I love love love NIN. I think Trent's priority right now is with tapeworm ( www.tapeworm.net ) which is a collaboration with other artists such as Maynard James Keenan
is it true that NIN is just trent and he'll have random people come into the studio and play as his backup? there is never a set band, it's just trent? i was never REALLY into NIN, but i always liked some of it. it's good.
Love NIN. The Fragile and the Downard Spiral are the only ones I listen to anymore, but back in the day I think the whole catalog made pretty constant rotations in my CD player. I'd really like to hear him do something new that's more classically oriented, since he's a pianist and all...I think he could really make something incredible. La Mer kind of hinted at something like that...
I listen to the radio every now and then now, with crap like Staind and other bands that obviously grew up with the NIN influence, and its like -- what the hell did you miss?
I remember a girl once told me that 'Closer' was a big turn-on for women.
Quote from: bonanzatazis it true that NIN is just trent and he'll have random people come into the studio and play as his backup? there is never a set band, it's just trent?
trent reznor, aka "the one man band"
NIN started as just Trent and was through Downward Spiral... he, of course would have his live band, which rotated and at one point included Richard Patrick from Filter (whcih is actually a 2 man band) this was until Fragile (which is good, but was a total let down after Spiral) where he had most of his live band working on different things on there own in different rooms of his house... when one would come up with something they liked, they would send it to the others and they would build on the songs that way... he's been working on Tapeworm for fucking ever and I don't know if it will ever come out.
All I know is that Broken and Downward Spiral were works of genius and I don't think he has the passion he once had. Maybe he's just not miserable enough anymore... the only sadness he really had to work on for Fragile was the death of his dog.
Still will always remain on my list of greats because of how much Broken and Downward Spiral got me through highschool.
Quote from: RegularKarateNIN started as just Trent and was through Downward Spiral... he, of course would have his live band, which rotated and at one point included Richard Patrick from Filter (whcih is actually a 2 man band) this was until Fragile (which is good, but was a total let down after Spiral) where he had most of his live band working on different things on there own in different rooms of his house... when one would come up with something they liked, they would send it to the others and they would build on the songs that way... he's been working on Tapeworm for fucking ever and I don't know if it will ever come out.
All I know is that Broken and Downward Spiral were works of genius and I don't think he has the passion he once had. Maybe he's just not miserable enough anymore... the only sadness he really had to work on for Fragile was the death of his dog.
Still will always remain on my list of greats because of how much Broken and Downward Spiral got me through highschool.
Well I like the Fragile the best
Andhis grandmother (who raised him) died during the process of making it and so he wrote the song "I'm Looking Forward To Joining You, Finally"
Quote from: GhostboyI'd really like to hear him do something new that's more classically oriented, since he's a pianist and all...I think he could really make something incredible. La Mer kind of hinted at something like that...
Do you have the 2 disc set of All That Could Have Been? Because there's a bonus disc called "Still" with "deconstructed" versions of some of their older songs and some new songs. It's really melodic with all songs being played on piano by Trent with the backup band playing acoustically. Definetely worth the extra $$$.
Or you can order just the Still CD by itself from the website.
The Live CD is recorded off thier worst live tour (still enjoyed it, just not as good as they used to be live) and there are plenty of great soundboard recorded bootlegs from the Downward tour that are much better.
Does anyone have the DVD? I'm curious if it's worth it.
A couple things...
Tapeworm is currently a side project he is working on with Tool's frontman Maynard.
RegularKarate doesn't know what he is talking about. The tour that the live cd/dvd captures was the best tour of 1999-2000. Hands down.
The Live cd was recorded directly from the soundboard and mixed later in a studio. This is the best possible representation of what it would sound like to be at a Nin show at 2.1 quality. If you want anything better go for the DVD, 5.1 DTS.
The DVD is worth it if you enjoy the music and either didn't get to go to a show or did and want to enjoy it. I am an avid NIN fan/follower but also have found that I rarely will put it in...
Evdiently both a new nin album and the sideproject tapeworm will both be released this year... I would bet on the tapeworm album moreso than the NIN album, because currently Maynard is tied up with other things, and they have already had months of recording time. Again... Speculation...
There currently has been a big drought in Nin news.. currently the website is static, (www.nin.com) and there have been no press releases.
Where to buy gear? www.objectmerch.com
Any other questions?
Saw "them" first at Lollapaloza. Didn't know who they were, but was instantly hooked. Trent has also done some awesome work with David Bowie.
RK, the DVD is a must have. There are also some cool easter eggs, one being a performance with Marilyn Manson for "The Beautiful People".
Man, I haven't listened to NIN in a long time, eventhough I have all of his major releases. My friends and I listened to them quite a bit in high school, especially "The Downward Spiral" when it came out.
I went to their concert when it came to the local university. I was a freshman in high school, and this was the first time I had seen a mosh pit. Those people are nuts. Anyway, we sneaked a joint inside and tried to smoke it, but we kept on getting paronoid that security would smell it. So I said, "let's just eat it!" So, we just broke it in half and ate the joint, paper and all. What a couple of dumbasses. It really didn't take effect until the concert was over.
Anyway, what I was getting at was the end of the concert. They closed with "Hurt" and it was great, but then the band started busting up their equipment. The thing was it was obvious that it was all pieces of plastic, like they brought out fake equipment to tear up. That was ok, I guess, but what cracked me up was their goofy lighting act and sound effects they used to appear that they had just blown the power out. Then he closed it with something like, "Fuck you all!" Pretty funny, but the mosh pit crew thought it was sooooo cool.
Quote from: mogwaiThose guys are insane, especially when it comes to pouring water over their equipment. I mean, they probably know one or two about electricity and shit. But don't play on a synth or guitar while someone is pouring water on it. :?
Mogwai... I bet blonde chicks love you.
Tapeworm isn't just a project with Maynard, it's a project with a lot of people... Maynard only sings on one or two songs. There's also some Helmet, Pantera, and other NIN members on there (lots of 90s metal lovliness)
I've seen NIN on a late PHM tour, at Lollapalooza, on the Downward Spirla tour twice, on his tour with David Bowie, and during the Fragility 2.0 tour.
As well as owning fifteen live CDs (I used to be a little obsessed)
Downward spiral is, by far the best tour and the most recent is the worst.
While the fireworks were neat on the Fragility tour (that light/video screen thing ruled), it just didn't have the juice the others had.
I'll eventually buy that DVD, There's lots of good live performances on the VHS he released a few years back, but that's VHS.
Quote from: mogwaiQuote from: RegularKarateI'll eventually buy that DVD, There's lots of good live performances on the VHS he released a few years back, but that's VHS.
You are talking about the "Closure" video? If you are, is that a good purchase? I found this link:
http://www.smashedupsanity.com/closure
Closue was an okay buy.. But is only and sounds like it will only be on vhs.
I wa... I mean.. Trent wasn't that pleased with the results of closure.. mostly because the sound is a B+ bootleg. Camera work is generally okay.. but again.. its just a bunch of 20 year olds roaming arround with cams and then later editing it together.
I wan..... Trent wanted to have the Fragility Tour to be an excellent audio recording and video recording.. So what other way than to do it themselves? They bought a couple canon XL-1s and recorded directly out of the soundboard. Later they edited all on final cut pro, and released the DVD in Dolby and DTS and released the live cd and deluxe set with the "still" extra cd.
Articles of Interest...
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2000/06/trent/
read the pitchfork review of THE FRAGILE. i laughed. and smiled.
Considering the Marilyn Manson thread is also popular right now here, I feel similiar vibes from both Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson with the exception I believe Nine Inch Nails are of true talents, but hindered in many ways by their outlook on life and look as a band that rides a lot on gimmickery or whatever. Unlike other better bands, I never could see Nine Inch Nails getting outside the darkness of music where many great bands seem to exist in any kind of music they want or feeling. Nine Inch Nails are a very good band, yes, but they always seem to serve a niche in one person's life when that person was into that kind of music but has since moved on and Nine Inch Nails really haven't moved on yet.
~rougerum
Quote from: The Gold TrumpetConsidering the Marilyn Manson thread is also popular right now here, I feel similiar vibes from both Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson with the exception I believe Nine Inch Nails are of true talents, but hindered in many ways by their outlook on life and look as a band that rides a lot on gimmickery or whatever. Unlike other better bands, I never could see Nine Inch Nails getting outside the darkness of music where many great bands seem to exist in any kind of music they want or feeling. Nine Inch Nails are a very good band, yes, but they always seem to serve a niche in one person's life when that person was into that kind of music but has since moved on and Nine Inch Nails really haven't moved on yet.
~rougerum
I agree. I also think that Reznor is much more talented musically than Manson, and he does try to do different directions, but it seems to almost always regress back to what Luke Haines calls "No, mummy, I
won't clean up my room!" music, or something that "Evil" guy on
Kids in the Hall would listen to.
That said, I absolutely adored
Pretty Hate Machine and
Downward Spiral when I was 16, and I still pull them out every once in a while and wax nostalgic. I also, however, feel grateful that I'm not so narcissistic and solipsistic as I was when I was more enthusiastic about them.
old news from http://www.theninhotline.net (http://www.theninhotline.net)
Tuesday
11.25.03
Apparently the issue of Alternative Press with the year's most anticipated album (which is [sit down for this] Good Charlotte) has this to say about the NIN album:
NINE INCH NALS
TITLE: bleedthrough (NOTHING)
EXPECT IT: "Soon."
"The record explores loss and possible discovery of self," says Trent Reznor about the follow-up to 1999's The Fragile, "along with alternate layers of reality and perception set inside a nightmare you can't seem to wake up from; with lots of feedback." Reznor has enlisted Atticus Ross, Jerome Dillon, Leo Herrera, mix engineer Rich Costey and Rick Rubin to help mold bleedthrough, which will feature new songs such as "The Line Begins To Blur," "Everyday Is Exactly The Same" and "My Dead Friend." This time out, Reznor is introducing high-tech to low-life. "Computers, among other things, are ruining music these days," he says. "I hate the Pro Tooled sound of perfection and everything being 'fixed.' This record is most definitely 'un-fixed.'" And when it comes to touring behind the release, T. Rez is planning on reinventing the will. "It won't be the last tour over again. That person isn't here anymore." [JP] (as in Jason Pettigrew, probably)
Sunday
11.23.03
Here's a nice little write-up I stole from the nine inch nails forum at digital noise, as typed up by aronmorris.
...In the upcoming issue of Alternative Press Magazine (the 25 most anticipated artists of 2004) which hits stands the first week of December, one of the artists/albums covered is NIN. The report states the overall vibe and sound of the record and lists some of the people that are involved in the production such as Rick Rubin, Atticus Ross, and Leo Herrera. The official album title is "BLEEDTHROUGH."
There are three song titles also mentioned. Another point worth noting is that Trent is quoted as saying that he is fed up with the perfected quality of computer-produced music (specifically the use of ProTools software) and that this record was done with alternate methods. There is no specific release date mentioned.
Some people called bullshit on this, but it's been pointed out by several others that bleedthrough.net has been registered to Nothing since May of this year.
*update*
The song titles listed in the article are "MY DEAD FRIEND," "EVERYDAY IS EXACTLY THE SAME," and "THE LINE BEGINS TO BLUR." Subscribers to Alternative Press will receive this issue next week, and the issue should be on newstands the following week.
In addition, several people have written in to note that amongst the LeGuin quotes that appeared on July 4th (before the background colors, well, bled through) was this:
III. Time and causality paradoxes:
- retro-psychokinesis, or turning causality on its head
- precognition versus remote viewing "bleed-through": what does it tell us about the nature of time?
- the transactional interpretation and other "solutions" to the quantum puzzle
- Barbour, Deutch and the vision of a frozen masterpiece: if time is illusory, what is the meaning of action?
No more perfectionist Trent :)
I doubt this means he won't be a perfectionist about the album... I'm sure it will still be delayed for years.
Have you guys listened to the Still CD? The second disk of the "and all that could have been" disk ...
I have a feeling this might be the direction he's headed, more of a dirty/unique sound... maybe not as simple as the stuff on AATCHB, but less digitalish
Those are like more or less unplugged songs, though, and I'm sure I read an article once about how when he was writing the Fragile, he first tried something like that. I think he said it was just like piano and drums and such, but he didn't like it.
It's not unplugged though... I agree, it's as close to unplugged as he probably gets, but that's not what I meant anyway... I just meant that it's raw.
Instead of using a lot of computers to get the bizzare noises he gets there, he uses distortion and de-tunes the instruments and plays a few ambient recordings (rain, etc...)... the thing he futzes with the most computer wise is his own voice and really not that much... considering who he is.
like he said.... more analogue
I'm sure he's not giving up his precious computers, that's his best weapon, I just think he's going to go for a more raw sound. Like he did with a lot of stuff on Downward Spiral... straws and bees and whatnot
Nine Inch Nails are at work on their fourth album, Bleed Through, in Los Angeles. Trent Reznor and Co. hope to finish it by summer and release it later this year.
"It's more song-oriented [than 1999's The Fragile]," says NIN mastermind Reznor. "It's much more lean. It's going to be twelve good punches in the face -- no fillers, no instrumentals, just straight to the point."
Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash) is producing the record. "It's kind of a new vibe this time around," says Reznor. "Different people, different approach.
While Bleed may be more streamlined than its predecessors, namely the expansive concept records 1994's The Downward Spiral and The Fragile, it won't exactly be light fare. "It's a complicated concept record," Reznor says, "but reduced to just simple songs. It's not epic in its scope. It's minimal and a bit brutal."
NIN plan to hit the road in the next few months to preview the new material. "It's been forever since we played," Reznor says. "I'm reenergized right now, my life's in order, and I'm ready to combat the shitty music that's out right now."
from rolling stone.com
sounds very anti fragile which is good cos as much as that album blew me away at first, it has pretty much sunk down to the bottom of my NIN list through time.
i'm sad that that tapeworm project didn't worj out though
has anyone noticed that every nin album is released every fifth year?
1989 pretty hate machine
1994 the downward spiral
1999 the fragile
2004 bleed through
THE FRAGILE is the MAGNOLIA of modern rock. Discuss.
(Can't wait for Bleed Through.)
If "The Big Come Down" weren't on it, I might call it perfect
Quote from: SloyjIf "The Big Come Down" weren't on it, I might call it perfect
My gripe with it is "The Great Below", which is too much like "Hurt" for my taste.
Quote from: hacksparrowTHE FRAGILE is the MAGNOLIA of modern rock. Discuss.
While I do think its a great album, I don't think its by any means the musical equivalent of Magnolia. Magnolia is a huge grandiose picture of complete epic scope and emotion. The Fragile is a long album. Its also a long album with more than a few 'filler' tracks. Like I said, I enjoy the fragile, but...its no magnolia.
Quote from: hacksparrowMy gripe with it is "The Great Below", which is too much like "Hurt" for my taste.
pffft!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i wanna apologise to RK for saying that the Fragile was the best NIN.. i now realise i was wrong and that Downward Spiral is perfect.
Quote from: Pi wanna apologise to RK for saying that the Fragile was the best NIN.. i now realise i was wrong and that Downward Spiral is perfect.
haha, i was about to post that before
you don't know how happy that makes me
***listens to "a warm place"***
Quote from: RegularKarate***listens to "a warm place"***
...and then listen to "Crystal Japan" by David Bowie....scaaaaaary
:shock:
I've recently dusted off the Downward Spiral and Broken and have been listening to them a bit obsessively, getting psyched for the new album... When Reznor says "twelve quick punches in the face", I can't help but think of Broken for some reason... I'm imagining twelve tracks along the lines of "Wish", which is fine by me.
