southtownstar.com


Musical 'Mayhem'
Southland native band Disturbed co-headlines new heavy music festival
August 7, 2008
By Jessi Virtusio


When it comes to concert festivals, there are several longstanding packages that are popular with all kinds of fans.

With the launch of Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival this year, heavy music fans have what could be a new summer tradition.

For Southlanders, there are two reasons why Mayhem Festival is quite appealing:

1. Ozzfest, a staple in Tinley Park for years, will be a one-day event on Saturday at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas.

2. Southland native band Disturbed is co-headlining the inaugural Mayhem Festival.

"It's been like summer camp - barbecues every night, great music and the most intense crowds we've seen in a while," vocalist David Draiman said from the road.

"Mayhem has been a great vibe and bonding tour with a lot of great bands," added Dan Donegan, who handles guitar and electronics for Disturbed.

"There's been a lot of off-stage moments that have brought a lot of us together - backstage barbecues, birthdays, after-hours bowling, etc."

The bill contains many heavy music favorites such as Slipknot, Dragonforce and Machine Head.

"One of the best things about this tour is the lineup," Disturbed drummer Mike Wengren said. "Every band has brought their A game, and that just inspires us all to step it up every night."

But, of course, Southlanders are most interested in what Disturbed - which also includes bassist John Moyer - will bring when the fest stops at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre on Sunday.

Although Moyer was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, the rest of the guys certainly have south suburban roots.

Case in point is Donegan, who grew up in Alsip and has lived in Oak Lawn, Homer Glen and Orland Park.

After forming the band in 1996 and creating a following, the group picked up steam in winter 1998 when Donegan quit his union carpenter job to focus 100 percent on the band.

"Over the next six months, we went in to the studio to record a couple demos which had songs like 'Down with the Sickness,' 'Stupify,' 'The Game' and 'Shout' to name a few," Donegan says on his MySpace.com page.

"I started sending the material to everyone we (could) get a contact for. Within a month, I had some major labels showing interest.

"We were rejected from playing (Music Over Business Fest) in Chicago in the spring of '99. After a meeting and some convincing, we were added last minute to play the conference

"On the last day of the fest, we were the last band to play at a folk bar. All of our loyal fans came anyways, and all hell broke loose. We finished our set, and that's when our lives changed forever.

"We didn't sleep for about a month. We were offered a publishing deal, had attorneys flying out, record labels flying us in. We were asked to play more shows so other labels could see what's going on. Our heads were spinning!

"Warner Bros. put us on our first big show opening for Ministry in our hometown. In the dressing room, we officially signed our record deal with Giant/Reprise Records. That was in August of 1999.

"We released our debut album, 'The Sickness,' in March 2000. We were added to play Ozzfest that year. By the end of the tour, the CD went gold (500,000 copies). By Christmas, it went platinum (1 million copies).

"We toured with Stone Temple Pilots, Godsmack, in Europe with Marilyn Manson, Japan, Canada, back on Ozzfest in 2001 and moved up to the main stage and also started headlining 'Music as a Weapon.' "

Disturbed's sophomore CD, "Believe," debuted in September 2002 at No. 1 on the Billboard charts in America and New Zealand, knocking out the Dixie Chicks.

The band also moved to Reprise/Warner Bros. when Giant Records closed.

After an extended break from touring, in September 2005, Disturbed released "Ten Thousand Fists," which debuted at No. 1 in America, New Zealand and Australia.

For the band's latest CD, "Indestructible," the members of Disturbed self-produced.

"Doing three records with Johnny K taught us a tremendous amount," Draiman said of the veteran who helmed "The Sickness," "Believe" and "Ten Thousand Fists."

"We're always trying to evolve and try new things and experiment," Donegan added. "So this time we wanted to do things a little bit differently."

According to Wengren, "Indestructible" - which the band tracked during three months in fall 2007 at Chicago's Groovemaster Recording - afforded the band the "opportunity to prove to ourselves and to everybody else that we could do it."

"I don't wanna sound arrogant," Wengren said with a laugh, "but I think we've made the kind of record the industry needs right now. There are not a lot of heavy bands delivering these days. I think our fans - and fans of this genre - will go absolutely nuts for this.

"People never lost their desire for aggressive music," Draiman added, "and we're happy to keep giving it to them."

The result of Disturbed's experimentation in the studio is the darkest outing yet.

"We wanted to get back to some of the elements that were maybe lacking on the last two records," Donegan said.

"David's got a great ability to sing really melodically, but we wanted him to get back to the rhythmic, animalistic, rapid-fire delivery he's known for.

"He's very hard to touch when he does that, and we wanted to give him music to provoke that."

Released on June 3, "Indestructible" became Disturbed's third straight No. 1-debuting album in a row, according to Donegan.

"Only six other rock acts have done that - Van Halen, U2, Metallica, Dave Matthews Band, System of a Down and Staind," Donegan says on his MySpace.com page.

"While the market has gone down about 30 percent since our last release, (the fans) helped us beat that curve and made us one of the few to actually increase, proving that Disturbed fans are life fans."