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Disturbed Frontman on recent tragedy, success and live show
By Shane Weller


DONT BE LAZY, DO SOME RESEARCH

Grammy-nominated metal band Disturbed has sold millions of records worldwide, released three consecutive No. 1 albums and, on Monday, Feb. 2, will bring all the fury from their newest album, “Indestructible,” to the County Coliseum.

We caught up with lead singer David Draiman about song meanings, chasing down hit-and-run drivers and freak garage fires.

Q. I heard you were in a motorcycle accident. What happened?
A guy cut me off – turned in front of me whether I was coming or not – and I didn’t have enough time to stop, so I had to lay the bike down. Otherwise, I was going to go into him. It scraped around the pavement for about 10-15 feet, then popped up, came up from under me, landed on my feet. The guy went ahead and drove off. I ran after him and people started holding me down saying, “Relax, relax, I don’t think you realize what just happened to you. You just smacked across the pavement with about 750 pounds of bike, you have to relax!” (laughs) So they’re calling the paramedics, and then this van full of Mexican gentlemen comes by and they say, “Hey man, we saw what happened – that’s bullsh*t. Jump in the van and we’ll chase them down.” And I jumped in the van (laughs) and chased after him. Dude parked some house about four blocks down. I took the license number down and the address of where he was parked and went back to the accident site, where the police and the ambulance are waiting for me. I gave the police the license and address, and they got the guy.

Q. And then your garage burned down. Was that a crazy ex-girlfriend or freak accident?
Just a freak accident, man. Two weeks after I get the bike fixed … I get a knock on my front door from my neighbor telling me to get out of my house because the garage is on fire. There was a fuel leak from the motorcycle that traveled to the hot-water heater in the garage that heats the water for the rooftop hot tub, and the thing blew out the garage door, burned down the garage, burned the bike, burned down my truck. It was a series of wonderful events.

Q. You guys were nominated for a Grammy for the song “Inside the Fire.” How’s that feel?
Feels great. Feels like it’s about time. We’ve been doing this for about 10 years so it’s nice to get a notch, a little recognition.

Q. “Inside the Fire” is a real dark song. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
It’s about my ex-girlfriend committing suicide. That’s what it’s unfortunately about. It depicts the imagery I had in my head while standing over her open casket. I was imagining the Devil was speaking to me, suggesting over my shoulder that I take my own life as well, so I could be with her in the afterlife.

Q. The title track, “Indestructible,” was written for the troops. Can you tell us a little bit about that and would you like to say anything to the troops of El Paso?
First and foremost, we support them with all of our hearts. Too many times in history people have blamed the war along with the troops, like the troops are to blame as well as the action itself. That’s not the case because we are obviously against war in general, but you can’t hold the soldiers responsible. The soldiers are given orders and the soldiers follow those orders and that’s tremendously honorable. They sacrifice everything, their homes, families and their own lives. So that’s very deserving of at the very least a song.

Q. So what can fans expect when they see you live?
Intensity, power – it’s not a passive experience. You must be prepared to be involved. You will be drawn in.