Disturbed frontman David Draiman quit social media back in 2015 and hasn’t looked back. In a piece newly published online by Kerrang!, he was asked why made that decision. He replied:
“There’s just no decency. It’s a bunch of high school kids insulting each other, having a contest about who can come up with the most grandiose insult. It’s childish. People are dying to be triggered about something. All you have to do is express your opinion on anything and someone’s going to fight you about it. As a band, it’s not like we’re using our social media to be influencers, so why bother?”
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When asked about why he’s had a rough time with the press in the past, he responded:
“I’ve looked back at some of my earlier quotes and, regardless of whether or not things were taken out of context, I have to hit myself in the head and think, ‘What the hell was I saying?! Why did I say that thing like that?!’ I think that when you set yourself up to be a target, people are more than willing to take pot-shots at you.”
Speaking further of weathering the barbs directed at him and whether or not they hurt, he replied:
“…Even though making music is your livelihood, it’s also a labor of love. It’s art; you’re creating things that you’re really emotionally attached to and are passionate about, so when people shit on that, and they shit on you and your delivery of it, then it’s a hard thing to take. They’re diminishing your pain. That’s the tough part.
People are so cavalier with their judgments and their wordings, and understandably so, because we live in an age where there are no repercussions and accountability. You sit behind that keyboard typing away and nobody’s going to do anything to you. You can be anyone you want and say anything you want.”
When asked later if the increased volume of shit-talking the band have endured as they grew bigger was perhaps the result of a scene that resented success, he offered:
“Ask Metallica that [laughs]. Talking shit is the easiest thing in the world to do. You know what the hardest thing in the world to do is? Writing a hit song and a hit record. Good luck with that!
If you persevere and you keep doing what you believe is not only bringing power, peace, serenity and happiness to you as a person, but is also offering those things to other people, then that’s all you can really hope for. I would rather have people react passionately one way or the other – love or hate, as opposed to indifference.”
You can read the rest of the piece, which delves into Draiman‘s teenage heroin addiction and more at Kerrang!.
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