DISTURBED Bassist Says His Bandmates Support His Decision To Join ADRENALINE MOB

Chuck Armstrong of Free Gotham conducted an interview with Mike Portnoy (drums) and John Moyer (bass) of ADRENALINE MOB before the band's March 12 concert at the Hiro Ballroom in New York City. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

When asked about the status of his main band, DISTURBED, which went on an open-ended hiatus last fall, following the completion of the touring cycle for its 2010 album "Asylum", Moyer said, "The guys in DISTURBED have been very supportive of me being in ADRENALINE MOB. They understood my reasons for doing it and they've been nothing but positive — on my Facebook, [and] they sent me text messages congratulating me… They feel that if I was gonna do anything else, this is the perfect group of guys to do it with. Even though the rest of them wanna take a break… And I know why; we've had a heck of a busy career over the last 10 years and I've been a part of that for the last eight years. Just record after record… just since I've been in [DISTURBED], we've out out four records in eight years… [which is] pretty intense. But for me, I really kind of wanted to keep doing. But as far as what the band is doing… DISTURBED… We're still on break and will continue to be that way at least for the next year, maybe two. [There are] no plans yet to announce any kind of touring plans or recording plans. Which is fine with me, 'cause I'm really enjoying this."

Moyer was also asked if he feels DISTURBED fans will be drawn to ADRENALINE MOB's music. "I thnk so, I think very much so," he replied. "I think genre-wise, this music is very similar to what DISTURBED does. I think it's actually closer to what DISTURBED does than what DREAM THEATER does. That's a whole different genre — the progressive genre that Mike did previously. ADRENALINE MOB is really that sort of hard-rock-slash-metal line crossover… The music has a bounce to it and there's a lot of melody in the songs and there's a lot of hooks in the songs. But there is a difference. These songs are a little… How do you say it?! There is a little swagger in the ADRENALINE MOB sound that differentiates it from the DISTURBED sound and from what DISTURBED does. And Russell [Allen, ADRENALINE MOB/SYMPHONY X frontman] is a completely singer than David [Draiman, DISTURBED]. The individual musicianship that is being brought to the table is definitely very different than what goes on in the world of DISTURBED."

Interview (audio):

Fan-filmed video footage of last night's concert can be seen below. A review of the show from Elliot Levin at the NY Hard Rock Music Examiner is available at this location.

ADRENALINE MOB's debut album, "Omertá" will be released in Europe on March 19 in Europe via Century Media Records. The CD was made available in the U.S. on March 13 through the newly formed Elm City Music in conjunction with EMI Label Services.

The 11-song effort — which was produced by ADRENALINE MOB and mixed by Jay Ruston, who has previously worked on ANTHRAX's "Worship Music" and STEEL PANTHER's "Balls Out" — includes a blistering reinterpretation of DURAN DURAN's classic "Come Undone" featuring guest vocals by Lzzy Hale of HALESTORM.

"Omertá" track listing:

01. Undaunted
02. Psychosane
03. Indifferent
04. All On The Line
05. Hit The Wall
06. Feelin' Me
07. Come Undone (feat. Lzzy Hale)
08. Believe Me
09. Down To The Floor
10. Angel Sky
11. Freight Train

ADRENALINE MOB will perform at several European festivals this summer, including Graspop Metal Meeting (June 22-24 in Dessel, Belgium) and Gods Of Metal (June 21-24 in Milan, Italy).

ADRENALINE MOB's first-ever headline tour made stops in various markets, including Chicago, Denver and San Francisco. ADRENALINE MOB also opened for GODSMACK on select dates of the Massachusetts act's headlining tour.

ADRENALINE MOB formed in early 2011 when Mike Orlando approached Allen with some material the guitarist had written. Allen and Orlando refined those ideas, at which time Allen reached out to longtime friend Portnoy to see if he had any interest in playing with them. Portnoy jumped on board and the beast that is known as ADRENALINE MOB was born.

Guitarist Rich Ward (STUCK MOJO, FOZZY) and bassist Paul DiLeo (FOZZY) announced their departures from ADRENALINE MOB in January due to scheduling conflicts with their other projects.

Photo by Kellie Hoeke