DISTURBED's DAVID DRAIMAN: 'We're Not Going To Tour As Frantically As We Used To In The Past'

In a new interview with "The Mistress Carrie Podcast", DISTURBED frontman David Draiman spoke about the band's plans to hit the road in support of its latest album, "Divisive". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We've had to be very choosy, whether we like it or not. It's a weird environment right now. It is very difficult. Between inflation and everybody running out to go tour out of the gate the minute the gates opened, and the fact that we lost 60 percent of our labor force during the pandemic. All the techs, all the roadies, all the engineers that were a part of it, a lot of 'em couldn't wait two and a half years, three years to go back to work, and they went and did other things. And so now there's less people available to work; fuel costs are through the roof; busing costs are through the roof; trucking costs are through the roof. We have colleagues of ours calling off tours after they've already been on sale because they're looking at the financial repercussions and realizing they're gonna come back with a huge loss and realizing they can't do it. So we don't wanna end up throwing something out there once again, like what happened with 'The Sickness' anniversary tour. That was out of our control, but I hate that shit. I don't wanna have to throw dates up and then maybe not be able to complete them. So we're trying to make sure that everything is as sound as possible and as confirmed as possible before we go forward.

"It's weird. There's also… We don't have the desire to… As much as we missed touring and as much as we missed being out there, it's not gonna be the frequency — it simply can't be at the frequency that it used to be anymore," he explained. "We're all older. God knows I am. This shit does not get any easier as you get older.

"So the plan right now is to start up in the spring and be done by the end of summer, to do a big U.S. run, to do some of the European festivals. And then we'll see. I'm sure that we'll get some asks for another festival or two here and there in the States, and whatnot, and I always enjoy doing stuff like that. But we're not going to tour as frantically as we used to in the past. That's for sure. So when we do come around, people need to kind of take advantage of it, just like we are. It's a rarer occurrence than it used to be."

Draiman previously talked about DISTURBED's touring plans earlier in the month in a new interview with Andy Hall of the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3. At the time, he said: "We're planning on starting up in the spring. We've already announced a few shows here and there. We're trying to finalize all of our plans. But DISTURBED performances will be getting more and more infrequent. We'll start up in the spring. We'll finish in the fall. There will be a full U.S. run. Exactly when we're going where, I don't know yet; it's still a moving target. I know we're planning to do a European festival run as well; a couple of those dates have been announced already. But it's tough to navigate the waters right now. So we're doing the best we can. Hopefully we'll be able to announce more as soon as it's able to be announced."

In a separate chat with HardDrive Radio, Draiman elaborated on some of the challenges DISTURBED has encountered trying to book a pandemic-era tour. He said: "Figuring things out is almost like a fluid thing. Literally just last week I thought we had a solidified schedule and where we were stopping and starting. And we've had to switch gears because things changed again. You roll with the punches. The idea is for us to start in the spring and to do a full-blown summer tour of some kind. [Laughs] And we were planning on going to do some of the European festivals. What actually ends up solidifying and happening, other than what's already been announced, your guess is as good as mine, because there's so much in flux right now. But that at least is the intention. We'll see what happens."

"Divisive" arrived on November 18 via Reprise. The LP was recorded earlier this year with producer Drew Fulk (MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, LIL PEEP, HIGHLY SUSPECT) in Nashville, Tennessee. The follow-up to 2018's "Evolution" includes the three recently released singles "Hey You", "Unstoppable" and "Divisive".

Guitarist Dan Donegan's divorce inspired the "Divisive" song "Don't Tell Me", which is a duet with HEART's Ann Wilson. In two decades, it breaks ground as the first-ever guest collaboration on a DISTURBED record. Clean guitar soundtracks the story of a long-term relationship in the middle of its last gasp. David and Ann engage in a call-and-response before locking into a skyscraping harmony as the solo reaches for the heavens.