Regarding the Downward Spiral vs. The Fragile: When I was an avid NIN fan, the Fragile was my favorite. The scope of the album, the emotion behind songs like "The Wretched" and "We're in this Together", the great instrumentation of "La Mer" and "The Mark has been Made", it added up for me to be the most complete and satisfying.
However, now that I'm a bit detached and have matured past my angsty whiny bitch phase, I see that Downward Spiral is just better. Songs like "Heresy" and "March of the Pigs" are so brutal, but so listenable... And "A Warm Place" is the DEFINITIVE Nails filler track.
Quote from: Film StudentHowever, now that I'm a bit detached and have matured past my angsty whiny bitch phase, I see that Downward Spiral is just better. Songs like "Heresy" and "March of the Pigs" are so brutal, but so listenable... And "A Warm Place" is the DEFINITIVE Nails filler track.
It's funny. The Fragile is my favorite NIN album, though Downward Spiral is admittedly much tighter. But I think that I like The Fragile more because I was in my angsty whiny bitch phase when Downward Spiral came out. And I feel like I came out of mine when Trent came out of his. Downward Spiral is a great record but I think I like The Fragile so much because it feels like Trent has become less interested in trying to make a "perfect" album and (though I know I'm in a minority here) I think it works to his advantage.
Now that I think of it, I think that's what I meant further back when I said that The Fragile is the Magnolia of contemporary rock. It's this great big beautiful, slightly excessive thing that derives its perfection from being pointedly imperfect.
IMHO
And "A Warm Place" is very much the definitive NIN filler track.[/i]
INCH PERFECT?
NINE INCH NAILS will release their new album this year, and helmsman TRENT REZNOR has broken his silence about the project.
Reznor is currently working on 'Bleed Through' with veteran producer Rick Rubin, according to MTV, and spoke about the album during an online discussion with members of the Nine Inch Nails mailing list.
He described the follow-up to 1999's 'The Fragile' as more "brutal" and "minimal" than its predecessor, as well as revealing some of the secrets of its recording.
Reznor said: "I'm approaching this record from a totally different mindset and strategy than (previous album) 'The Fragile'. Every record I've done has reflected where I've been at as a person when it was done, for better or worse. What is coming out of my head now seems to (come) from a very different place than the last record."
He added: "One of the rules of this record has been to orchestrate using only monophonic voices. No chords. Anywhere. Most of the synthesis has been done with a rather elaborate and ever-growing modular rig and recorded live... editing and correcting is avoided, if possible (and) whole takes are encouraged as opposed to looping."
the official www.nin.com (http://www.nin.com) website is open again, check out the video section for the banned "happiness in slavery" video. yummy.
updates:
trent has revealed through a q&a session that closure will be released on dvd (with extra content) this fall. also released in fall is the downard spiral deluxe edition; a two disc package, remastered, remixed in 5.1 and more. the new album bleed through will be released in 2005.
what is closure? (http://www.arkmay.com/closure)
Just read on Aversion.com that David Grohl is doing some of the drum work on the new album. That's interesting.
watch the teaser for the upcoming release of the double dvd set "closure" released this fall.
closure (http://www.nin.com/visuals/closure_teaser_high.html) (quicktime)
new interview with trent reznor from the september issue of alternative press:
The first party I ever went to was an accurate litmus test for the way my life would unfold. I got to the party, didn't talk to anyone, and I went straight for the stereo system. The record that was playing was Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine. I was completely stunned by the sounds pouring out of the speakers. I went home and dreamt about that record. The next day, I walked to the record store and bought the album on cassette. Every record that came out afterward -even the singles- felt like a present made just for me. After reading all the articles and going to way too many NIN shows, I felt like I knew Trent, like we would be friends if we ever met. I used to dream up interview questions that I would ask Trent if I ever got the chance. Here are a few of those questions. -Geoff Rickly
Geoff Rickly: How did you feel the first time you heard Johnny' Cash's rendition of "Hurt"'? How did you feel when you realized it would be his last will as a musician?
Trent Reznor: Rick Rubin has been a friend for a long time, and he called me asking how I felt about Johnny covering "Hurt." I was flattered, but frankly, the idea sounded a bit gimmicky to me. I really didn't put much thought into it, as I was working on something at the time and was distracted. A few weeks later, a CD shows up with the track. Again, I'm in the middle of something and put it on and give it a cursory listen. It sounded... weird to me. That song in particular was straight from my soul, and it felt very strange hearing the highly identifiable voice of Johnny Cash singing it. It was a good version, and I certainly wasn't cringing or anything, but it felt like I was watching my girlfriend fuck somebody else. Or something like that. Anyway, a few weeks later, a videotape shows up with Mark Romanek's video on it. It's morning; I'm in the studio in New Orleans working on lack De La Rocha's record with him; I pop the video in, and... wow. Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore. Then it all made sense to me. It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. Some-fucking-how that winds up reinter-preted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning-dif-ferent, but every bit as pure. Things felt even stranger when he passed away. The song's pur-pose shifted again. It's incredibly flattering as a writer to have your song chosen by someone who’s a great writer and a great artist.
Rickly: As a lyricist, I've always been fascinated by the singularity of your narrative voice. Does it ever drive you crazy to be so alone in your lyrics?
Reznor: I think I always knew what I wanted to do with my life, but I seemed to have spent a lot of time governed by fear-in this context, fear of failure. Way back when, I'd played in a number of bands but avoided writing, because I knew what I liked but didn't know if I'd like what I could write. When I finally started, yes, it sucked. I was lyrically trying to be the Clash or Gang Of Four, and it was shitty. It read as insincere because it was. I was drawn to the pas-sion and sincerity of these artists and was attempting to emulate that, but what they were singing about were things that mattered to them-not so much me. It dawned on me that I'd been keeping a sort of journal-not daily events, but things I had to get It of my system for fear of exploding. These entries were written in almost a lyric-like form, so I tried an experiment of matching them up with some music. As little as I wanted anyone, let alone the world, to hear or read these, I realized there was power in there; I meant what I was saying and feeling, and I believe it came through.
Rickly: One of the most haunting moments in a Nine Inch Nails song is when you momentarily bring another person into your world, in the line "Annie, hold a little tighter..." [from "The Becoming"]. Why does she appear? I'm not necessarily asking who she is; it's more about the decision to bring in another specific person.
Reznor: As I've written more, it's been hard for me to break away from that. I tend to write as me about how I'm feeling about something. When I stray too far out-side that, I feel like I'm getting into storytelling, and it feels less vital. With that said, I've acknowledged it and think it ultimately puts a finite timeline on nine inch nails. NIN will explore this path until it reaches the end, whatever that is. Oh, and "Annie" was abstractly referring to a college sweetheart/ heartbreak situation that, at the time I was writing that song, was a valid source of emotional pain to draw from. Her real name is Andrea Mulrain, and her phone number is [number deleted for privacy purposes. -Patriot Act Ed.]
Rickly: Touring can be stressful. Was there ever a particularly dark time in your life on the road?
Reznor: The entire tour for The Fragile was the worst time of my life. I was very sick, and my life was falling apart. I'd lost my way and didn't feel very good about the way we were playing, what we were doing, who we were doing it with, the vibe, and myself. I really am looking for-ward to the new material coming out, and most of all touring to promote it. I have a lot to prove to myself and am re-energized and never been more ready to kick some ass. At least that's how I feel right this second...
Rickly: When I heard Pretty Hate Machine for the first time, it was unlike anything I had ever heard. It blew me away. What record did that to you, as a kid?
Reznor: Thank you. That's an honor. It really does mean a lot to hear things like that, because I can relate. For me, there were several that come to mind. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, long before MTV and far away from college radio's reach... way, way back then, it was the first album by the Eagles. Way back then, Kiss' Alive! and Pink Floyd's The Wall. Then, Ministry's Twitch and Jesus And Mary Chain's Psychocandy. Fairly recently, Radiohead's Kid A.
Rickly: The Downward Spiral was released on my 15th birthday. It's still one of the best albums I've ever heard. Did you ever have the feeling that it was your masterpiece? What was it like, trying to write in the wake of an album like that?
Reznor: I remember The Downward Spiral being fair-ly easy to write and record. There was an experimental feel in the air, and there was no great commercial pres-sure or expectations at the time. When I handed the record into Inters cope, I recall apologizing to them because I thought it had no commercial, "single" potential. I loved the record, but I felt sorry for them having to try and sell it As soon as [lnterscope presi-dent] Jimmy Iovine heard "Closer," he said it was a hit. That's when I knew he was crazy, and it goes to show what I know. I also remember a lot of people/fans bitching because it wasn't Pretty Hate Machine Pt. 2. For some reason, I think the record is appreciated by other [people] more in the last few years than when it came out. As far as feeling like it was my masterpiece? I don't, really. I love the record and it very accurately portrays where I was back then-and even became a self-fulfilling prophecy-but I think it's flawed in some ways, and I've got some more tricks up my sleeve. If I didn't feel I had anything different or vital to say, I wouldn't continue. That's also why I don't put out records that frequently. Writing was held up after that record for a variety of reasons: two and-a-half years of touring, working on [Marilyn Manson's] Antichrist Superstar, and just being burned out.
Rickly: How do you feel when you hear members of younger bands that sound nothing like NIN cite you as a huge inspiration? I bought a fake ID so that I could come see you at Webster Hall in NYC.
Reznor: Once again, it's very flattering. Having some success and getting older are two very strange things. When we first got big, there were some acts that I could see pretty clearly were either signed by big major labels because they were categorized as being like us, or other acts that felt to me like generic imitations, to be frank. As time passed and the "industrial revolution" never hap-pened-just like "electronica" never lived up to it's poten-tial-it is interesting to see new and younger bands coming up citing NIN as an influence and being sometimes able to hear bits and pieces of that in a much truer, less imitative way. Let's face it: It feels good to be appreciated.
Rickly: What are your musical plans now?
Reznor: I am finishing the new record, assembling a new band, and I'm considering the best approach for presenting this music live. I have a number of other things floating around, but if I mention them, they'll fuck up, so I'm keeping quiet.
Rickly: What are you listening to?
Reznor: In recent weeks I've been listening to: The Bug, Pressure; The Icarus Line, Penance Soiree; TV On The Radio, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (terrible name for the band and record, but some really interesting stuff); The Polyphonic Spree, Together We're Heavy (My "everything will be okay" music. I love these guys); Slipknot, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses (heavy done heavy); Meat Beat Manifesto, ...In Dub (fucking fantastic; pisses me off that it's so well done); Cat Power, You Are Free (and I am not gay for loving this); Badfinger, The Very Best of Badfinger (unexplain-able); Wilco, A Ghost is Born (trying to like it, so far unsuccessfully).
Rickly: I've seen you play live over 30 times and every time, I experience a mixture of awe and terror unlike any-thing I've experienced since. What do you think a live performance should be? Can you remember a specific show that was above and beyond all the rest? What made it special?
Reznor: Thirty times? Hey... now I recognize you! I believe a lot of rock bands are lazy in their presentation The format of playing a show is a kind of accepted "thing" that everybody does because that's how you do it. Once you're above the club/theatre level, chances are you're playing in a venue that wasn't designed for music, so it sounds shitty. You're headed into your seats to endure an opening act you don't want to see. You then watch roadies fuck around for at least a half hour, seemingly doing nothing. You drink shitty beer. You piss in a trough. The band comes on, and it usually sounds terrible. They play all songs off the new record that nobody likes because they're "artists." You get bored. You start to watch things that don't matter, like the drummer. There's a hot girl in the fifth row that might show her tits. Sound familiar? Okay, I got a bit off the subject, but in a perfect world, shows should be more fun. You're paying to attend something that should be a special, memorable event, start to finish. That's what I aspire to do. I think we achieved that during the Self Destruct Tour of 1994-1995, except for the toilets part. On another note, I saw the Polyphonic Spree 0pen for David Bowie in New Orleans a while ago, and it was one of the best things I'd ever seen. I was exhausted and had been writing lyrics, which always makes me a bit... sensitive. Anyway, when I walked in the theatre I saw 300 people on stage really meaning it... That was a really touching, powerful thing. I stayed in a good mood for a whole 24-36 hours after that!
Nine Inch Nails back onstage after 4 years
NEW YORK -- Nine Inch Nails have announced their first live dates in four years, which will take place March 30-31 at London's Astoria. Tickets officially go on sale Saturday, but members of Nine Inch Nails' mailing list have a 24-hour pre-sale opportunity beginning Tuesday. The dates will come in advance of the Trent Reznor-led band's long-delayed new album, "With Teeth." No release date has been confirmed for the Interscope set, but sources say it should hit stores in late April or early May. The band's live lineup has also yet to be announced. However, sources told Billboard.com last week that it will not include longtime NIN collaborators Danny Lohner and Charlie Clouser. (Billboard.com)
With Teeth is a much better title than The Bleedthrough.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1497556/20050228/nine_inch_nails.jhtml?headlines=true
Nine Inch Nails To Launch Theater Tour In April
02.28.2005 1:59 PM EST
Trek begins April 27 in San Francisco.
Nine Inch Nails are going small on their upcoming tour. The Trent Reznor-led group is coming out of hibernation with a theater swing that will give fans a rare up-close-and-personal look at the new lineup.
The 23-date outing is slated to hit a number of North American cities on multiple nights, beginning with a two-night stand at the 2,300-capacity Warfield in San Francisco on April 27 and running through a pair of shows at the 2,400-capacity Soma in San Diego on May 30-31. The Dresden Dolls are scheduled to open all of the North American dates.
The band's new lineup features ex-Icarus Line guitarist Aaron North, A Perfect Circle bassist Jeordie White, keyboardist Allesandro Cortini and drummer Jerome Dillon.
With Teeth, the group's new album, is set for release on May 3 and will feature the songs "All the Love in the World," "You Know What You Are?," "The Collector," "The Hand That Feeds," "Love Is Not Enough," "Every Day Is Exactly the Same," "With Teeth," "Only," "Getting Smaller," "Sunspots," "The Line Begins to Blur," "Beside You in Time" and "Right Where It Belongs." The album's first single is "The Hand That Feeds"; the video for that track is in production.
The new tour dates are in addition to a string of previously announced sold-out club shows on the West Coast, which kicks off on March 23 with a gig at the William Saroyan Theatre in Fresno, California. The band will then play a pair of shows at the Astoria in London before gearing up for the North American dates, which will be followed by a show in Mexico and a mix of festival and arena dates in Europe during June and July.
Nine Inch Nails tour dates, according to a band spokesperson:
4/27 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
4/28 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
4/30 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint
5/3 - Denver, CO @ Fillmore Theatre
5/4 - Denver, CO @ Fillmore Theatre
5/6 - Chicago, IL @ Congress Theatre
5/7 - Chicago, IL @ Congress Theatre
5/9 - Toronto, ON @ Koolhaus
5/10 - Toronto, ON @ Koolhaus
5/12 - Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
5/13 - Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
5/15 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
5/16 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
5/18 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
5/19 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
5/21 - Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
5/22 - Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
5/24 - Houston, TX @ Verizon Wireless Theatre
5/25 - Austin, TX @ Stubbs Bar-B-Q
5/27 - Phoenix, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
5/28 - Phoenix, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
5/30 - San Diego, CA @ Soma
5/31 - San Diego, CA @ Soma
photo of the new line-up:
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Quote from: mogwaihas anyone noticed that every nin album is released every fifth year?
