DISTURBED BELIEF IN MUSIC AS A WEAPON 4 IN DOWN ECONOMY

Disturbed are putting on a full fledged festival when many artists aren’t even touring, and the band talks about the big gamble.

Disturbed is up against two obstacles, the law and the economy. Disturbed is currently gearing up for their Music As A Weapon tour, which is perhaps the most ambitious of all their Music As A Weapon tours to date. It’s a package tour with Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil, Chimaira (Ky-maira) and others and also features Tattoo Artists and extreme sports athletes as part of the show, which begins at 2pm in most cities. The problem is that a lot of the venues are putting the kibosh on the Tattoo portion of the event, with the artists outlawed from inking fans in a number of locations.

Disturbed talked about taking out this kind of tour in this economy.

[Draiman] “We’re trying to offer a whole lot more for fans these days at a very reasonable price. Tickets are going to be under forty bucks. The bill is powerful enough to begin with without even talking about the side stage bands.” [Donegan] “A bunch of name tattoo artists that are going to be traveling on the tour with us. Some of the guys from Huntington a few other big name guys as well as local tattoo artists that will join on in each city as well.” [Draiman] “There’s an extreme sports contingent. We’ve got some Motocross guys coming out, some half-pipe guys coming out, a multimedia area. It’s really turned into a full-on festival. And so people are really, even in today’s environment, given how the economy has been hurting as it is, you really can’t get much more for your dollar than under forty bucks to witness all of it and experience all of it.”

Disturbed says fans will be in for a treat during this year’s Music As A Weapon Tour.

“Well because there’s as much talent on the bill as there is we’re limited to about an hour and a half set, but we’re definitely going to be introducing more of the new material but we’re also going to be pulling stuff from the vault, stuff that we haven’t played for years.” [Donegan] “It’s a long day with the doors opening at two in the afternoon and everything else going on. We don’t want to totally over-do it because kids have to patiently wait. But (it’s) a good hour-and-a-half set, as David said, pulling a few tricks along the way.” [Draiman] “(It’s) Defnitely the biggest production that we’ve probably ever attempted to pull off live, going back to the theatrics.”

Draiman added that even in this economy, they’re not afraid to gamble on the show because they’re always into giving back to the fans.

“Our fans have invested in us, it only seems right that given the environment and given everything that they’ve done for us this record cycle, that we invest back in them.”

Music As A Weapon 4 kicks off March 20th in Madison, Wisconsin, and you can check the tour website, musicasaweapon4.com for dates that Tattoos will not be available. While these venues have no Tattooing, the artists will be on hand at 5pm each day for autographs.