VOX: Is there pressure to have the second album be as much of a success? That "sophomore slump"…

Dan Donegan: That’s all we can do is have a good frame of mind and getting together and improvising on each other’s ideas without trying to think about it too much, what "Stupify," "Voices," "Down with the sickness," what all three singles have done for us. We can’t over-think it.

VOX: Who inspired you to play?
Dan: So many, I can’t even think which one got me to play guitar. It was from everything I guess, from MTV when they would play rock videos, a lot more back then, just going to concerts. There have been so many shows that we’ve been to.

Dave: There was not any one - it’s something that culminated over time.

VOX: Did you think you’d get here and be this successful?
Dave: We hoped. It was definitely in our wildest dreams.

Dan: It’s a surreal feeling to know that in the past two years how quick and far it has gone. It took us many years to get to this point – all of the opportunities that we now have. It’s very surreal. It’s cool to look out into the crowd in each city we visit and watch the crowds grow in size. Our following, fan base continuing to grow, singing the songs and being familiar with the material

VOX: What’s with the guy on the cover?
Dave: What you see is the birth of the monster. So what you see is the head peeking out of vaginal lips. I think that Paul brown who designed it told me he took my eyes and superimposed it. What he really did is he had this rubber synthetic device and put a baby doll’s head through it and then took the photograph and put it on the computer and distorted it. It came out to look like something menacing. Everyone always assumes it’s me – it’s not me! One of my biggest objections was that everyone’s going to assume that’s me and that’s pompous. I don’t want everyone to assume ‘that’s the singer’s head and face’ on the cover. Not me! It’s just the birth of the monster.

VOX: Do you think there will be a fourth single?
Dave: Anything is possible. We’d like to put the record to bed with ‘down with’ but I personally believe and I’ve said it before this record could have gone four or five singles. But that is such a rarity in today’s market and to be perfectly honest I just don’t think we have the time.

Dan: I don’t think we could go that deep with it because "Stupify" did last for so long, we couldn’t get in the second single because they still wanted it ["Stupify"]. Radio was still pushing "Stupify." I mean it’s a good problem to have. That’s where we’re at now with "Down With The Sickness." We can’t go with the fourth single right away when "Down With The Sickness" single is…

Dave: …as strong as it is…

Dan: …a top ten single and it has no signs of going away.

VOX: How do you guys put songs together? Does it start with an acoustic part and work from there?
Dan: No, it’s always electric. Usually I’ll come in with a few riffs then we bring in the guys and improvise and vibe off that once we have a rough structure musically then Dave will start improvising melodies then syncopation with his vocals. That’s pretty much the formula.

VOX: Is that syncopation natural?
Dave: It’s something that developed in conjunction with our music. I have always been rhythmic as a vocalist and the music we were writing together just seemed to call for a very rhythmic vocalist style. It’s utilized as an instrument, not a separate entity, so that it blends in with everything else.

VOX: Are you guys in to the Internet and do you see it as important to the band?
Dave: Tremendously. We have always been very active from that perspective. We had a web site prior to being signed and we always thought it was a priority. It’s just a means of reaching so many people. It’s an invaluable tool. We always put free downloads, mp3s. We pretty much have always been supporters of ideas and concepts behind sites like Napster. We want to be able to spread our music to as many people as we possibly can and the Internet is a way to do that.

VOX: Though your music is really powerful, the trend now is make acoustic versions of songs - can any Disturbed songs be done acoustically?
Dave: We don’t have any plans, we’re capable of it. We just don’t think that our music is meant to be without power. The intensity of our music the way that we write it derives very strongly electric guitar –large sounds. We want it to be impactful. Maybe on the next record it might be something that is adaptable to that but the current material we just don’t think it would be appropriate for an acoustic version.

VOX: Where are you guys at in terms of a second record? Have you written new songs?
Dave: We are in the process of…

Dan: We have a couple songs in the works. We’re going to be writing a lot more on this tour just preparing for it. When we go home for the Christmas, new year holidays we’ll stay off the road then and we’ll finish up writing and get back in there. It's going well as the ideas are starting to come out and really feel good about it again.

Dave: Strong stuff. It’s still definitely Disturbed, still our signature sound but we’re trying different things, different guitar progressions, different melodic arrangements. Different chorus structures. Trying to mature a little bit, develop a little bit. Break new ground.

VOX: The record has been on the charts for quite a while…
Dan: It’s kind of shocking for us, we are coming to the end of the album’s cycle and it’s still in the top 50 in Billboard.