1989 pretty hate machine
1994 the downward spiral
1999 the fragile
2004 bleed through
there goes that theory
Quote from: hacksparrow
5/21 - Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
5/22 - Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
I'm THERE! (Well, to one of 'em.)
2LB
Why does shitty Michigan have to be so shitty?
Why did the list have to stop before Los Angeles?
He's playing here at a pretty small venue (for nin), but the presale tickets sold out within seconds... I don't quite understand how it's possible, but the presale (for "fans" before they officially go on sale) started at 4 and at exactly 4, I pressed the buy button and I guess a hundred (or however many presale tickets there are) people had clicked it milliseconds before me because there weren't anymore available.
really pissed me off.. I'm gonna probably have to mug someone to see this show.
Lame.
No NW shows at all.
It's late, I'm not even going to try
Bless your Ravenous theme, Macguffin!
that's just the first leg of the u.s. tour. i'm pretty sure they'll return to play in bigger venues.
Quote from: mogwaithat's just the first leg of the u.s. tour. i'm pretty sure they'll return to play in bigger venues.
yeah, but bigger venues suck.
I don't want a bigger venue. I want a Los Angeles appearance.
Quote from: SleuthBless your Ravenous theme, Macguffin!
I didn't think anyone would know. Bless
you.
Quote from: RegularKarate
I'm gonna probably have to mug someone to see this show.
Don't the tickets officially go on sale friday? My roommate and I are crossing our fingers... we tried to buy pre-sale tickets as well, about 20 seconds after they were available. Stupid us.
Yeah, Friday at 5... I don't know if I get them from Star Tickets or from the nin site (like with the presales). I assume Star Tickets... but I can't afford the fifteen seconds it takes to figure out.
mass suicide, guys :cry:
Both Atlanta shows sold out in about 30 seconds today.
At least if TicketBastard's website can be believed.. DAMMIT! :evil:
2LB
yeah, I couldn't get tickets either... as hard as I tried... the small venue thing bit me in the ass... the site that was processing the sales couldn't handle the volume and it would just freeze up... bunch of BS, if you ask me.
I'm still a little sore about it.
On the bright side, there are a couple of songs that leaked from the new album and they're pretty bad... so maybe I'm not missing much.
My roommate and I were unsuccessful in getting Austin tickets, but miraculously we snagged Phoenix tickets for May 27th. Hooray.
www.nin.com
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they better leave the country as they hav in previous tours.
has anyone bought the downward spiral special edition? how are the remixes?
Trent Reznor proves that his bite is as vicious as his bark, with a little help from Dave Grohl. Source: Rolling Stone
With Teeth - Due out May 3rd
"I had plenty of life experience to draw from while working on this record," says Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor of his first studio album is six years. "I was getting sane while the world was going crazy." The follow-up to 1999's The Fragile bristles with as much aggression as anything in the NIN catalog while adding more live drumming into the mix, courtesy of honorary Nailsman Dave Grohl. "I wrote these tracks with a Grohl-esque performance in mind," says Reznor. "I asked him if he was into it and that was that." Stellar tracks include "Only," which boasts a "Billie Jean" beat and spoken-word vocals that evoke Prince, and "The Hand That Feeds" (the first single), which combines a guitar assault with New Wave-y keyboards. Says Reznor, "This record is probably more honest than anything I've done."
Nine Inch Nails at Hultsfred Festival!.....mogwai you lucky bastard.
i'm not going.
Quote from: mogwaii'm not going.
Reconsider it. oh, they will probably show it live on ZTV.
nine inch nails will be joined be marilyn manson at the hultsfred festival. first they were pals and then they're not. marilyn joins nin on stage a couple of years ago. and then they fall out again. i wonder how it'll be this time when they'll probably will be playing on the same day.
Quote from: mogwainine inch nails will be joined be marilyn manson at the hultsfred festival. first they were pals and then they're not. marilyn joins nin on stage a couple of years ago. and then they fall out again. i wonder how it'll be this time when they'll probably will be playing on the same day.
That should be interesting. The first time I ever saw Manson was when he was opening for NIN on an early tour, when Reznor was kind of mentoring him.
Since then I've seen MM at least a half dozen times, but NIN only three times. Reznor REALLY should tour more.
2LB
Quote from: Two Lane BlacktopReznor REALLY should tour more.
expect him to tour a lot this time.
the hand that feeds (http://boss.streamos.com/download/interscope/nin/with_teeth/video/nin_the_hand_that_feeds_hi.mov) (quicktime)
I missed their last tour which I've heard was one of the very best for NIN. I plan on seeing them for sure this time around. Even if I've gotta pay scalpers.
i just got into NIN recently. i love it so so so so much. i had fragile when it came out and liked it, but that was it. i have them all now and i'm obsessed. can't wait for the new one. will do anything to see them live.
sorry, there are too many fans allready. well get in touch with you if something opens up
Quote from: Cecilsorry, there are too many fans allready. well get in touch with you if something opens up
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well.. we might have an opening at the Poser level.
click on the image to get to the link
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nin.com%2Fcurrent%2F3-18.gif&hash=f7986640ec2b6c5a035567ba6cbe2e73344ec972) (http://www.nin.com/current/listening_parties.html)
Quote from: mogwaiclick on the image to get to the link
Holy cow, there's one in Atlanta at a tourist bar. I might actually have to venture out for that.
2LB
Quote from: Pubrick
well.. we might have an opening at the Poser level.
i'm a poser for liking a band?
...I think it was a reference to the Simpsons...
Quote from: Walrus...I think it was a reference to the Simpsons...
oh, i understand. sorry, p.
that video has its charm, it looks as if those guys were being watched as animals, but not in a duran duran sort of way.
Quote from: mogwaithe hand that feeds (http://boss.streamos.com/download/interscope/nin/with_teeth/video/nin_the_hand_that_feeds_hi.mov) (quicktime)
What's up with Trent having big ol' biceps? Is that what he's been doing during all these years between albums: lifting weights?
Midlife crisis alert...At any rate, I like the song.
2LB
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nin.com%2Fvisuals%2Fwith_teeth_cover.jpg&hash=69bca2d872f1a2bfa721bf26a62c5d25958ed325)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nin.com%2Fcurrent%2F3-23c.gif&hash=555ce793a2d459ef81349eefe4e0db0b97156e7b)
james brown still got it!
Beyond hurt
Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor reclaims a career, even a life. Source: Los Angeles Times
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"Here's a song that isn't mine anymore," Trent Reznor told the 1,800 fans in the Reno Hilton theater as he began singing "Hurt." It's an expression of isolation and self-loathing from his "The Downward Spiral" album — and a song that makes Kurt Cobain's tales of alienation seem almost cheery.
Reznor fell into his own downward spiral shortly after recording that song a decade ago, and millions now know "Hurt" more from Johnny Cash's unbearably bleak interpretation in an award-winning 2003 video.
Onstage in Reno, though, Reznor made the final lines of the song sound like a statement of survival:
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way.
Reznor's rousing vocal was more than the sign of a man reclaiming his song. He's also reclaiming his career, maybe even his life.
In an interview before the concert, Reznor, who tours and records under the band name Nine Inch Nails, spoke for the first time about his troubled decade, outlining in detail how he let alcohol and drug addiction strip him of his confidence and vision.
The low point was waking up one morning in London with a hospital tube in his mouth and not knowing where he was. He had overdosed on heroin in his hotel room and had been taken out through the laundry room by aides who were trying to protect his privacy.
That was after Reznor came out with his follow-up to "Spiral," 1999's aptly titled "The Fragile" — an unwavering portrait of psychological helplessness that felt both frightening and sad. Sales were disappointing, and even admirers in the music industry wondered if he'd ever make another album.
But Reznor has surprised the rock world by returning with a new album, "With Teeth," due May 3. The CD recaptures the accessibility and command of his best work, combining the savage force of "Downward Spiral" with a new, revealing sense of vulnerability. In the rock world, where visionaries with the ambition and craft to appeal to a mass audience are rare, Reznor's resurgence is welcome news indeed.
Backstage after the concert, the 39-year-old pop auteur was all smiles. On a great night, rock bands can give you chills, and this night was one of them — on both sides of the stage lights. Reznor was touched by the Reno audience's warmth. But touring also reminded him of the bad old days.
"There were nights when I used to be so depressed that I would look out at the audience and resent them because they got to go home and have a good time, and the show was the only time I had any fun," he said. "I'd go back to the hotel room and have panic attacks. I totally lost my soul."
Airtime for single
Six years between albums can be an eternity for an artist, and Reznor worried about whether there would still be an audience waiting if he made another album.
That question won't be fully answered until the new album hits stores, yet the evidence so far is encouraging.
Rock radio stations around the country have put "The Hand That Feeds," the first single from the album, in heavy rotation, and tickets for nearly 40 stops on a U.S. and European theater tour were all sold in minutes. The show here in Reno was a warmup for Reznor's headlining spot at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on May 1.
But the most convincing measure of Reznor's continuing impact is in the devotion of the hundreds of fans, mostly in their 20s, who began lining up at 8 a.m. for the 9 p.m. concert at the Reno Hilton theater.
Many were wearing souvenir T-shirts from past Nine Inch Nails tours, and they couldn't have looked more like outsiders as they sat patiently for hours on the casino floor, squeezed in between hundreds of middle-aged men on their right competing in a poker tournament and scores more on their left placing bets on the NCAA basketball tournament.
"A lot of people think that if you listen to depressing music, it will make you more depressed," said Brian Stephens, 22, who drove eight hours from Panorama City with a friend. "But what really happens is the music helps you feel better because you realize that others have the same questions and doubts in life."
Like others in line, Stephens had no idea of the notoriously private Reznor's addiction. But he could tell from "The Fragile," perhaps the darkest album ever to reach the national top 10, that the songwriter was going through depression, and he figured the delay in the new album was writer's block.
Once Reznor hit the stage in the theater, which has featured the likes of Frank Sinatra and Tom Jones, the fans reacted strongly to the new material, often picking up on the words so fast that they were singing along by the end of the number.
Dressed in his trademark black, Reznor and the four-piece band opened with "Love Is Not Enough," a song from the new album that shows Reznor has found room for gentler emotions without sacrificing the sonic punch of his trademark industrial rock assault. In the song, Reznor speaks of old friends ("In your eyes is a place worth remembering") and new admissions ("underneath we're not so tough").
The growling "The Hand That Feeds" drew the most response from the audience. The track features a slightly more guitar-oriented rock sound — not the synthesizer-driven approach of the "Downward Spiral" days.
The tune is one of Reznor's rare excursions into social comment, a warning against blind acceptance of authority, including that of a president leading his nation to war. "Just how deep do you believe?" Reznor snarled. "Will you bite the hand that feeds? Will you chew until it bleeds? Will you get up off your knees?"
In the recording studio, Reznor plays most of the instruments himself, including guitar, synthesizers and bass. On the current tour, however, he is joined by bassist Jeordie White (who toured with Marilyn Manson as Twiggy Ramirez), guitarist Aaron North, keyboardist Alessandro Cortini and drummer Jerome Dillon.
As the band left the stage, it was easy to think back to the '90s, when Reznor and Cobain boldly brought raw honesty and emotion to a rock world that had become increasingly hollow and timid.
In the worst times, Reznor said, he thought about how Cobain killed himself with a shotgun and wondered about his own future.
"I wouldn't buy a gun, but I could see where the drinking and the cocaine could lead. You get to a point where you just don't care. When I wrote 'Hurt,' I was thinking about my own pain, but I was also trying to imagine the emptiest a person could feel. But 'Hurt' became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I wasn't flirting around the rim of darkness anymore. I was right down at the bottom of the despair."
Creativity loves misery
After years of living in New Orleans, Reznor now makes his home in the Hollywood Hills because, for one thing, his friends here don't drink. He used to be intimidated by life in New York and Los Angeles because he didn't feel he could live up to expectations people have of rock stars, which is surprising because he seems so commanding onstage and so smart and articulate in interviews.
Growing up in small-town Pennsylvania, Reznor discovered early that he craved life in the extreme, from scary movies to the fire-breathing KISS. He also felt like an outsider at school, and that contributed to a resentment that fueled his aggressive musical style.
"I learned early that I could feel miserable and write about it, much more so than if I was feeling good," Reznor said, sitting in a Culver City soundstage, where the band rehearsed for weeks before going on the road. "I could take that ugly feeling and turn it into something that even has beauty in it.
"I still remember the first time I saw people in a town I had never been to before yelling my words back at me, and I realized the music was cathartic for them, too. It was providing for them the same thing it provided for me — the friend I never had."
As much as he became a symbol of darkness and alienation in rock, he didn't start living out that character in his personal life until he went on the road in support of "Downward Spiral." He found it easier to deal with people if he had a few drinks or cocaine.
After a while, he checked into a rehab clinic in Florida.
"I had told myself for a long time that an alcoholic was a guy down the street and that a cocaine addict was a guy with his nose falling off," he said. "I told myself I was smarter than that. I was the guy who could get onstage and make music for thousands of people. I was invincible."
After rehab, Reznor began work on "The Fragile" in New Orleans. He was still fragile himself, but he was sober, and he threw himself into the album for several grueling months. Though the words were often generic, the music itself was extraordinary, so haunting and personal in places that it felt like a cry for help.
Looking back on the CD now, he said, "It was a record of complete fear, as if I had tapped into my insides and captured exactly how terrified I felt. I listened to it the other day for the first time in a long time, and I was amazed how frightened I sounded."
At the time, however, Reznor was so happy to have finished the album that he did a stupid thing. He took a drink, his first since rehab. The next day he had two more, and it only got worse when he started touring again. The old insecurities were back.
"For a year, every day off, I'd spend the day sweating in a hotel room, feeling terrible about myself," he said. "I felt I would be ruined financially if I stopped the tour and afraid I would kill myself if I continued."
When he returned to New Orleans after the tour, he thought his career was over. "I hated making music," he recalled. "From a commercial standpoint, 'Fragile' was a failure. The record company seemed to abandon us. My manager and I weren't getting along. I didn't feel like I could write anymore, and I couldn't even stop drinking." (Reznor and his former manager have sued each other, each claiming to be owed millions of dollars by the other.)
Eventually, Reznor — seeing how tenuous life is after a friend in New Orleans was killed in an apparently random shooting — got the strength to check himself back into a rehab center in New Orleans. It was a cold-turkey experience that still makes him shudder.
"Imagine being put in a locked room where you feel you've got the worst flu you can imagine and your skin feels like it's on fire and you have to vomit constantly," he said.
Reznor said he hasn't had a drink in nearly four years.
Still, his reentry into the pop world has been slow. To avoid opening himself up to old temptations and insecurities, he pretty much kept to himself in New Orleans, working on a few side projects but not ready to tackle his own album until moving to Los Angeles early last year. He even cut himself off from his record company for months at a time.
Rick Rubin, the producer who suggested to Cash that he sing "Hurt," is one of Reznor's closest friends in the record business, but he too lost touch with him during those dark years.
