. The song is called don't tell me.
09:03So what was that experience like working with a legend?
09:07So surreal. Um, she's so gifted and so just naturally talented and just has this effortless
09:16vibrato that comes out of her. And it, it, it was just so transcendent for me. I, I couldn't,
09:26I had to be pinching myself as it was going on. Um, you know, Danny and I flew out to the West coast
09:33to meet up with her and her husband when it came time to track this. Uh, and the whole experience
09:39was just something that I will remember for the rest of my life. I mean, she's just so iconic and
09:44so professional and, and, and, you know, still just kills it after, you know, all these years of her
09:51killing it consistently. And she's an inspiration and, uh, male, female doesn't matter. In my opinion,
10:00humbly one, one of the greatest rock, one of the greatest voices period rock or any other genre of
10:06all time. Undisputable. And like you said, she still sounds great after 50 years of doing this.
10:13It's absolutely amazing. I wanted to ask you, um, about another collaboration. And that is one with
10:19Nita Strauss, the guitarist. She's got a new album out and you were on her song dead inside. So how did
10:25that come together with Nita and Josh? Well, I've been friends with Josh for, oh God.
10:32That guy knows everybody. Yeah. Yeah. He gets around, doesn't he? But we've known each other for
10:37probably better than 20 years. Uh, so, um, he reached out to me when they had the very early skeletal
10:47ideas of these songs. Um, he had that one in mind for me, him and Nita did, uh, it was
10:54very, very easy to write to. Uh, I had an idea once I finally had the time to spend on it
11:01within 24 to 48 hours of sitting with it, I already had a song idea that was pretty well developed and
11:08annoyed the living crap out of them for the next number of days,
11:13barraging them with messages and versions and ideas and, uh, was within a week of, of really
11:21harnessing the idea of flying out to the West coast to track it. And, uh, it, it came together
11:27incredibly powerfully and I'm very, very proud of what we accomplished together. I mean, she,
11:32she, she very much deserves, um, all the credit that she's been given and all of the, um, all of
11:40the, uh, the praise that she's been given. She's truly a fantastic, uh, guitar player, uh, regardless
11:50of being female or otherwise she, she shreds and, and, and she's also, uh, the, the, both of them,
11:57her and Josh make a very prolific, uh, songwriting team together. They have, uh, tremendous, uh,
12:03production chops of their own. I was very, very impressed with, uh, when I finally was able to
12:09work with them. So, uh, I, I, I'm very proud of her and I'm very proud of them and I'm very proud
12:14of what we were able to accomplish together. Yeah. They're kicking ass, which is, it's really
12:18amazing to see their trajectory. And it was worth all of that back and forth effort because the song
12:22was all over rock radio last summer. So, uh, fantastic all around. We're speaking with David
12:28Draymond on 93.3 WMMR. You've had a love, hate relationship. We'll call it with social media over
12:35the years. Sometimes you're on it. Sometimes you're off at first stretch. And when you are on it,
12:40you're pretty vocal. So my question for you is, are we going to see you on threads?
12:45I already signed up this morning. Perfect. Yes. Excellent. I figured I shouldn't miss the boat.
12:51I, I, I, I never quite got on, uh, the Tik TOK parade. Uh, I know we have, uh, our disturbed,
12:59uh, band page, which has grown by leaps and bounds ever since we launched it. I can't believe that
13:05we're well over a million followers on Tik TOK out of almost out of the gate, which is very, very
13:11humbling. Um, but I don't know what this whole threads thing is going to be like. We'll see. Uh,
13:16and I, I, right now, just my first initial vibe from using it is there's not a whole lot
13:25distinguishing it from something like Twitter. We'll see who ends up getting more traction in this
13:32crazy environment of ours. And we'll, we'll, we'll just, uh, I'm looking forward to the experience.
