Trent
Reznor is back. After a long break from music, he discovered that his furious
industrial rock based on jagged guitars, booming drums, jarring keyboards and
desperate vocals is as relevant as ever. The Grammy-winning performer behind Nine
Inch Nails conquered depression, alcohol and drug abuse and returned to the spotlight
when his 2005 album, “With Teeth,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard
chart. He will follow that record up this week in America and Europe with "Year
Zero." Japan will see the album in stores April 25. Trent Reznor is currently
on tour with NIN -- and we have to congratulate him for hiring our favorite drummer,
Josh Freese.
In an interview, the moody but charismatic Reznor revealed his worries about
his comeback, his fight with addiction and his philosophy about writing music
and playing live.
STEREO WARNING: When you were preparing for your comeback , did you have
a clue whether anybody still had an appetite for you brutal sound and dark lyrics?
TRENT REZNOR: The culture, the times, the people and the business had changed.
I had a new excuse to fight: what if I can’t write sober, what if I don’t
have anything to say, what if I’m irrelevant, what if I’m just old
now, what if it was just an accident that I got popular in the first place?
My lack of putting out records and time between records, although not a calculated
career move, may have benefited me because it skipped certain whole subgenres
of really bad music. But I didn’t go into the record cycle [for "With
Teeth"] assuming that I had all the power that I once wielded.
SW: Has the success of “With Teeth” reignited your love for making
music and touring?
TR: Now I have confidence that I’m working with myself instead of against
myself. I can’t tell you how inspirational that feels and how in love with
music again I am. Somehow I lost that and forgot why I was doing this and it
became a job, a hassle.
SW: How tough has it been to remain sober?
TR: My priorities have shifted. I really want to make the two hours on stage
the best two hours I have that day. In the past, those were a pretty good two
hours, but the three hours after that were going to be even better.
SW: What was going through your head when you came back to New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina?
TR: I’ve missed New Orleans since I’ve moved to Los Angeles . It’s
a very flawed place, but I spent a lot of time there. I really got to know myself
there. It’s been shocking to see what’s happened to it. I’ve
been grieving the loss of a place, because it will never be the same.
SW: How do you approach your live shows?
TR: I like the feeling that I’ve got a great show and a great band and
an interesting presentation that I think isn’t rock show by numbers. I
put a lot of thought and different layers in the presentation to frame the music
in an interesting way. It feels good being backstage knowing that you’re
about to unleash that on people. What I don’t like about it is the length
of time and the tedium that inevitably crops up doing the same thing day in
day out, moving around constantly. My routine is messed up.
SW: So how do you combat that boredom?
TR: I designed a show that could use the scale of the venue and reveal itself
over time and it doesn't get tedious to watch.
I’ve tried to make it something that visually can support the music. I’m
using these props as a framework so that I can get across a range of emotions
and have a set that starts in one place and winds up in another. It’s like
watching a film or a play, that’s the mission. My goal is to make it so
you don’t have time to go to the bathroom during the show. Nine Inch Nails
has always had a theatrical quality and in the 90’s that wasn’t necessarily
looked at as a legitimate thing in the world of blue jeans and flannel shirts.
I’ve always felt like a performer should be and could be larger than life
without being comical and goofy – it doesn’t have to be Gene Simmons,
you know.
SW: What are you most proud of at this point in your career?
TR: I’m proud that this hasn’t devolved into a nostalgia show. It
doesn’t feel like I’m playing a role, it feels relevant and true to
me, as much as I can tell. Admittedly, I can't be that objective, but one of
the big fears putting the tour together was about the older music. Does that
mean anything to me anymore? Do I feel comfortable singing some of these songs?
We spent a lot of time learning the new record and then moving backwards in
time and finding things that felt good. And I can honestly say looking at the
set list that I can’t wait to play these songs.
SW: Are you pleased with the response from the audience so far?
TR: The fact that I look in the crowd and I see teenage fans along with older
fans that have been with me from the beginning, that feels great. I’m not
trying to sound humbled, but when I came back, I didn’t know how much time
passed and how much things are different culturally than they were in the 90’s.
It’s been a pleasant reception and I’m grateful for that. I felt like
Nine Inch Nails got much bigger than I ever dreamed it could get and I told
myself that the reason that happened was that at its core it was honest and
true and, luckily, it happened to strike a nerve with people. If I ever pandered
to that, to the dollar or commercial sales not listening to what the artist
in me has to say, I think that's just death. Throughout my career, throughout
getting sick and disappearing for a while, I can sleep at night feeling like
I’ve always done what I really thought was the best I can do, like it or
hate it, but it never was for the wrong reasons.
(c) Stereo Warning 2006-2007. All Rights Reserved. Be nice and don't reproduce
this content without prior written approval.
Technorati tags: 
nine
inch nails 
trent
reznor 
josh
freese 
nin 
year
zero
queens of the stone age 
josh homme 
music 
era vulgaris 
video 
youtube
underoath
white stripes
Ozzy
Osbourne is back with a solo album on May 22. It's called "Black Rain"
and you can hear samples of tracks from it on 
ozzy osbourne
zakk wylde
mike bordin
ozzfest
interview
entertainment