"Trent's music is a very, very personal, intimate thing," Rubin said. "He doesn't edit himself in any way. He's very much of an open book in his music and in his dealings with people. He's always pure and he's honest, and that's a very vulnerable place to be, so he probably learned the best way to protect himself is to just disappear if he's not ready to deal with things. But he's great again."
As to whether there's a big audience waiting for Reznor's music, Rubin said, "I think so, definitely. He kind of carved out a niche, and even though he hasn't always been there to push the niche forward, no one has come and taken that space."
Jimmy Iovine, the Interscope Geffen A&M Records chairman who signed Nine Inch Nails to Interscope, is also thrilled with Reznor's recovery. "To me, Trent is one of those incredible talents that comes along every 10 or 20 years," said Iovine, who as a producer or engineer worked with such major figures as John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and U2. "I never think his talent went away."
Recognizing perils
Reznor is apprehensive about going back on the road, knowing that, for him, the touring environment made it easier to succumb to his addiction. Yet everything seems to be going well. He's in great shape, his arm and chest muscles pressing so hard against his black T-shirt that he looks as if he just came from the gym.
"By going through recovery and rehab, it has made me learn so much about myself and why I acted the way I did," he said. "I've finally begun to like myself."
There were only band members and a few friends with Reznor backstage in Reno. After someone congratulated him on the show, Reznor held up a bottle to toast day two of the tour. This time around, the bottle was filled with water.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mood music
Reznor often listens to particular albums repeatedly while working on his own. Here are the CDs he focused on while making his last three albums.
"The Downward Spiral" (1994)
"First there was Pink Floyd's 'The Wall.' I liked the theme of the album [fighting against conformity] and that it was a concept. It was all about one character and I felt like that character. Then there was David Bowie's 'Low,' which sounded so fragile and icy and desperate. It felt like someone was about to fall apart."
"The Fragile" (1997)
"I spent a lot of time listening to the soundtracks of David Cronenberg films, especially 'Crash.' What I like about him as a filmmaker, mostly, is the sense of dread he puts into his work. You know something bad is going to happen, and the soundtrack captures that tension."
"With Teeth" (2005)
"It was mostly like old Gang of Four, Public Image Ltd.'s 'Flowers of Romance,' some Pere Ubu. It wasn't so much for songwriting, but for the spirit of those records. I wanted to avoid … over-production, which can often result in losing the human touch in the music.
I wanted the album to sound fresh and immediate."
That's a wonderful, wonderful photo.
no
it was a great interview though.
ye
I didn't realize he hit rock bottom again after The Fragile. When it first came out, I remember he was saying all the same things he's saying in this interview, about moving on to a happier place and such. There was a Rolling Stone interview that talked about his love for jet skis, and how he felt he might be ready to settle down and raise a family.
Trent Reznor appearance on the Gonzo Show
Transcribed by Tallulidal on #ets
Zane Lowe of MTV2 Gonzo Show
ZL: Ah yea man, check it out, guess who's sitting on the couch right now - the recognisable face of Mr. Trent Reznor. Ah, of course, representing Nine Inch Nails on the brown couch today, and sir, may I shake your hand?
TR: You may.
ZL: Good to see you!
TR: Good to see you too.
ZL: Right on man. You're back with us, with this band of yours. You've got a few new players hanging out with you, doing some shows, and more importantly you've got this album now, you've got 'With Teeth', which you're playing live and you're representing, and obviously you're very proud of otherwise you wouldn't have attached your name to it and put it on the shelf. How does it feel now thinking about the record, you know, getting close for people to interpret it and listen to it?
TR: It feels pretty good. I mean, this whole, the whole setup, really from when I started working on this, 'til up to this exact moment, everything is really falling into place. It feels strange. It feels right for a change, you know. And who know what will happen as far as public response, but um, and that moment is coming - judgement day – but it feels good. I feel like I've put my best foot forward and I'm proud of what's there, and that's all I can do.
ZL: You mentioned before that, you know, for once it feels like things have actually fallen into place. I mean, was there a time in your life that you were like 'God, I think I'm actually born with this dysfunction surrounding my creative pursuit'?
TR: Pretty much all of my life, yea *laughs* I've had a lot of that... feeling, but things at the moment...
ZL: Rollin'!
TR: I've got very little to bitch about.
ZL: Things are rockin' man. You're looking well as well.
TR: Thank you.
ZL: We're getting a lot of questions from the planet, MTV2europe.com. We've got a veritable bible here from people who want to ask you, and a lot of them focus on the fact that you're looking pretty buff. I think a lot of people want to know what you're bench-pressing at the moment actually, cause you're looking in shape!
TR: Yea, I don't put a number... I don't attach a number to things like that.
ZL: *laughs* right, but you look like you're definitely having maximum weight and minimum repetition cause you've got some muscles going on there!
TR: Well.., you know, it's a long tour ahead of us, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kick some ass, and hey if I'm going to talk shit about people, I'm going to have to defend myself. *laughs*
ZL: *laughs* we wondered whether those days were gone, but you know, we pray that they haven't. We pray that there's still a little bile in the system.
TR: *laugh* don't worry, don't worry.
ZL: *laugh* Let's get straight into it right now, with one of these questions. Tea or coffee? Let's start with a nice simple one from Miss Morbid Desire. Do you drink tea or coffee or both?
TR: Coffee.
ZL: Right, and how do you have it?
TR: *pauses*
ZL: Straight black?
TR: I could make a smart quip right now, but I'll just say 'black'.
ZL: Yea I know, all coffee gags have been done a billion times before...
TR: That's true.
ZL: ...and they've been out-ruled on this show. What music is kind of inspiring you at the moment? Now your album is done, I guess you're in a position to listen to a lot more records without feeling torn between your own creative pursuit and kinda listening to what other people are doing, other ideas. It must be kind of nice.
TR: Um, it is... I mean... yea... I have paid attention to kinda what's going on, and occasionally a thing comes up that I think is pretty inspiring. I like, I like DFA productions... have stood out to me.
ZL: Well you've asked them, you've got them to remix, to have a crack at 'The Hand That Feeds'.
TR: We did... yea, I really liked the LCD Soundsystem record. Just the occasional thing that pops up that I think is pretty good.
ZL: Right, okay. Well, there you go, that's the first couple of questions from the planet out of the way. We're going to come back after this and we're going to talk in detail about the making of 'With Teeth' with Trent Reznor.
ZL: Ah, Trent Reznor is hanging out with us today on the brown couch. Comfy, ain't she?
TR: It's nice.
ZL: Eh, makes you feel good! Right on! Back with a new album called 'With Teeth'. A whole bunch of songs that feature together in one consistent listen, and is that difficult for you to achieve? You know, when your making a record, just think how it's going – the first song is so important when people hear that first track, and then you know, track three tends to be the single, if you're looking throughout history...
TR: Right.
ZL: ...and do you look on it on those terms?
TR: Well, this record started off as more of a... I started off doing it kind of like I did 'The Downward Spiral'. I had an idea for kind of an arc of the story and a concept, and a title and a number of song titles, and a starting point, an ending point, a resolution and all the trimmings. And when I started actually writing the songs to fill in the blanks, I found that for a number of reasons, maybe just being in a clear head space, maybe having more confidence as I started writing – I realised what I was doing was good, it could have been the way I wrote the record – I started with words, and did it, did demos on a piano, instead of writing in the studio. There wasn't any real reason I chose to do it that way, other than that it felt like the right thing to do, but as I was working on the record, the songs started to stand on their own, and I thought they were... I allowed myself to think that they are good on their own and trying to jam them into this vehicle, this kinda construct of a story, felt, felt like I was forcing the issue. It started to feel a little pretentious.
ZL: It must have been a relief to be able let go of that in a way – to be able to say 'You know what, this is... that's served its purpose', got that experience...
TR: Yea, a lot of rules I'll come up with serve their purpose to get things going. I know they might change, but sometimes having regulations and restrictions help me focus on what needs to get done.
TR: I don't have a band that sounds a certain way. I don't have... I'm not being dictated to by others what I need to be like, so I'll start with kind of general rules, and sometimes they change, but I think, as I've had some time to think about how this record has progressed, and had to look back at it, the main thing that seems different is I've had an unusual confidence that would allow me to throw those rules out, or allow me to say at some point, 'You know, it doesn't need all this crap on it. I think it's good the way it is.' And that also happened when it came time to arrange the songs from taking it from demo to final version. I went from Los Angeles, where I now live, to New Orleans where my studio is, and the plan was to flesh them out, and fill all the cracks with lots of stuff, little secrets and backwards this and that and you know, there's the obligatory satanic messages that have to go in. Part of my deal with Satan is to put those in.
ZL: Of course, of course. Represent!
TR: Hey I got eternal youth out of the deal so, you know...
ZL: Right, that's fine!
TR: *laughs* but as I started trying to do it, I realised that it didn't really need that stuff. It might be confidence, or it could be laziness, you know, but if felt like I was okay letting some things go, and that even carried through to, say a song like 'The Hand That Feeds' or the last track on the record 'Right Where It Belongs' – both of those, when I was writing them, the first voice that pops up in my head says, 'I can't do this – too accessible, too pop, too catchy, too...'. That was, you know it would be safe for me to make a 14 minute art epic, because I've kind of done it, and no one's going to make fun of you for doing that.
ZL: And you've got the fans in place who will appreciate it and buy it.
TR: Maybe, but I wrote some songs that felt like 'Well these are pretty catchy!' I didn't write them to buy a new pool, you know, I wrote them because they just, they sounded good to me, and at the end of the day, I felt like it's a strong, it's a strong song. Like a track like 'The Hand That Feeds' kind of jumps out of the speakers after first listen.
ZL: It sounds like classic Nine Inch Nails to me, and I mean I know you've said this before about how accessible that song is, and absolutely there are hooks all over that track, and it's great – it sounds great on the radio, the video looks great on MTV, you know, but it's certainly not overly accessible – it sounds like you've made a pop song, it sounds like a Nine Inch Nails hit.
TR: Well, looking at the collection of things, I think it's on one end of the spectrum, and that always brings up a 'uh-oh', and really that 'uh-oh' feeling is me worried about what people will think, and that's not really being honest with myself.
ZL: I mean this, obviously, with utmost respect, that as well as the world has changed, so perhaps your platform isn't as vast anymore to be able to say, 'I'm going to really push the boat out. I'm going to challenge people as much as I could.' But ultimately, with this record, maybe you need to be more direct. You need to remind people that this is exactly what I do and this is who I am and this is how *bleep* straight ahead I can be.
TR: I know what you're saying there, and I'm not taking offence to it, but it really wasn't why this came out the way it did – this record. I think that the record as a whole is more accessible, certainly than The Fragile. It wasn't... it really wasn't 'uh-oh, I've been away being an addict somewhere. I've got to put out a record and I've got to...' You know, career has always come second to trying to make the best record I can make, you know, and it's... it might sound pretentious to say, but I feel good about everything I've put out I really believe in, and I think I've done the best I can do at the time, and been as honest with myself as I can be, and I sleep good at night knowing that, you know, and when this record was being written, it was kind of under the assumption, you know I got into this story with you elsewhere, but getting clean and getting your life in order, which is where I've been in the last several years, teaches you humility, and a humble nature that I've never really known before, and in the context of all that, the idea of still having a career was something that would be nice, but it could be gone, and if it is gone it's okay, you know, I can still try to make the best music that I can, and this record came out the way it did and then it's interesting and it's kind of exciting to see that it is being received as well as it is, so far. But that's a by-product of the record, not so much the plan to get that by making a record like that, and it wasn't... I didn't make this record to be the opposite of 'The Fragile', it just, when I started to work on it, this is what felt good to me, felt like the right way to do it.
TR: I sat down to write this record with a new set of tools and abilities than I had when I did 'The Fragile'. 'The Fragile' – I was... I can see now clearly I was on a slippery slope headed to disaster, and I couldn't think and I was terrified, and I couldn't think clearly enough to write lyrics really, and I didn't have great lyrical concepts, but I could improvise in the studio indefinitely, and that record grew into this big blob of what it is, because that's what I could do at that time, that's the best thing I could do. I listen to it now – 'The Fragile' – and I feel that um...
ZL: Yea, how do you feel...
TR: I'm proud of that record, but it feels really weird to be, because it's like... I know I'm about to walk off a cliff after I finished that record, and I can now hear insights...
ZL: Can you take yourself out of that and hear that within the music as well, and hear...
TR: I can hear what's coming, but I couldn't see at the time, you know when I did 'The Downward Spiral', I thought I was writing a kind of amplification or projection of me. I didn't know that I was predicting the future, you know, I didn't know I was writing a script that I was about to then execute.
ZL: And why would you? You know, when you listen to 'The Downward Spiral', you think 'God, it can't get much worse than this', you know 'I've been through the worst of it surely at this point'.
TR: Yea but it did, and it does *laughs*, you know.
ZL: What freaks me out, and I tried to touch on this before when we spoke, but what really freaks me out is when you talk about this era of your life, and I met you for 45 minutes once and had a proper sit-down one-on-one with you about 'The Fragile' in the time you were doing all the press and promo... it really didn't strike me that you were in that state. Now, most people who are in bands, who are struggling with drugs, or with whatever – addictions, it could be addictions to drama, anything – it's a lot more obvious with them and if anything, they use it to promote their records or they use it to sort of say 'Hey I'm a *bleep* out of control here', you know, they make the most of that time in their life, and then they let it go. It seems like you kept this very much within.
TR: Well, because you were seeing me at a phase where you missed the part where I was bragging about it. I'd already learned that's big trouble, now I've got to pretend everything's okay, and that's the time you caught me, at that phase, and, yea I don't even like thinking about that time, so thanks for bringing that up, man...
ZL: Yea, you're welcome man.
ZL: Right, this from Jay Hybrid, how did you discover the visual artist or graphic designer to do the artwork for your record? How do you go about making that decision? It's got a uniformity to it?
TR: On this record? This time around, Rob Sheridan is the guy that's done all the graphics for us, and I found him before 'The Fragile' came out, and he just had a fan website, and we hired him to do a website for us, and kind of go on the road with us and document what was going on and, his work led to the 'And All That Could Have Been' DVD – he filmed that, and we just immediately hit it off and have the same sensibilities, so when things came around this time, the typical procedure would be to find a fine artist and collaborate with them, and have another art director that puts it together, and Rob's ideas are really good, and we just said 'Let's just do this thing,' and he also directed 'The Hand That Feeds' video, and...
ZL: Which is good, a good solid performance video, I think, that one.
TR: I thought so too. You know, to me it was like, being in a band and it's time to do videos - and I don't do videos myself - you kind of get thrust into this position of, you know, if you're an arty cool band, pick from one of five directors and you can think off the top of your head who they are, you know, and hope they come up with a clever idea that gets you on MTV and everyone is happy ever after, but it doesn't feel sincere to me, it feels... you know, I think Spike Jones is a great director...
ZL: Michel Gondry's a great director...
TR: Michel Gondry yea, Chris Cunningham, Romanek, you know, down the line, you know the ??? ones because they always have the best videos. So you end up either taking a chance on somebody that's unknown, that you're... that has it's own set of problems, or you're playing it as safe as you can be by hiring one of the few guys to hopefully make something that attaches itself to your song...
ZL: Well it certainly did that, you know...