13:38We'll see how, how, how crazy it ends up being. Yeah. My first thought was, Oh, it's the comment
13:44section of Instagram. And that's everyone seems enthusiastic. So it's one of those things where
13:51it's like, all right, obligatory, you get on it, you take the ride and you see where it goes. And,
13:56uh, social media has definitely been an agent of chaos at times, but it's also delivered a lot of
14:03good. And not only with fans being able to connect with people like yourself that maybe they wouldn't
14:08otherwise have the opportunity to reach out to, but the memes, the mashups, all of the fantastic
14:15content. I am always laughing at the, uh, particularly down with the sickness when it surfaces
14:22in goofy tick tocks or reaction videos, or, um, there was one where it was mashed up with the
14:27Macarena and it blew my mind. And it worked, right? And it worked, but here's the thing. That song is 20
14:33years old. So what is it like for you to sit back and watch this song sort of get another life with a
14:40new generation in a weird way that you have absolutely no control over? I love it. Keep it
14:45coming. Yeah. It, it, it just, uh, it's a testimony to the fact that it still impacts with people. It
14:53still makes the impression. It's still is this universal, like tribal wake-up call. I, I, I,
15:02I love that. I love that. It, it seems to be permeating so many different areas and so many
15:08different spaces. It's very, very, um, gratifying to watch it continue to spread. Do you have a
15:16favorite meme that someone has tagged you in? Oh God, there's so many. I mean, they just keep on
15:22coming. It like, it never ends. Um, that, that one where they put my face on Richard Simmons body,
15:28like literally, like I, I, I almost died laughing. I have not seen that one and I am going to look it
15:37up immediately after this chat. It's funny. That sounds like internet gold. Disturbed is a band that
15:44is solidly in the rock format, right? But over the years, there's been discussion is Disturbed
15:51a metal band. Is it new metal? Is it strictly hard rock? How do you classify Disturbed in terms
15:58of genre? As just Disturbed? I don't think that we're bound by a genre per se. I mean,
16:03we definitely gravitate towards the hard rock sphere of things. Um, and if you had, if we had come out
16:11during, you know, the late eighties, early nineties, uh, there would have been no question where we lie.
16:19You know, uh, if we had come out during the era of priest maiden, all the heyday of those bands,
16:27everyone would have called us metal. There wouldn't been a question about it, but in the decades that
16:34have followed since then, there are so many sub genres now to it. And, uh, heavy metal has become,
16:41uh, identified as something that's much heavier than what hard rock has now become. Uh, I mean,
16:51look, if you listen to even, I know this is a taboo thing to say, but if you listen to alternative radio
16:58back in the day, it was what active rock sounds like today. Right. And so everything is constantly
17:04in flux and everything is changing over the course of time. I think that we've been able to show that
17:11we can go outside of our comfort zone and we can go outside of the box that people like to confine
17:18disturbed. And, you know, the sound of silence covers testimony to that, um, songs like a reason
17:24to fight, hold on to memories. And now the Anne Wilson duet, uh, don't tell me are definitely
17:29testimony to that. So, uh, we just love creating and we love, you know, speaking from our hearts and
17:38just trying to make the most powerful, compelling songs that we can at the end of the day, we're
17:44disturbed and whatever genre people want to lump us into, they can have fun with it. It, it, it, it won't
17:51be part of something we fight against. And I I'm just proud to be a part of the whole thing.
17:56I love it. You mentioned the sound of silence cover, and I wanted to ask because, uh, that one
18:03is probably your most prominent cover, but you've covered all sorts of bands, Genesis and sting and
18:09the list goes on and you do a great job at reinterpreting these songs in the style of
18:15disturbed. So what's the criteria for choosing a song to reinterpret? How do you go about saying,
18:21all right, this is the one that we're going to cover? Well, a huge amount of it is lyrical
18:27content. Um, you know, if it's a song about rainbows and puppy dogs, it probably won't really adapt
18:33well as a disturbed song very well. Um, but I don't know. I kind of want to hear you cover Taylor Swift.
18:40Taylor Swift can get dark. I would love to cover a Taylor Swift song. I think that she is one of the
18:47most prolific songwriters of our generation. I think she's insanely talented. I'd love to
18:54collaborate with Taylor if she ever wanted to on any given day. Are you listening, Taylor? Are you
18:59listening? I've, I've said it before. I'll say it again. I think she's a brilliant woman. I think
19:03she's, like I said, one of the great songwriters of our time. I, I, I, I love her gumption. I love her,
19:11the fact that she gets on stage in front of tens of thousands of screaming young female fans and plays
19:21a real instrument and sings live and is the real deal. I mean, there are a number of people within
19:30the pop genre that still do it the way that she does it. And, you know, pink is one of them. Lady
19:36Gaga is one of them. You know, a lot of these people are just so gifted and, and, and so great
19:44at what they do. And she's certainly way, way, way up there. I have nothing but the utmost respect for
19:49her. Well, I know you're a busy man. The new album Divisive is out now and we will see Disturbed when
19:56they come to Camden on August 21st with Breaking Benjamin and Ginger. The show is on sale now. David,
20:02thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you for having me and thank you for your support.
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