DISTURBED Drummer On 'Asylum': 'We Feel It's Our Best And Most Complete Body Of Work To Date'

Alan Sculley of The Portland Press Herald recently conducted an interview with DISTURBED drummer Mike Wengren. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On how the purpose of DISTURBED's music has never been to bring listeners down:

Wengren: "Some of the records are dark and some of them are darker, but I think ultimately the point of the darkness is to let everyone know you can experience the darkness, but you can use the music to heal yourself up and get out of that hole."

On the particularly difficult stretch in singer/lyricist David Draiman's life which inspired the lyrics for DISTURBED's new album, "Asylum":

Wengren: "David had a pretty rough touring experience during [the cycle for 2008's] 'Indestructible'. He had a lot of bad personal issues that happened to him. His fiancée left him. His dog that he had had for many, many years, she was sort of our tour mascot got sick, and we had to put her down at the beginning of the (tour) cycle, and it was a pretty devastating thing for all of us, because she was such a good, close part of the family. I think he loved that dog more than he loved any person out there, so that was tough. And one of his best friends sort of betrayed him on a personal situation. It seemed like every time he turned around, something horrible was happening to him, and he was just in a really bad place."

"We knew already where his head space was at. He needed to be able to vent and heal through the music. We knew what to give him, and I think it definitely has worked well. He's back, stronger than ever. He sounds great on stage, and he's happy to be around, and he's doing great. At the same time, of course we're going to say this, we feel it's our best and most complete body of work to date."

Read the entire interview from The Portland Press Herald.