TR: This time around it just felt like it's not the right thing to do. Let's just - the song is good, I think the band is good - let's just have the band play the song and hopefully do it in a way that's not too...
ZL: Corny or?
TR: That's not boring, you know...
ZL: Yea, exactly. It's also nice at the end, I mean obviously you've got like the instruments at the ground, the rock feedback and stuff, which takes you back to 'March of the Pigs' and stuff like that. I can't remember, was 'March of the Pigs' actually, was that recorded live music as well?
TR: 'March of the Pigs' was everything live.
ZL: That's what I thought.
TR: We played, literally played the song 15 times and whatever one was the least shitty was the one we ended up using.
ZL: Did you think about doing that with 'The Hand That Feeds' as well?
TR: We were going to do it, and then I got beat down by a number of reasons why you weren't supposed to do that, and I conceded...
ZL: Right, fair enough. Do you have to do that very often nowadays, or are you still in a position to pretty much control your own?
TR: I can do what I wanna do, but often when it's presented to me in a way that 'Here's the upside and the downside', I weigh it out and then it's my call as to what I think is right.
ZL: Sure, so you just take it on as advice effectively.
TR: *pauses* It's advice, no one tells me what to do...
ZL: NO ONE tells Trent what to do!
TR: That's... remember that.
ZL: We're running out of time here, we've only got a couple more minutes, so I'm going to race through some questions from MTV2Europe.com for our very special guest, Trent. High-fives man, I'm enjoying myself today!
TR: Me too!
ZL: Alright um...
TR: If it was all this easy...
ZL: There you go. Well, you know what, I'm open! I'm ready to go! Take me out on the road. I'll do all your press. Different territories, I'll get a linguist, linguistic coach!
TR: *laughs*
ZL: Your recent concerts are both physically and mentally demanding, obviously - here we go - obviously you've prepared yourself physically for the rigours involved – everyone's noticing the physique, you're looking good! How do you prepare yourself mentally? Wigglebutt wants to know. I mean, are there little rituals you do, without giving too much away, before shows, you know...
TR: Uhh, not really. There used to be a ritual that was, involved copious amounts of Tequila *laughs*
ZL: Those days are done!
TR: No, really right now, it's just about... often I'll get really nervous before a show, even now, and so it's just a matter of me reassuring myself everything's okay, as kind of stupid as that sounds...
ZL: Yea in 2 hours it's gonna be done and yea...
TR: As soon as I walk onstage, I'm fine, but it's that half hour before of... panic. Not really panic, but a mild sense of 'something's not right'.
ZL: Without crossing the line of journalistic professionalism, where do you stand in terms of what you entitle yourself to do and don't do on the road – obviously drugs are out of the question – do you still entitle yourself to have a drink? Do you... are you allowed to have a drink now?
TR: No I don't drink or do anything like that.
ZL: Right, so you're pretty much completely clean now?
TR: I am *pauses* 100 percent clean.
ZL: Well you're looking better for it. Has it been hard though, to find things to replace that aspect of your life though? 'Cause that's what people say, is it's kind of a replacement factor to a certain extent.
TR: Well, one of the reasons that I didn't jump right back into doing a record and touring immediately after getting clean was I wanted to feel comfortable in my own skin before I went into a situation that had prior, previously got me into trouble, you know, and it wasn't touring that got me into trouble, you know, it was just the fact that *pauses* I'm an addict, and I happen to be in a lifestyle that maybe accelerated it a bit, but it's not why it happened. So, you know, I enter into this phase of touring and even doing the record with a pretty good, safe ground base of knowing who I am and what I am and feeling good about things. I don't, I'm not in a white knuckly situation and I'm not uncomfortable with what's around me and...
ZL: Good. Got a juicer?
TR: I do have a juicer.
ZL: Yea, yea yea, I'm big into juicers right now.
TR: Yea, what's your flavour?
ZL: Carrot, beetroot and apple mix I think goes down very well.
TR: A little ginger in there? Spice it up?
ZL: That's what I'm talking about right there! But then after you have the beetroot juice, if then you have a bowel movement and you find it's slightly... don't panic!
TR: I thought I lost a kidney once, but... till I learned what was happening.
ZL: It's the power of the root man, it's the power of the root!
TR: *laughs*
ZL: It's good to see you dude.
TR: Good to see you too.
ZL: Thanks for coming in and hanging out. Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails, of course the album 'With Teeth' is coming your way, and you'll get plenty of chances to see them play live, we'll keep them on the road for as long as we can.
2005-04-06
screenshots from the gonzo show (including that new horrible gorillaz video) (http://ninnewsfr.mihalis.org/gonzo2005.php)
5 track With Teeth Sampler here: http://www.mute.1dox.net/nin/
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has this not leaked yet? I'm surprised
Why didn't the Fragile do so well?
I got into them about 2001 or so, so I sort of missed the release date... but the Fragile is one of my favorite albums by Reznor. He is a perfect case of a musician getting better with age. I haven't heard anything off of With Teeth yet, but I assume it's going to be badass...
Pretty Hate Machine was good, but with his albums and remixes, Reznor seemed to get more of a command over what he was aiming to get across as a message, musically.
Quote from: WalrusWhy didn't the Fragile do so well?
The album wasn't radio friendly.
And somehow the Downward Spiral was with "Closer" being it's hit?
also, it wasn't nearly as good as the Downward Spiral.
so it cost more, had more filler, and was a disapointment.
Closer was a huge hit and had a great video, then he did Fragile which pretty much had shit videos.
Quote from: RegularKaratealso, it wasn't nearly as good as the Downward Spiral.
Agreed.
Quotethen he did Fragile which pretty much had shit videos.
I guess that's true too, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it was a bad album. It wasn't too single worthy, but as a whole, it was pretty awesome, and I figure most NIN fans would want more than a single and more of a great album, but maybe I overestimated them.
well that was the trouble. all the NIN fans went out and bought The Fragile the first week and it debuted in the top 5 but then the following week it took a huge nosedive because radio wasnt supporting it so nobody else went to buy it.
i dont believe its leaked yet.
interesting in that interview, how the interviewer points out that when he spoke to trent when fragile came out he seemed to be in such a happy place. because i distinctly remember that from all the interviews i read from that period, the well-adjustedness, the short hair, so different. so to know he was about to hit his lowest, is weird.
It's been nearly six years since Trent Reznor released a Nine Inch Nails album, but with a new album out next month and a series of sold out gigs at the London Astoria behind him and a week of shows at Brixton Academy yet to come, it seems the whole world's dusted off their leather trousers and splashed on the spooky nail varnish, and folks you didn't realise knew the words to 'Closer' are suddenly Halo completists. Has the whole world suddenly gone Nine Inch Nails mad, or were they just all quietly biding their time before coming out of the woodwork? In the midst of a whirlwhind European press tour, a very calm Trent Reznor ushers PlayLouder's resident techie into his hotel room. There are no slavering groupies and only a small touch of black paint in the room, and it all seemed a bit too sedate and civilized frankly. That is, until he gets on to the subject of his record company's marketing department.
So Trent, the new album, 'With Teeth', sounds really guitar driven following the sequencers and computers taking prominence on the last album 'The Fragile'. Was that a conscious decision?
"Probably to some degree, yeah. The way I approached this record was totally different in terms of writing though that doesn't mean that it turned out radically different. Before I started writing the framework of it, I wanted it to be more performance oriented, less layered, and more stripped down. Not having a band in the studio means that sometimes I need some rules to push me in the right direction.
"I've been thinking a lot about this - it seems like since everyone has computers now, everyone can make perfect sounding records. Turn the radio on, and there's no shortage of that. I like using technology but I wanted to treat everything on this record more as a performance. We kept the synths and guitar riffs as a whole and I just played it like it's taped in one whole performance and kept it that way on the album."
So you recorded it live?
Yeah, a lot more like that. A lot of the stuff that sounds like guitars is actually synths. It's on an old patch synth keyboard - I'd set it to plug everything in, then start swapping bits and mixing. I would sometimes play a long, improvisational thing over parts of the track and while it's playing I'd change the sound and you can't ever get the original back once it's been altered. The idea wasn't just to make busywork for ourselves, it was more to make a record where the over all tone of the lyrics was one that was flawed, that wasn't perfect, wasn't glossy, and the working framework supported that idea. It became much more performance oriented. It's also the idea of having live drums, which changed the sound a lot - the idea of having someone actually playing something in the context of recording is interesting. It's inspiring."
With all the live performances, do you still write your own sequences or do you use ready made software like Pro Tools or Cubase on your studio computers?
"This time around I did everything on Pro Tools on the Macs. I got a guy to be a programmer so I can free up my brain for other things. Atticus Ross, who's my right-hand man on this whole record, helped a lot in this. The process this time was that I was working on demos myself, and then Atticus and I kinda fleshed them out in a real studio, maybe fined tuned some parts, but the thing that was interesting in this process was that there were demos at all. The last two records - The Downward Spiral and The Fragile - were written in a studio. It wasn't a conscious decision as much as thinking 'Well, I have a studio wherever I am and everything I need is right around me and if I'm going to work on demos I might as well be in the studio.' And pretty soon, songwriting and production and arranging all became the same thing. It eliminated having a demo because the demo was the real version.
"When it came around time to work on this album, I wanted to get back to having a demo, I wanted to focus only on the opposite side of things - all these songs started with lyrics and vocal line and basic chord changes. So I set up a room that only had a piano and a drum machine and a small computer to record into, and I would do about two songs every ten days. It didn't allow me enough time to go off on a tangent and do what I'd rather do, which was tinkering around with the sound. But when it came time later to flesh out the songs a bit and arrange them, I found that they didn't need a lot of extra shit - I started trying to layer things up and redo the vocals, and a lot of times the one I did really quickly was the best one. The demos had a spirit to them that an expensive mic and doing it 300 times just couldn't top."
It sounds like you're describing the sound on 'Still' [a bonus mini-album with limited copies of 'And All That Could've Been' that revisited old songs in a stripped-down style]. Do you think you'll ever go back and release these demos or redo some more old songs in that way?
"Well..."
So no rarities compilation then?
"No, there's not many rarities because everything's come out!"
Yeah, but only out as bonus tracks in Japan, it's not fair!
Haha.
There's a distinct lack of instrumentals on the new album, after 'The Fragile' was full of them. Was there any sort of reason for that?
"I started writing this album in January 2004, but prior to that I had the general flow, concept, title, and vague theme and I was going to make it more of a conceptual piece. But when I started writing the songs to fit into the concept, I discovered that they were coming out as strong songs in their own right and didn't really need to be part of this epic thing."
Is this when it was still called 'Bleedthrough'?
"That was when I was changing it from 'Bleedthrough' to what it became, yes. It seemed like I was really trying to force it into something kinda pretentious and stupid. And I thought maybe this was just a record that's 10 or 15 songs that are friends with each other. I'm not saying it's out of laziness, it's just an editorial call to make a song based record for a change. And there wasn't room for an instrumental in there that made sense. I had four more songs I had to cut that I really loved, but I didn't want a long album, I wanted something that was digestible."
Do you think you'll release those four songs online somewhere?
"My plan right now is that I'm actively writing again and I would hope that by the end of this tour, in a year's time, there's another record ready to go. It feels that good to me. So, we'll see what happens."
So we won't have to wait five years for the next album like we have in the past?
(laughs) I hope to god not!
You've previously said that CD packaging 'feels cheap' and it's not as useful as it once was with vinyl. I've always felt that you've done really innovative packaging, from the tri-fold digipack of 'Broken' to the screen printed fabric cover on the live album 'And All That Could've Been'. Does that mean we're not going to get any bonus for buying the cd version this time as opposed to downloading it legally?
"Well, I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and you may not like the answer I've come up with! Two months ago Interscope told me [puts on marketing drone voice] 'Come up with the most elaborate package in the world because everyone's doing deluxe editions - you can make a bound book, you can make it anything you want, go nuts!'
"I thought about it and I came up with a package that I felt was a nice, tasteful package. It had two discs in it - one was the surround mixes that I sat and did myself and the other disc was in high resolution stereo as a regular CD. But about two weeks ago as the deadline for production approached Interscope came back again and said [same marketing drone voice] 'Hey, listen - no more deluxe packages since nobody's buying them so we want different copies for each store. We need video content because that's what-' And I said, 'Look. First of all, in my heart, those deluxe packages are shit anyway, because they're not really deluxe, they're not really anything more.
I'd personally rather have the 5.1 mixes than fancy packaging any day...
"So would I! But when you're talking to a marketing guy at the record label who says [back comes the marketing voice] 'Kids want video! Kids want this and that-' You know what? Fuck what the kids want. Maybe Jay-Z never heard his 5.1 mix because he doesn't give a fuck, but I sat in the room and did the thing and it's great. And that does have merit. What I'm not going to do is shit out some half hour video montage of us fucking around in the studio because it needs 'video content'. If you look at those deluxe packages, you're just getting some demystifying piece of shit. It's junk, and it further marginalises the art of the music.
"The end result of all that is that we're going to have a PDF of the packaging that I intended that you can download. So, download it, steal it, do whatever the fuck you want with it. If you want the artwork, get it online. The bought packaging is very simple, but I've been in denial ever since CDs came out. CD packages suck. They can unfold 15 times, but they're still shitty little pamphlets. It's not a sleeve, there's no real estate, and there's no room for art. It's in a shitty, plastic, exploding jewel box. They're shit. So let's treat it for what it is - it's just a means of getting electronic information. To me that's bolder than trying to pretend that this is some fancy, great package. But we do have a trick up our sleeves but I can't tell you what it is yet. But you'll see that it makes sense..."
Do you think that someone who buys just the regular cd version of 'With Teeth' (as opposed to buying the 5.1 surround sound version) is missing out on what you intended the album to be?
"I like the idea of a new format and I've found that it lends itself to what I do. I think the [remastered 5.1] 'Downward Spiral' turned out great, but it's not for everybody and I also realise that because I like it, it doesn't mean that everybody's set up with a 5.1 system in their house, let alone set it up right, so that it sounds right. I think to those that have done it right it's a really cool thing. I like it but it's tough to get in that argument with the marketing guy - I'm not a 16-year-old kid who buys records. I don't know what they listen to, whether it's in in 5.1 or not, and I don't know if having shit video content is more important than a good quality 5.1 mix. I don't know if anybody cares, but I like it."
Does it bother you that people can buy the album in an even lesser quality than the regular CD version on places like iTunes?
"Yeah, it does bother me. But can I do anything about it? No. Do I think most people that are ferocious about stealing music care if the bitrate is a little bit lower? Probably not. But most people listen to music in their car or on their shitty iPod headphones. Do they care? Not really. It's depressing in that sense but it's a fight I'm not sure how to win right now."
It's good people are listening at all...
"It's better than not listening to it, definitely."
Nine Inch Nails: Not So Fragile Now
Victoria Durham of Rock Sound
"Think Trent Reznor's an untouchable enigma? Think again. rock sound candidly gets under the skin of a living legend to discuss love, death, personal demons and David Bowie. It turns out even idols have idols - get reading..."
