DISTURBED Is Offended That Veterans Don't Want MUSIC AS A WEAPON Concert Near Memorial

Vocalist David Draiman of DISTURED, whose current tour includes a music and tattoo festival to be held May 17 in the plaza directly outside the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin, has told Kendra Meinert of the Green Bay Press-Gazette that his band is offended that some local veterans don't think the event belongs near the Brown County Veterans Memorial on Armed Forces Drive.

"There is no band on the face of this planet that has been more supportive of our troops than DISTURBED — period," Draiman said. "For this level of ignorance — and I don't even know what else to call it but ignorance — to be exhibited by the veterans, it's almost like a direct slap in the face to us."

Some veterans have expressed concern that the Music as a Weapon Tour IV, which includes an afternoon festival with extreme sports, tattooing and a secondary stage before the main concert in the arena that night, will mock the memorial, which is further west on Armed Forces Drive at the corner of South Oneida Street.

Draiman called that notion "very, very offensive and completely preposterous." DISTURBED has a long history of connecting with the troops through its music and outreach, he said, citing a meet-and-greet specifically for military personnel during a tour stop Friday in Fayetteville, N.C., and an interview with The Pentagon Channel earlier this month.

"None of the material in our songs is about anything that has to do with Satanism or devil worship or any of the nonsense or stereotypes that get associated with heavy metal in general, nor does any single band on the tour or lineup have such lyrics or lyrical content," Draiman said.

"I guarantee you that if it were Travis Tritt or somebody like that playing next door to the memorial, they'd have no issue with it. But because of the connotations that are given to this genre … and perhaps there's a generational gap, they don't understand what this music means to so many of the current serving officers in the military."

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