Disturbed/Trivia

• Draiman and Donegan started a their own label, Intoxication Records, in 2003. It's first artist, Art of Dying, was signed in November/December 2009. Currently Draiman is asking new would-be sign-ons to contact him on his Twitter.
• After being signed, Disturbed was offered many high-level producers, but they refused all of them, insisting that they work with Johnny K. This became his big break as a producer.
• Alison Chesley plays cello on "Darkness". This is notably the only time a non-band member plays on one of their songs.
• The band's Rock am Ring performance in 2008 reached 85'000 visitors (the largest they've ever played according to Draiman). This performance was eventually released as "Indestructible in Germany".
• Moyer manages a Texas-based rock band called Dev Electric.
• Moyer is a member of Supergroup The Adrenaline Mob, with Mike Portnoy, Russell Allen and Mike Orlando.
• Donegan says that for his personal bucket list he wants to one day play with Iron Maiden.
• Fuzz took lessons at a local music store called Rossi Music from age 10. At 17 he started giving lessons, saying that a lot can be learned from teaching. He also has apparently taken up piano since leaving Disturbed.
• Wengren plays on the instrumental "A Song For Chi" along with 13 other Heavy Metal musicians in tribute of the coma-ridden Chi Cheng of the Deftones, a project organized by Fieldy from Korn to help Chi's family through their financial difficulties regarding his hospital bills. Mike's part is the drum opening. The song can be downloaded from the official website.
• Draiman was reportedly kicked out of five boarding schools during his youth, saying that he would purposefully cause as much trouble as possible in order to be able to leave. There's also an unconfirmed rumor about a Rabi hitting him in his youth, to which he later responded by blowing up the Rabi's car (keyword is "unconfirmed").
• Draiman was one of five singers to perform on the Queen of the Damned soundtrack (entirely composed by Jonathan Davis of Korn), along with Chester Bennington, Marilyn Manson, Wayne Static of Static-X and Jay Gordon of Orgy. His song was Forsaken.
• Disturbed is the single-most represented band to come from the 2000's in the Rock Band games at 12 songs. Harmonix has also revealed that they're among the top-10 most downloaded artists in the series overall, along with the Foo Fighters, No Doubt, Blink-182, The Police and Boston.

Disturbed have some examples of

• Creator Breakdown: Draiman. From the linear notes of The Sickness:

I would like to thank a world that never understood or accepted me, family & friends that never believed in me, lovers who never ceased to torment me, & a God that has one hell of a sense of humor. You have all made me what I am today. Let that weigh heavily on your consciences.

• • In general the first album dealt heavily with a young and angry David with a Dark and Troubled Past while the later works spent more time on his present difficulties. These themes started to noticeably pile up around Indestructible, then only got worse leading up to Asylum.
  • One particular incident of note is the nightmares which had been plaguing him for years regarding Inside the Fire. They'd gone away on their own after a time, but started recurring during the Indestructible writing process; he wrote the song in the hopes of finally finding closure.
• Creator Couple: Draiman's fiancée (then-girlfriend) Lena Yada played the creepy, cannibalistic woman in The Animal video.
• Development Hell: The supposed video for Warrior was cancelled after months of hype and speculation. Draiman says it didn't turn out like they wanted it.
• Doing It for the Art: The band strongly believes that true art should be selfish and that every member has to like the kind of music they're making for it to work (and if they didn't believe it was good, they wouldn't record it). "If it becomes a hit, that's cool too".
• Dye Hard: In the early days of the band Donegan's had his hair colored brown, orange, blue and indigo.
• Fan Nickname: "The Guy" has been dubbed "Morbus" (Latin for "Sickness") by some of the Disturbed1s.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Draiman's looked at as the angry, brooding, overly-serious lead singer of an angry, brooding, overly-serious band. Most people who meet him say he's a charming, well-spoken gentleman. Mike points this out with regards to "Inside the Fire":

"You get to hear Dave laugh. Everybody thinks that Dave's such a serious guy, that he doesn't have a comical side, well he laughs" [cut to one of his creepy, evil chuckles]

• Name's the Same: Disturbed was an 80's thrash metal band from Minneapolis. Fully disbanded after the death of their guitarist/main songwriter Earl Root.
  • There's also an obscure punk group from the 80's named The Disturbed. They're the least remembered of these.
  • John Moyer is both a semi-famous comedian and an arena football player for the Chicago Rush.
• Old Shame: Fuzz and Dan once played in a Hair Metal band called Vandal. Observe (they're the two on the right).
  • Their album is on iTunes (Or you could download it, they won't make a fuss).
  • When they started as the band Brawl with singer Erich Awalt, they effectively sounded like a Pantera cover band, but weaker. God knows the world didn't and doesn't need another Pantera-soundalike.
• One of Us: The band chose Todd McFarlane for the Ten Thousand Fists album artwork because they were fans of Spawn. They later went seeking out Top Cow (currently Marvel) artist David Finch to work on the Indestructible cover and all it's respective singles covers (and theyare awesome). The band continues the trend with Asylum, illustrated by Raymond Swanland, an artist popular with Dark Horse Comics and Magic: The Gathering illustrations.
  • On that note, Mike says he's not so much a fan of comics as he is a fan of great artwork, which comics often have.
  • Draiman in particular. He's a fan of Ninja Gaiden, God of War, Need for Speed (Most Wanted has "Decadence" on its soundtrack), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age, Mass Effect 1 and Grand Theft Auto, mostly to kill tour bus boredom. His all-time favorite is the Resident Evil series. His favorite comic hero is of course Wolverine.
  • His gaming tendencies have increased in recent years, carrying some Unfortunate Implications: before the incident with his acid-reflux early into the Ten Thousand Fists tour, he would usually party after shows like the rest of the band(s). Now he's Straight Edge and usually found with a PSP in hand.
  • Yes, Moyer is a big fan of Spider-Man.
• The Pete Best: Erich Awalt, the band's previous vocalist when they were called Brawl. Admittedly, they probably wouldn't have gone far with his Anselmo-esque scream.
  • In the long term, that seems to be what will happen to Moyer. Not to say that playing on The Sickness is a small thing, considering how many valuable songs it had on it; if Disturbed ever manages to surpass it in terms of hits then this will be played straight. If not, completely averted.
• Promoted Fanboy: Getting to play with and ultimately become friends with their heroes in Pantera.
  • Alternatively, they found being watched by James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett absolutely nerve-wracking.
  • Donegan got to jam "Walk" right next to Dimebag Darrell.
  • After getting to play on the same kit as Vinnie Paul, Mike was screaming with happiness moments later in the dressing room.
• What Could Have Been: Had Donegan stayed in Loudmouth (with their record deal), they would have been looked at as a mere throwback act. As he is now, he's seen as a guitarist who follows the teachings of the 80's but with a modern flavor.
• The Wiki Rule: Not a perfect example, but Disturbedpedia is well-known for archiving rare videos about the band on their YouTube channel.