When Trent Reznor presented 'The Fragile' to the world in '99, he felt certain of a new beginning. It was evident in the interviews he gave at the time, where he spoke about being able to look at himself in the mirror every morning without disgust, confident the self-loathing that had pervaded '94's 'The Downward Spiral' was on his way out. Over five years on, he reveals he couldn't have been more wrong. If the journey from 'The Downward Spiral' to 'The Fragile' involved battling external demons - the passing of the grandmother who raised him, or the recovery from destructive relationships with the likes of Marilyn Manson and Courtney Love - then the journey from 'The Fragile' to new album 'With Teeth' saw Reznor once again turn the focus in on himself.
"Since I got a record deal in '89 I've been chasing after whatever career goal, making a better record or touring forever, and I didn't really know who I was anymore," he explains, sitting in a brightly-lit Los Angeles photo studio, sipping black coffee."Me, the person, was just what happened when I wasn't on stage or sitting in the recording studio. My recollection of things is that I was pretty miserable, then I got a record deal and I thought that would fix everything. Fifteen years later, I was still miserable. Money and fame didn't help. Making good music felt better for a while, but it didn't fix everything. I felt like something was wrong with me, not the situation."
Consequently, Reznor decided he should get to know the "human being" he'd neglected since first signing a record contract. But not before he hit rock bottom one last time.
"With 'The Downward Spiral' and then the Manson 'Antichrist...' record, it was pretty apparent something wasn't right," he laughs softly. "That's when I acknowledged that my life was spinning out of control. But I thought I knew everything, so I said, 'I'm just not going to do this or that,' and that was the climate for 'The Fragile' being recorded. I thought when I was writing 'The Fragile' that I was dealing with stuff, but I really wasn't doing it the right way. Then I went into a touring enviroment in a terrible state and did a terrible tour in terms of my mindset," he sighs. As the Fragility Tour ended, Reznor once again found himself battling self-hatred, his perception furthered by drugs and alcohol. "I really just hated myself," he remembers,"I got to a point where whatever shred of liking I had for myself was lost. I was on a fast path to death. There was no other way around that. It was time to make a decision, 'Which way do you want to go?' He concludes: "I can't really tell the story of this record, why it took so long and where my head's at, without pretty much saying that I'm a terrible addict and alcoholic, who had to finally almost die to get his shit together."
When he did finally make the decision to save himself, it was in tragic circumstances. Reznor's best friend from New Orleans, a man he says he would have trusted with his life, was shot dead. Somehow it gave Reznor the jolt he needed to get himself in order.
"He was a black guy who was a product of the projects in New Orleans, and the projects there are the worst I've ever seen," he recalls."His sister died of AIDS, and he didn't know who his dad was, the typical story. This guy was hired at the studio and somehow over the years we became friends. I think it was a project of mine to save him somehow. Then his mother called me one day, worried he hadn't come home. I just happened to be in the studio and the news was on. My friend and his cousin had been shot in the face, found dead in the projects. Somehow that just cut through. I felt like I should have been the one who was killed. Shortly after, I had time to figure out the mess, and I think at first it was just for him. It didn't matter to me. I culd kill myself and it really didn't matter at that point.
Then, as Trent puts it, things turned around. Yet it was the struggle to get to that point, to find the courage to deal with his addictions, that caused him to be absent from our lives for so long.
"I think the secret is just knowing that you've had enough and it took a lot of thinking before I really really really got to the point where I never ever wanted to be that guy again."
It also took a humiliating spell in rehab to separate Trent the person from Trent the personality.
"I did the full deal," he details,"I did a week in the psych ward, detox, it was full on. It wasn't glamorous this time. I can kind of laugh about it now. But the door that closes and doesn't open back up, and you realise there are no handles on it - it's hard to feel glamourous in that situation when you're vomiting on yourself. I was taught humility." He breaks into a smile, anticipating the inevitable question. "There was no master plan in taking this long between records. This was really about survival."
Now completely clean of drugs and alcohol, you can't help but share his conviction that he's got himself on a more stable path once and for all.
"I don't feel like I'm wrapped in blankets and more," he stresses,"I've felt like I had cotton in my head, and what do you do when you feel like 'Fuck, I can't think?' You might as well get more fucked up. I operated from that method for a great while, and it didn't work. I feel more equipped for geting my vision out now"
But what about the man behind that vision - not the internal struggles that have for so long been the focus of his music and media coverage - but as Trent stressed, the person? Today,on a sunny Monday morning,LA seems the least likely place to meet Trent Reznor. It's whole culture is at odds with what he represents. Indeed, Reznor is the living, breathing antithesis of a town that prozes fame and fortune over artistic integrity, and where the pursuit of perfection overrides honesty and openness every time. The airbrushed models that compete for your attention from the numerous billboardsare a million miles removed from Reznor's visible awkwardness when places in front of a camera. However, after 10 years of hiding himself away in New Orleans, where he was able to create his own reality in the house and studios he'd always wanted, Reznor has relocated to LA. He truly believes he can find a place for himself and his soul-baring art in the Land of the Fake. Not least because, after an acromonious parting of ways with his manager and close friend of 15 years, it was time to move on.
"The whole process was weird, leaving behind the studios," he says. "That was the greatest place in the world to me, except it's tough not to walk through there and think 'Okay, this is where we did the Manson record. This is where we did 'The Fragile'. A big chunk of my life has happened in that building. But that chapter's over."
While it's true that you'd be lucky to find a more open, accommodating and witty interviewee than Trent Reznor (his personal life proves the exception to this), it's unsurprising that someone who's made his life's work about analysing his personal demons should be able to discuss them so eloquently; inner turmoil is just one of the cliches that surrounds Nine Inch Nails, cliches that Reznor is very much aware of. Ask him when he last had time off, for example, and he responds with a suitable helping of mock horrir. Nonetheless, cliches exist for a reason, and the quest to find out more about Trent Reznor, the person, sometimes means starting with the obvious. And so we come to preconception number one, Trent Reznor as the recluse who spends all his time locked away in the studio.
"That part's pretty true," Trent smiles. "The routine over the past few months has really been that I get up at the crack of dawn and spend some time exercising, then I'm writing and making phone calls and afternoons and evenings are usually rehearsals."
So what nomral things do you like to do when you're not working?
"I hang out with my dog, I like mountain biking, I like being outside and I appreciate being around nature and having time to think. I normally try to get away in the winter to go skiing somewhere - somewhere I can just disappear. I'd never skied until a few years ago and I'm shitty at it, but I like snow."
Are you the solitary person people perceive you to be?
"For a long while I couldn't be by myself. I couldn't stand it. I was always around people, a band, studio people or whatever. Now I've learnt to really enjoy having my own time. I used to feel like I had a swarm of bees in my head. If I had the chance, I didn't want to sit down and realise I couldn't focus on anything."
One of the reasons Nine Inch Nails' music is so powerful is it's ability to tap into those same emotions in the listener as Reznor experiences in his songs. Few artists can claim to have had such a profound effect on their listeners as Reznor has with songs like 'Hurt', music that resonates so strongly with basic human emotion and reaches a place so deeply hidden that it's won him a following of cult-like intensity. As he explains, creating that intimate relationship with his fans was always part of the plan.
"I know as a music fan myself, when I hear a song and it seems like, 'That person knows exactly how I'm fucking feeling right now', it makes me feel better. It feels really nice as an artist to think that you can take something that's very intimate to you, very truthful and honest, and then some stranger hears it and it somehow connects to something in their life. I'm sounding corny, but that was my goal. If I could just make music that did the same thing that happened to me, that felt so powerful that when you're 15 you listen to it and think 'I'm not the only person that feels this way' that's a pretty cool thing.
Do you get emotional when making your own music?
"I've become desensitised to my own stuff because I've heard it about 400 times in the last month. But usually it comes in the form of goosebumps. I've got that listening back to 'The Fragile' recently. That's my equivalent of crying."
How aware are you of the effect your music has had on people's lives?
"I've had my fair share of experiences first hand of people that have come to me, written a letter or whatever. That makes it seem pretty sincere, that the music I sent out clicked on some level and helped them through bad times or was something they could relate to in a period of, I would say happiness, but usually it's distress of some kind," he laughs, acknowledging yet another cliche.
Somewhat ironically, another reason Nine Inch Nails remains such a prominent name both in and beyond alternative music is that new material is excruciatingly rare. In a 15 year career, aside from remixes and live releases, Trent Reznor has made just four albums proper - roughly one every five years. That means each release is anticipated and then treasured to the highest degree. And while Reznor insists the delay is never deliberate, thre's no escaping the fact that he feels none of the same pressures to deliver as your average commercial artist, and isn't scared to keep us guessing. So is it Trent himself that constructs the mystery that surrounds him, or is the enigma of Nine Inch Nails something other than people have created?
"Part of it is that I'd rather have you fill in the blanks than have everything pointed out and dictated to you," he explains. "Part of it is privacy. Part of it is that I'm insecure. My face isn't on the album covers ever and won't be because I don't want to be on there with a bad haircut that'll look dumb in a couple of years. So I'm not actively trying to calculate an image that isn't true, but I'm also not out to let you behind the curtain too much. I try to think back to the ancient days before music videos. The good thing about it was as a listener you filled in a lot of those blanks. It's about using the music so you want to find out more but you can't."
Do you think people would be surprised in some cases to discover your just a normal guy?
"Who said that?" He laughs. "For a long time (before this record) I became invisible again. It was pleasant at first. It's nice to be able to pick your nose when you're out and scratch your ass and nobody's interested. It's something you need to do!"
You must admit you're on a pedestay to a lot of people?
"I think I know who I am better than I ever did and I understand the role of media perception," he allows. "There are people I've always respected and they're larger than life to me. Hanging out with David Bowie, it's like 'Jesus Christ, I can't believe I'm with him.' He takes a shit like everyone else, but I don't need to know that. I like to think he doesn't," he smiles. "But that's okay, and I think there's room for that in music. People need something to latch on to; I wouldn't say heroes but icons of some sort. I do it myself."
Part of Reznor's reluctance to become caught-up in the cult of celebrity is, of course, a direct result of his being an artist in the true sense of the word. His work ethic has always been awe inspiring, if not a little unhealthy. Where does an attitude like that stem from?
"It began as a very calculated experiment. I was smart in school, but I don't think I ever studied for tests. It left me feeling that I'd never really seen what I was capable of doing," he considers. "I wanted to see what would happen if I stopped all the bullshit in my life and put my mind to it. What happened was the first album ('Pretty Hate Machine'). These songs were coming out, and I thought, 'I want to make the best record anyone's ever heard of in the whole world and I'm going to put every ounce of energy I have into this.' That's how it got started. Then, obviously everyone I come across isn't going to put as much effort into my thing as I am, so I thought 'I'll do it myself' and that's how the pressure got established. I think people get that perception though..." he trails. "I worked with a different engineer on this record briefly. We sat down and it was this real meticulous process, like all day to get a sound. I was like 'What in the fuck are you doing?' He's going, 'Well, I know it takes you forever to do your record, I thought this was how you worked.' I'm like 'Just plug the fucking thing in! We do a whole song in a day!' It might take me a while to get my life in order enough to go into the studio, but when I do, it's much more accidental than that!"
Here we arrive at the final cliche - Reznor the emotional train wrect, the man whose struggle to maintain a healthy relationship was a driving force behind 'Pretty Hate Machine' and, on the new album, could be suggested in songs like 'Only'.
"I had neglected it (my love life), but I've been paying more attention to it," he says coyly. "It feels like I'm more equipped to function in that situation, and minus being fucked up all the time I can actually be honest with myself and another human being. What it had really been was an extension of that 23 year old kid who said 'I want to stop everything in my life to do this'. I didn't want a girlfriend or marriage or a kid to get in the way of that opportunity. What that leads to eventually is one day saying 'Okay, I've sold this many records and played this big place...I'm lonely.' Then 'Wow, I'm older than everyone else. How did that happen?' Plus with drugs involved, time just flies off the calender. So now I'm going to be an old dad instead of a young dad."
Can you see yourself as a husband and father?
"I can see that some day, yeah," he ponders. "The day better come pretty soon though, because I'm getting older."
Do you worry about growing old alone?
"I'm 39 right now, and I'm wondering whether I should have started lying about my age because quite honestly, in that last couple of years, I've asked myself, 'How the fuck did that happen?' Friends I grew up with I don't recognise - they're old people. The career having been top priority for so long, plus being an addict, your maturity stops at some point and that takes over. So I feel like I jumped from 28 to 36. But there's nothing you can do about it," he shrugs.
These days somewhat mellowed instead of somewhat damaged, the Trent Reznor of '05 is clearly a different man to the one you would have encountered a decade ago. ("I probably would have had some air about me," he admits). Can we assume then, that Trent Reznor is - dare we say it - happy?
"I'm not saying I wake up and rose petals fly in my window," he contenses. "I'm just saying I'm much more equipped to deal with life than I have ever been. I feel like I've got a second lease of life right now, and if this record takes a shit and nobody likes it, it's not the end of the world. I like it and you're just fucking stupid!" he laughs, leaving rock sound a little bemused. "Well, I say that now," he reconsiders, "but ask me in a couple of months when the record takes a shit and they find my swinging corpse in the fucking closet."
That's more like it.
----
WITH TEETH: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE
Written: January '04 to summer '04
Recorded: Autumn '04
Where: Nothing Studios, New Orleans and Sound City Studios, Los Angeles.
Produced by: Trent Reznor and Alan Moulder
Who's on it? Trent Reznor with help from Dave Grohl and Jerome Dillon on drums.
Who's playing it live? Alessandro Cortini (keyboards), Jerome Dillon (drums), Aaron North (ex-Icarus Line, guitar), Jeordie White (ex-Marilyn Manson/APC, bass)
Says Reznor: "I've always thought I could think my way out of situations, bend the rules. The big thing I've learned (this time) is that I really don't know anything. That popped up in the lyrics of the album."
Release date: May '05
'ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD'
An unexpected beginning. Mournful piano and drum 'n' bass style beats build into a screaming cyclone of noise.
'YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE'
Kick-starts the action good and proper. An obvious successor to songs like 'Starfuckers, Inc." and "Mr. Self Destruct".
'THE COLLECTOR'
An understated number where Reznor's vocals take center stage. Has the feel of 'Pretty Hate Machine' era NIN being reworked for '05.
'THE HAND THAT FEEDS'
The first single and a phenonomenal comeback statement. Think 'Head like a Hole' with a brand, spanking new relevance.
'LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH'
A dark and difficult track that wouldn't be out of place on 'The Downward Spiral'. Shows Reznor is still allowing the listener room to grown into his work.
'EVERY DAY IS EXACTLY THE SAME'
Epic but powerful. Recalls Reznor's talent for creating subtly lethal beauty in his music while still punching out a hypnotic rhythm.
'WITH TEETH'
Appears to update the lyrics of 'Sanctified'. A swirling tortured backdrop gives way to tranquil piano before exploding into a wall of sound. Unpredictable.
'ONLY'
A future hit, make no mistake. Funky 80's electro-pop leads into spoken word vocals reminiscent of 'Down in It'.
'GETTING SMALLER'
A straight-up rock song that makes an unashamed shot at accessibility. Killer stuff.
'SUNSPOTS'
Another demanding one. Music is stripped down to drums and piano as Reznor wrangles with that ever-troublesome female presence.
'THE LINE BEGINS TO BLUR'
And so begins the descent. Reznor fazes in and out like a paranoid schizophrenic: "Is there somebody on top of me? I don't know, I don't know."