Dave: It’s the only album that I can remember in recent history that has reentered the top 50 albums three times in it’s album cycle. Normally an album debuts, it stays hot for awhile then it drops the top 50 or 100 then it goes away. This album keeps coming down then back up. Each of the singles has propelled album sales. We have been very fortunate.

VOX: Can you do the intro part to "Down With The Sickness" on demand or does it take something special?
Dave: [shaking head] I could, I won’t! When that part of the set comes along, I really need to be in that special place. I can’t just break into the call. The whole idea behind it is that it’s primal. It’s animalistic. You have to be in that frame of mind.

VOX: It’s not something you do driving on the freeway?
Dave: No and if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me to do it on the spot…

Dan: You’d actually have some money.

Dave: Yea…

VOX: I'm sure you have enough that you could buy designer overalls now.
Dave: I suppose we could. We’ve certainly been able to attain a certain level of respect in the musical community which I think is something personally I was yearning for. I wanted to be respected by our peers. Even though you don’t hear about Disturbed as much as other bands there is a certain level of rapport with musicians in the genre and across a few different genres of music which is something we have to hold sacred.

VOX: Tell me about the video for "Down With The Sickness."
Dave: The video was shot in a show in Chicago at a venue where we had seen [growing up] all the big shows. It was really, really vindicating, 25,000 people, hometown, tremendous vibe…

Dan: It was the venue that we had seen so many shows. That was somewhat of an emotional day for all of us. It was like ‘my god look it at where it’s gone in the past two years.’ Like he said, 25,000 people, hometown fans, it was great. We wanted to capture all that live footage for people who haven’t been to a Disturbed live show to see what it’s like.

Dave: I kept thinking people were going to leave that day. We headlined the show, on a bill of bands, some of who were more successful than us and had more notoriety than us. But it was our hometown and the station saw it fit to allow us to headline and I thought we’re going out there and half the people would be gone. And we went out there and not a single soul had left! It was tremendous energy, focus, it was wonderful.

VOX: How about the song ["Down With The Sickness"] itself?
Dave: The song is a basic anthem of the album. It is a very clear illustration – or maybe not so clear, it’s a little cryptic the way I wrote it – but it’s an illustration of our philosophy and embracing of individuality and self development and seeking those things in life

VOX: "Stupify" has been one of the most-played songs of the year. How do you feel when you turn on the radio and hear your own song?
Dan: I don’t like it when we walk into a bar and all of a sudden the DJ feels he has to throw on our songs…

Dave: Yeah.

Dan: You know, play it cause it’s in your – playlist, you know, not because we walked in the door!

VOX: You've been electrocuted. You've been brought out in a straight jacket. Now you've taken the intro to the live show to a whole new level - tell me about it.
Dave: The central theme that was running with all of these introductions basically they are depictions of the way society views or deals with people that are different from the norm. Straight jacket, they try to restrain you; cage, they’ll imprison you; electric chair they try to wipe you out entirely. And this next stage of productive development is reflective of that as well.

We have an audiovisual presentation that is a part of the set and as usual a theatrical enactment that is part and parcel to that. Basically they audio-visual part looks at persecution and holocaust over the course of human history. People who have used the differences in other people as an excuse or authorization to eradicate or eliminate that entirely – or put them through tremendous pain and suffering.

VOX: Does any of that come from your Jewish background?
Dave: It comes a little bit from that. It’s really not a Jewish thing, it’s a people thing. There are all sorts of episodes directed in the film, the Crusades, the Salem witch trials to Saddam Hussein gassing his own people to the Armenian genocide, the American Indians at Wounded Knee. There are so many examples of this type of behavior. It’s certainly not specific to my heritage in any way.

VOX: What made you decide to shave your head?
Dave: I’ve been wanting to do it for years, as long as I can remember. Like when I was finally able to quit my job, like immediately, the day after – up the middle – whooh, no turning back!

Dan: I remember that day very clearly!

Dave: I poked my head into his room, we lived in the same house at the time and I’m like ‘aghhh’ and he’s like ‘Oh my God!’

Dan: Scared the hell out of me!

VOX: Was it long?
Dave: Nah, I had it – it was short – short hair. Kinda of like a George Clooney, kind of a Roman thing going on. Blah!

VOX: You've been on tour for what seems like the better part of a year a half or so; any desire to go home?
Dave: Little bit more than a year and a half. In March [2002] it would be two years and we’ll be off the road well before then. We’re dying to focus on writing new material.

Dan: We took a short break after Ozzfest. We took a five-week break just to chill out, take care of some stuff back home. But after being at home for awhile we were anxious to get back out again. We love what we do we don’t want to be away from it too long.