DAN DONEGAN On Secret To DISTURBED's Success: We 'Don't Second-Guess What We Do'

Mike Bax of Lithium Magazine conducted an interview with DISTURBED guitarist Dan Donegan on August 7 at the Heavy Montreal festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether DISTURBED has a formula for trying to stay fresh, keeping things new and interesting:

Dan: "Just trust in our gut. Don't second-guess what we do. There's a reason why there's a chemistry in this band that works. Because when we get in a room together, we write. We don't think about the record label, the management, the fans, radio… None of that matters. We make music together. And I wanna bring music in to the guys that's gonna inspire them to wanna write their parts and inspire David [Draiman, vocals] to write melodies and find a subject matter that means something to us. I think the key to our success is we just don't second-guess it. We write from the gut. We write about things that mean something to us. This isn't just words taking up space and creating a melody. This is stuff that comes from the heart or life experiences and things that we're passionate about, and I think that resonates with the fans, because they find their own connection with it."

On working with producer Kevin Churko on DISTURBED's latest album, "Immortalized":

Dan: "Kevin was great. We did it in his place in Las Vegas. We met with him a couple of years ago. We met with a few different producers, btu we just wanted to really see who we would gel with. And we spent, with a few different guys, a couple of days each. And Kevin, within the first hour or two of us just working on some ideas, he just felt like he was another member to the band. And that's all we were really looking for. We weren't looking for a guy that was gonna be a songwriter to the band; we were looking for somebody who was talented and another set of fresh ears in the room that could say, 'Hey, what about trying this or trying that?' And somebody that we respected his work that he's done over the years. And he's an all-around musician. He's originally a drummer, but he understands music and theory and piano and guitar and bass, so he's an all-around guy. He's got a great ear, a great sense of harmonies and melody, so his suggestions were definitely more on track with where our heads were at. So it was kind of easy to open up in allowing somebody to have an outside opinion that would be honest with us. Just like anybody we work with too, at times, there's always gonna be a little friction, a little bit of headbutting there, but that's fine, 'cause at the end of the day, we're all fighting for the same thing, and that's making the best album we can make, and we got that with him."

On how he would describe himself as a teenager:

Dan: "Determined. I think I knew back then, as a teenager, that this is what I wanted to do. Even though at that time in life, most musicians, as teenagers, probably have parents that are saying, 'You've gotta put this hobby down and start thinking about what you're gonna do with your life. In the real world, you need a 'Plan B.'' And for me, without sounding arrogant, I always thought, 'Why do I need a 'Plan B?' If I work hard enough at 'Plan A,' and I want it more than anybody else, then I'll get it.' And I think we had that attitude and that drive within this band. I mean, that's how you surround yourself with people that feel the same way you do. You can't have somebody drag you down. You have to feel like you can accomplish things when you are around people that feel and act the same way. And when we got together, we found the right pieces of the puzzle — guys that had that same work ethic and that mentality, that there is nothing else but this. And we worked hard for it. We paid our dues. And we still work hard."

DISTURBED's sixth studio album, "Immortalized", was released in August 2015.

The effort became the band's fifth LP in a row to enter the chart at No. 1 — a feat shared only with METALLICA and DAVE MATTHEWS BAND.