'BESIDE YOU IN TIME'
A modest pop song that never quite reaches an obvious peak. Oddly reminiscent of the Foo Fighters' "Walking After You".
'RIGHT WHERE IT BELONGS'
Reznor saves the best until last. If you thought "Hurt' could never be matched, this song says otherwise.
---
THE HIGHLIGHTS SO FAR...
Release: "Pretty Hate Machine"
Date: '89
What is it? The album that started it all, as Reznor began what he calls his "quest for the impossible".
Says Reznor: "It wasn't until then that I had the courage to sit down and start working on my own stuff." Aged 23, this marked him out as a musical genius in the making.
Must Hear Tracks: "Head like a Hole", "Sin"
Release: "Broken"
Date: '92
What is it? The eight-song EP that introduced "Wish" and "Suck". It's songs were then remixed on a second EP "Fixed". Confusing stuff.
Release: "The Downward Spiral"
Date: '94
What is it? Reznor's second album explores self-loathing and emotional dysfunction. As he was hailed the most vital artist in modern music, this showed that behind the scenes the story was far less optimistic.
Must Hear Tracks: "Hurt" "Closer" "Mr. Self Destruct" "March of the Pigs"
Release: "Further Down the Spiral"
Date: '95
What is it? Reznor indulges his passion for remixes with reworked songs from the album he's released a year earlier.
Release: "Closure"
Date: '97
What is it? A double video release combining live footage from the Self Destruct tour ('94-'98) and promotional videos. Includes the "Happiness in Slavery" clip, which was banned, due to graphic content.
Release: "The Fragile"
Date: '99
What is it? Reznor's epic double vision - a double CD album that echanged outright rage for longer, introspective creations. Song lengths were stretched and lyrics were often left out altogether. For many, this is his greatest accomplishment.
Must Hear Tracks: "We're In This Together"
Release: "Things Falling Apart"
Date: '00
What is it? The trend continues as, once again, Reznor remixes songs from the album he released the previous year, including three versions of "Starfuckers, Inc."
Release: "And All That Could Have Been"
Date: '02
What is it? A live album and DVD. Both captured performances recorded on the tour surrounding "The Fragile". Accompanied by the "Still" EP, a collection of brilliant stripped-down versions.
Release: "Hurt"
Date: Appears on '02's "American IV: The Man Comes Around"
What is it? Shortly before his death, music legend Johnny Cash covered this NIN classic.
Says Reznor: "When I saw the video, I cried. It was a little reaffirment that music is magic."
Release: "The Downward Spiral (Deluxe Edition)"
Date: February '05
What is it? A remastered, remixed version of the '94 album in 5.1 surround sound, to celebrate it's 10th anniversary. Original songs reach a new potential. A bonus disc contains previously unreleased tracks and demos.
2005-04-13
Quote from: RegularKaratehas this not leaked yet? I'm surprised
leak here: http://regnyouth.blogspot.com/
Quote from: mogwaiNine Inch Nails: Not So Fragile Now
AWESOME article, mogwai... thank you.
I'm not sure what a happy Trent Reznor will have to offer to the world, but it'd be selfish to hope he didn't find it. I wish him luck, and look forward to the new one.
Was I the only one who seriously loved
The Fragile? I don't know all the personal shit that it meant to him, but I really loved that album. All you ever read about it is how it sank like a brick, sales-wise.
2LB
I will join you, TwoLaneBlacktop!
Thanks for the link...
so far, it's pretty bland, but I will need a few more listens before I can make a final decision.
I set myself up to be dispointed and so far, I'm not as disapointed as I was afraid I was going to be.
EDIT: I just finished listening to the whole thing...
:(
Quote from: RegularKarateEDIT: I just finished listening to the whole thing...
:(
it's no curb.
Okay...
Three listens (I'm on the third here) and it's better to me than the first time through. I think the first time through was just disapointment. It doesn't flow like the other albums and it's not as thematic. It's just a bunch of songs on a record.
Now I've kind of picked up on what he's doing here and I'm accepting it for what it is. With that in mind. Here is the track-breakdown after three listens (sure to change).
ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD
Great opening song. Different. The only real problem with this is that it gets you ready for an album that doesn't exist instead of the album you actually get afterward.
YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE
Classic NIN. Good listen. Aggressive... kind of ministryish (ministry has a song with the same title, too), but not a ripoff. The whole album could have been like this and it would have really worked well. This albums sound works with this kind of song. Brilliant use of the vocal cutout effect that a lot of bands don't know how to properly steal from NIN.
THE COLLECTOR
The opening of this sounds like it's just fucking around... like it doesn't know what it's doing at all. The keyboarduitars kick in and it comes together a little better, but it doesn't ever reach a point where the song grabs me at all. Overall, pretty boring.
THE HAND THAT FEEDS
We've all heard this one. I didn't like it originally, but it grew on me. The synth bridge is fantastic (though my friend pointed out that it kind of sounds like he just took the synth bridge from Dracula's Wedding and slowed it down).
LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH
Now this one just sounds like Filth Pig era Ministry, but it doesn't even sound that good.
EVERY DAY IS EXACTLY THE SAME
This one starts out as pop-love-song done with that pattented heavy/morbid synth sound. At first, I was having trouble deciding if this was funny or good or bad, but the song turns into something else about halfway through and it's very listenable, though it has the same weakness that a lot of songs on Fragile have... a repetative build up that doesn't really go anywhere.
WITH TEETH
"With-ah Teeth-ah" - The first three minutes of this is just boring sequences then it pulls back and turns into what could turn out to be something really good, but just pops back into the same crap.
ONLY
The first time I listened to this, I thought "my god, this is the most lazy NIN song I've heard in my entire life"... it almost made me sick. Now I'm starting to actually warming up to it. I really like the acoustic guitar turned synth bit... sounds really cool.
GETTING SMALLER
This is one of the three songs that leaked first. I didn't like it at first, but now that I've listened to the album, it really fits. This song works on this album.
SUNSPOTS
I'm not going to dismiss this one right away, but my initial feeling on this one is it's the weakest song on the album. My only problem with saying that is that this one's really reaching to be something different so maybe I need to listen to it more often.
THE LINE BEGINS TO BLUR
This one pretty much sounds like it could have been on Fragile. Nothing especially new or impressive, but certainly not unlistenable.
BESIDE YOU IN TIME
I really like this song. This is the sound I really wanted to hear on this album... he really explores and fucks with sound on this one... good track and actually leads you into the next song...
RIGHT WHERE IT BELONGS
...which is excellent. It's music is simple, but it mirrors the emotion of the vocals perfectly, it fades in and out beautifully. It's like he's sadly playing noise (the way a NIN song should be).
I can't believe how much my hope for this record has been hinging on your posts, RK (even though you think DS is better than Fragile)
I hope that I don't fugg up your impression of this record too much.
Overall, there are some great songs, but it flows like boulders through a garden hose.
And Downward is SO much better than Frag.
so RK, how do you rank the new one compared to The Fragile?
With only three listenings I really can't solidly rank it, but as it stands right now, it's definitely not as good as Fragile.
I think my current ranking might go like this:
Downward Spiral
Broken/Fixed
Fragile
With Teeth
Pretty Hate Machine
Keep in mind, the only thing truly constant on my NIN album rankings is Downward Spiral being the best.
click on the image to get to the link
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nin.com%2Fcurrent%2F4-15.gif&hash=e650fd349dc6a489cd850b168c61627187149b83) (http://boss.streamos.com/download/interscope/nin/with_teeth/nin_garageband.sit)
those who have a mac and the other stuff, please download it and tell me what it is. thanks.
http://www.tuaw.com/2005/04/15/trent-reznor-rules/
WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOWOW I NEED A MAC
you know who you are :yabbse-wink:
Quote from: Two Lane Blacktop
Was I the only one who seriously loved The Fragile?
i love the album also. i was so fucking excitied when it came out-snatched it up day one. i still think its the best thing they have done. i like all of the songs with the exception being starfuckers . RK has a problem about not knowing which is the superior album [i.e. lateralus>aenima!!!] :yabbse-wink:
Quote from: NEON MERCURYQuote from: Two Lane Blacktop
Was I the only one who seriously loved The Fragile?
i love the album also. i was so fucking excitied when it came out-snatched it up day one. i still think its the best thing they have done.
:yabbse-thumbup:
A friend of mine turned up with a song called Home that I thought was going to be on With Teeth. Does anyone know if it's a planned B-side?
I think he mentioned that he wasn't gonna do a lot of B-sides... he wants to do another album a lot sooner this time so he's saving a lot of the songs he didn't put on this for that one.
This album is totally growing on me, btw. Still not great compared to the others, but minus a few songs, I'm really into it.
--and Neon, the fact that the only song you don't like off Fragile is one of the better songs on the record shows why you're so confused about which album is better than the other.
Quote from: hacksparrowA friend of mine turned up with a song called Home that I thought was going to be on With Teeth. Does anyone know if it's a planned B-side?
From what I've found, I think it's a bonus track on the dual disc edition (if not the regular edition also), along with two other tracks.
And I'm with RK on Downward being the best album.
The With Teeth link doesn't work anymore.
Anyone else know where to get it?
Also, I think DS was the best, but Fragile would be second on my list.
it's still there. scroll way down.
With Teeth definitely lacks the flow that Reznor usually establishes in his albums, but that isn't to say that track by track it's a bad album... it just isn't that cohesive.
It's a good collection of songs, but doesn't really fit like a masterpiece like the Fragile.
Quote from: nin hotline newsAcclaimed director David Fincher will be making a foray back into music videos for Nine Inch Nails. "Only" was shot on April 19 and will be in post through late June. Look for this video to incorporate some intensive CG effects.
I'm a little behind here, I guess, but I just heard The Hand That Feeds for the first time and I really dug it.
I'll also mention that The Fragile is really the only NIN album I listen to with any regularity. The Downward Spiral is brilliant, but very harsh - I can only really listen to it when I'm angry or upset, which was far more frequent when I was 15 or 16 or 17. These days, I'm more prone to want to hear sad/confused/bittersweet/angry music, and The Fragile really fits the bill. I've always loved it, and always will, even if it isn't quite as great as The Downward Spiral.
Quote from: mogwaiQuote from: nin hotline newsAcclaimed director David Fincher will be making a foray back into music videos for Nine Inch Nails. "Only" was shot on April 19 and will be in post through late June. Look for this video to incorporate some intensive CG effects.
Oh sure. We take away his forum, and now he starts being more productive than all three we replaced him with.
Trent Reznor rediscovers pure aggression
Nine Inch Nails/With Teeth/3.5 Stars out of 5
Publication: Rolling Stone
Trent Reznor was ahead of his time. Like nobody else in the 1980s, he heard the smoldering teen rage inside the blip and bleep of early synth pop: Under all the Atari beats and shiny-shiny haircuts, there was an ordinary loser kid's heart burning for vengeance against the world, and Reznor amped that sound into the full blown sociopath New Wave splendor of Pretty Hate Machine, Broken, and The Downward Spiral. No rock star had ever shown such a subtle appreciation for the dark side of Adam and the Ants, and no rock star had ever worn black leotards out of such deep inner conviction. On With Teeth, he makes his long-awaited comeback, with Dave Grohl on drums to help bang the Nine Inch Nails formula into nasty shape.
Once prolific, Reznor now labors over each album as if it were a five-year plan, finessing the sonic kinks of four years, eleven months, thirty days, and twenty two hours. Plus a couple of hours for lyrics, which he apparently composes by skimming the poems his fans leave on message boards. ("Oooh, 'Sometimes I forget I'm alive?' I can use that one!") On With Teeth, he abandons the quiet piano diddles of The Fragile for pure aggro. The first half is basically Reznor saying, "You want a hit single? I'll give you a hit single," with simplistic, radio-ready sludge ala "The Hand That Feeds". But the second half has Nine Inch Nails' richest, heaviest music since Downward Spiral, with the "Billie Jean" drums of "Only," the monolithic synth crunch of "Beside You in Time," the Pixies-meet-Pere Ubu clang of "Getting Smaller." It all builds to the one big "Hurt"-style piano ballad on the album, "Right Where It Belongs," so mournful that Johnny Cash must be singing it in heaven. It's vintage Nine Inch Nails: New Wave with a heart of darkness.
http://www.myspace.com/ninofficial¨
Oh yes, they have a site on myspace.
Quote from: mogwaiTrent Reznor rediscovers pure aggression
Quote from: Sigur Róshttp://www.myspace.com/ninofficial¨
Oh yes, they have a site on myspace.
Quote from: NIN"don't spam our comments with advertisements for your shitty fucking band."
Classic. :bravo:
2LB
Am I the only person who thinks this album (as a whole) is very reminiscent of the last half of the Downward Spiral?
Quote from: NEON MERCURYQuote from: Two Lane Blacktop
Was I the only one who seriously loved The Fragile?
i love the album also. i was so fucking excitied when it came out-snatched it up day one. i still think its the best thing they have done. i like all of the songs with the exception being starfuckers . RK has a problem about not knowing which is the superior album [i.e. lateralus>aenima!!!] :yabbse-wink:
Starfuckers is a great song. You're on crack.
PS Lateralus is far superior to Aenima.
i agree with neon and ghostboy. i'm not a huge NIN fan, as i figure there are two types of teenagers: depressed and angry. (sometimes a combination, but usually one more than the other). i was always in the depressed so i never really had a need for NIN around the Downward Spiral era. however, when i went to college and The Fragile came out i gave it a shot and really liked it. starfuckers being the exception, the lyrics are sort of dumb. (asskisser?) anyways....
(i've probably written this before in this thread)
i was seventeen when downward came out. i was still into grunge but this really changed my view on music. that album is very challenging with it's sick distorted guitars. it sounds like trent poured acid on his instruments. the fragile is something else, a big mess. the cocaine album. that's why it's so long. starfuckers is great lyrically except the asskisser part.
Reznor ain't no Dylan and never has been. His whole career, he's never really been able to progress past the point of "angry high school freshman" lyrically.
Quote from: Trent Reznor"You make this all go away. I'm down to just one thing and I'm starting to scare myself. I just want something I can never have..."
"You can have it all, my empire of dirt, I will let you down, I will make you hurt..."
"I wanna do everything, I wanna be everywhere, I wanna fuck everyone in the world, I wanna do something that matters..."
"You and me, we're in this together now, none of them can stop us now, we will make it through somehow..."
"There is no you, there is only me..."
None of these are particularly great lyrics.
The Rolling Stone review nails it.
Quote from: Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazineOnce prolific, Reznor now labors over each album as if it were a five-year plan, finessing the sonic kinks for four years, eleven months, thirty days and twenty-two hours. Plus a couple of hours for lyrics, which he apparently composes by skimming the poems his fans leave on message boards. ("Oooh, 'Sometimes I forget I'm alive'? I can use that one!")
His brilliance is in fitting those lyrics with music that better expresses his emotion than the occasionally stale poetry does. The music elevates the lyrics. That's why I like The Fragile so much; it may not be groundbreaking musically but it's the most ambitious work he's done.
But that "asskisser" line has always made me wince. :doh:
why do you compare reznor with a old and overrated piece of shit?
the two first lyrics you posted are brilliant and simplistic. if i heard a fiona apple song about love i'd kill myself.
Quote from: mogwaiwhy do you compare reznor with a old and overrated piece of shit?
Only because he's so widely regarded as the best lyricist ever. I'm not a Dylan fan either (wouldn't call him a piece of shit but old? yeah. overrated? a lot of the time, yeah... but that's another thread) but since a lot of people think he's the best lyricist of the last 50 years, I was merely comparing Reznor's lyrical prowess to Dylan's reputation. If I had said, for example, "Reznor ain't no Bowie," (which he's not), it would have been a little more difficult to get at what I was saying. Since Bowie's not instantly synonymous with legendary lyricists (though I think he's underrated as such... but that's another thread).
Quote from: mogwaithe two first lyrics you posted are brilliant and simplistic.
Simplistic, yes. But again, I think the brilliance of the lyrics comes from the music behind them. If you heard a poem with some of Trent's lyrics read at a poetry slam or something, you'd make faces. But the music fits the lyrics so well that the lyrics sound better in the song than they really are. It's just how he works and it works for me.
I'm not even really asking for him to be a better lyricist. I love NIN and I wouldn't change a thing. That's what I was getting at, a lot of complaints pop up about the lyrics on The Fragile in general but I think they're not much different from anything he did on any of his other albums so, outside of your "cocaine album" description, which I understand (because that's what I like about it), I can't really understand any other gripes with The Fragile in reference to Downward Spiral in particular. But I'm not here to add fuel to the Fragile/Spiral argument. They're both great albums as far as I'm concerned.
And Trent's far from being the worst lyricist ever (Lenny Kravitz holds that position... but that's another thread) but he's far from being the best.
Quote from: mogwaiif i heard a fiona apple song about love i'd kill myself.
Huh? :saywhat:
Quote from: Trent ReznorI wanna do everything, I wanna be everywhere, I wanna fuck everyone in the world, I wanna do something
THAT MATTERS!!!!!!!!!!
fixed
Exactly, Sleuth.
and that's why Reznor's so great and that's also why Spiral is better.
It's not necessarily the words (though he has some great lines, he's no David Bowie), it's the delivery.
If you have to boil it down to something simple, then Spiral is better than Fragile if only because the theme throughout Spiral is a simple, depressing yet catchy bit that actually SOUNDS like a downward spiral.
The theme throughout Fragile is a silly disco beat that doesn't sound very fragile to me.
The main reason is still:
Spiral = Solid
Fragile = Inconsistant
I think they're both inconsistent, alsoly there's like 50,000 motifs in the Fragile, not just that one (you mean that bassline?)
Fragile is WAY more inconsistant. That album could have been one disc, easily.
I'm talking about the most prevalent one... yes, the bassline/stringpart.
my other big reason (which I'm sure I've listed a million times before) is because Spiral is more organic and Fragile sounds more digitally produced.
Once again... I like them both.
Quote from: RegularKarateIt's not necessarily the words (though he has some great lines, he's no David Bowie), it's the delivery.
That's part of my point about the music elevating the lyrics. The delivery is part of that.
Quote from: RegularKarateIf you have to boil it down to something simple, then Spiral is better than Fragile if only because the theme throughout Spiral is a simple, depressing yet catchy bit that actually SOUNDS like a downward spiral.
The theme throughout Fragile is a silly disco beat that doesn't sound very fragile to me.
The main reason is still:
Spiral = Solid
Fragile = Inconsistant
That's mostly true (there's really only a silly disco beat on just a couple of songs, not the whole thing). Spiral is a more solid album all the way through BUT I don't always equate that with better. I like my hoes a little rough around the edges, yaknowwhatimsayin? Makes a man feel like he's been someplace.
Quote from: RegularKarateOnce again... I like them both.
Once again... me too.
a couple of videos from the 28th of april show in san francisco (http://computer-animator.com/NineInchNails) (windows media)
Reznor puts tune in fans' hands
Trent REZNOR works in mysterious ways. He may be the brooding architect behind the epic, intricate soundscapes of Nine Inch Nails, but now he's allowing outsiders an unusual view into NIN's hit "The Hand That Feeds," with a free download of the new single's multiple tracks, allowing fans to remix, rearrange and reinterpret the song at will.
The download is available from the band's website (www.nin.com/current), delivering the song's 17 separate elements — from skittish guitars and electronics to Reznor's breathless backing vocals — into the hands of anyone with a Macintosh computer loaded with the GarageBand program.
The original version of the song is already a modern-rock radio hit and is the first sign of NIN's first album in more than five years, the song-centric "With Teeth," set for release on Tuesday.
Artists have occasionally made songs available for mash-ups and fan experiments, but rarely separated into their aural component parts. The NIN download could be a significant step for online music and communication between major artists and fans, and the results are already gathering on the Net, with more than 200 fan remixes and mash-ups available this week on www.thtffanremixes.cjb.net.
Anxious fans and amateur sound scientists have uploaded a wide variety of revisions to the site, with self-explanatory titles like "Deep House Mix," "The Banjo That Feeds" and "The Hand That Funks."
And at least one "unofficial Apple weblog" (tuaw.com) is filled with fan excitement, with such postings as: "So very, very, hot. You gotta respect TR's pure intellectual curiosity" and "A fan base is stronger when they feel a sense of connection with their idols."
That kind of reaction, Reznor says, is exactly what he hoped for: unexpected interpretations from unexpected corners.
"It's fun to play with and has yielded some amazing results," Reznor explained in an e-mail exchange with The Times. "People seemed surprised that I'd give the multi-track away. Why not?"
The idea of sharing the multiple tracks of a song with fans has interested Reznor since NIN's previous album, 1999's "The Fragile." But the technology available then was neither fan-friendly nor affordable.
Today, Apple's GarageBand program, which works much like the more sophisticated ProTools used by major recording artists, already comes loaded onto most new Macintoch computers.
"I was sitting in hotel rooms waiting to do press and started messing around with GarageBand on my PowerBook," Reznor said. "I hadn't really done anything with that software before and it suddenly dawned on me how powerful it was — and — [that] everybody with a Mac- intosh already has it sitting on their computer.
"GarageBand seemed to be a way I could give the entire multi-track master out in an easy-to-mess-around-with format again aimed at the average fan.
"I did some experimenting and within a couple of days in my spare time had the song ready to go. I thought it was really fun to play with and then had to come up with a way to convince the powers that be that it was a good idea."
That's just the beginning: Reznor plans to release the band's next single, "Only," the same way.
Reznor seems unconcerned so far with the larger implications for intellectual property, beyond a note attached to the download declaring that nothing from the tracks can be resold.
"This wasn't done to create some new industry or business model to make money," Reznor insists. "It just seemed like a cool thing to do."
Quote from: MacGuffinQuote from: hacksparrowA friend of mine turned up with a song called Home that I thought was going to be on With Teeth. Does anyone know if it's a planned B-side?
From what I've found, I think it's a bonus track on the dual disc edition (if not the regular edition also), along with two other tracks.
My mistake. It is a bonus track, but on the UK Import.
I'm enjoying it so far, after 1.5 spins. The first track is wonderful. If only I were still seventeen, this would all mean so much to me.
ADDITION: I like the last track, too. The pianos are nice.
Everything in between sort of blurs together, but there are moments of fine precision that make my ears perk up as I work at my desk.
It's all his old tricks, made dancier. I like how some songs start out sounding like they'll be mediocre but then they progress into something AT LEAST redeemable, often special! It's weird, I think this is the first NIN album I like all the way through (does that make it my favourite?). Beside You In Time is the song I've been waiting to hear since I was tall enough to reach the volume wheel :yabbse-thumbup:.
I'm having trouble downloading the lyrics/artwork/credits. Anyone else having that problem?
Quote from: RegularKarateThree listens (I'm on the third here) and it's better to me than the first time through. I think the first time through was just disapointment. It doesn't flow like the other albums and it's not as thematic. It's just a bunch of songs on a record.
Now I've kind of picked up on what he's doing here and I'm accepting it for what it is.
What do you think he is doing?
Quote from: MacGuffinWhat do you think he is doing?
just playing songs.
as for the sound... this may sound strange, but it's like he wrote some songs, had a hard-rock band cover them, then remixed that album... live.
Quote from: RegularKarateQuote from: MacGuffinWhat do you think he is doing?
just playing songs.
as for the sound... this may sound strange, but it's like he wrote some songs, had a hard-rock band cover them, then remixed that album... live.
couldn't agree more,
the last two tracks on [with teeth] are great. other than that the album sounds a lot like all the new stuff Ken Andrews has been doing post failure. be it, "Year of the rabbit" or "ON". thing is ken andrews has a better emo-esque "everyman" voice than i think Trent is going for on this album. however, it's too bad to see both Trent and Ken become diluted versions of themselves to the point of mediocrity
Quote from: Two Lane Blacktop
PS Lateralus is far superior to Aenima.
as far as sophistication yeah, but raw engergy no. aenima pulls me further into the album because i hear the passion of a not yet Stadium rock band. They don't seem to care as much anymore, Maynard has less to say and is no longer angry (which he admits in an MTV interview) so he resorts to obscure metaphors. looks like money effects us all in bad ways.
-sl-
Reznor: Manager Duped Me Into Bad Contract
NEW YORK (AP) - Alternative-rocker Trent Reznor testified Monday against his longtime manager, saying he was stunned to learn in 2003 that despite millions of dollars in earnings by his band, Nine Inch Nails, he was left with as little as $400,000 in cash.
"I felt I had an accountant I couldn't trust," he said in his federal civil lawsuit against John Malm. Reznor contends that his former friend duped him into signing a contract that allowed Malm to collect 20 percent of the singer's gross earnings rather than net earnings.
A lawyer for Malm, Alan Hirth, said in an opening statement that his client worked many years for no salary and kept nothing secret from Reznor.
"Of the millions upon millions upon millions that Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails made, the vast majority went into his (Reznor's) pocket," Hirth said.
Reznor testified he trusted Malm more than anyone in his life when he agreed to let him handle his finances in the 1980s as the band signed its first record contract.
"John was the business guy, and I was the guy working for nothing in the studio," Reznor told jurors.
He said the pair created their own production company and managed sales of merchandise but the expenses piled up, draining large portions of the millions of dollars the band earned with its music releases and concert tours. He admitted he ignored his finances and sometimes signed documents without reading or understanding them.
Reznor said he began to grow worried about finances when he was told during a meeting with Malm and a lawyer in 2002 that there was "cause for alarm."
The following year, he said, he asked Malm to tell him how much money he had. He said he was sent a financial statement that revealed he had at most $3 million in total assets and as little as $400,000 in cash.
Nine Inch Nails' latest single, "The Hand That Feeds," is No. 2 on Billboard's Top 20 list of modern rock tracks.
Via NIN.com:
Nine Inch Nails will not be performing at the MTV Movie Awards as previously announced. We were set to perform "The Hand That Feeds" with an unmolested straightforward image of George W. Bush as the backdrop. Apparently the image of our President is as offensive to MTV as it is to me. See you on tour this fall when we return to play in America.
TRENT REZNOR
5_26_2005
Well, great. Now I'm not going to watch it....
Damn, I still will... I'll just mute one of the performances and Karaoke a Hand That Feeds version myself.
Quote from: Walrus¥¥¥and Karaoke a Hand That Feeds version myself.
which you can do easily by muting trent's vocals out of the garageband version
Quote from: hacksparrowI'm having trouble downloading the lyrics/artwork/credits. Anyone else having that problem?
when that won't work legitimately, i limewire the album... put it into my itunes or windows media library, and hit "find album info"
Quote from: Reinhold MessnerQuote from: hacksparrowI'm having trouble downloading the lyrics/artwork/credits. Anyone else having that problem?
when that won't work legitimately, i limewire the album... put it into my itunes or windows media library, and hit "find album info"
or when that doesn't work try this instead (http://www.9inchnails.com/discography/albums.php?id=810).
Nine Inch Nails Singer Awarded $3 Million
NEW YORK - A jury awarded Nine Inch Nails alternative rocker Trent Reznor $2.95 million after finding his former manager breached his contract and acted fraudulently, a lawyer said Tuesday.
The jury in Manhattan federal court delivered the verdict Friday against John Malm, Reznor's longtime manager, said attorney Zia F. Modabber. The award likely would top $4 million when interest is added.
Modabber said he called Reznor, who is on tour, with the news.
"He was almost silent at first. It's still sinking in," Modabber said. "It's been a difficult thing for him in a lot of ways. They were very, very close friends."
A lawyer for Malm did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.
The civil verdict came after a three-week trial in which Reznor testified that he was stunned to learn in 2003 that despite millions of dollars in earnings, he was left with as little as $400,000 in cash.
"I felt I had an accountant I couldn't trust," Reznor testified.
Reznor sued Malm, contending he duped Reznor into signing a contract that gave Malm 20 percent of his gross earnings rather than net earnings, and let Malm collect the commission forever.
A lawyer for Malm, Alan Hirth, said in an opening statement that Malm worked many years for no salary — and kept nothing secret from Reznor.
Nine Inch Nails' fourth studio album and first in six years, "With Teeth," debuted last month at No. 1 in sales
i don't know the story behind these pics or why they were dressed out as a gang. it's just nice to see that they actually have a sense of humor. :yabbse-wink:
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that was here in mexico (see shirt and negra modelo), and i couldn't effing go
i wrote this back in the beginning of april, and i'm sticking to it.
"i just put it on again. 'all the love in the world' sounds promising. i'm like "yes, this sounds like the fragile, only.. can it be better?" and i listened on and 'you know what you are?' left me feeling empty. yeah, sure, it's not terrible, but i guess i expected something fuller and masterful, musically, especially after a, what, five year absence? i expected a complex, beautifully arranged nin masterpiece and i got songs that, on the whole, sound like a band trying to emulate nin. i'm not gonna lie and say i enjoy it. i'm just disappointed by it."
today: "pilgrimage" is on now and, wow.. beautiful. i picture some roman emperor being carried into some town square, with what sounds like a city cheering. i look at it as the royal coronation of "Pinion". beautiful stuff. and he isn't even singing.
it's crap.
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hahahahaha
a clip has been posted over at nin.com showing aaron (the crazy guitarist) trashing his guitar.
watch the clip (http://www.nin.com/current/index.html) (under the media section)
the text underneath says "deutschland kann meinen kugelsack lecken" (translation: germany can lick my scrotum)
hmm...
Quote from: mogwaiaaron (the crazy guitarist) trashing his guitar.
he was in the icarus line before he joined nine inch nails. some of you may have heard this story from SXSW a few years ago, but for those who don't, here is part of an interview from
Thrasher magazine
Thrasher: Tell us about what happened at the South By Southwest music fest.
Aaron: Well, we were playing the Hard Rock Cafe. You know how they have those little display cases of fake memorabilia?
T: Fake?
Aaron: It's always fake, dude. The Kurt Cobain guitar at the Vegas Hard Rock is right-handed. I just thought it would be fun to play the guitar that Stevie Ray Vaughn supposedly played. It was like a beautiful animal that's caged, you know. They don't want to be caged
T: You're making it sound like you asked to play the guitar.
Aaron: It was in chains so I freed it with the base of a mic stand and tried to play it a little bit.
T:But didn't you try to run off with it?
Aaron: I just wanted to play it, dude.
T: To see what it sounded like outside?
Aaron: It's not like I fuckin' broke it or anything. Before anything really went down there was a bunch of steak-heads on stage freakin' out. Some girl was crying or something.
T: Did you guys not get paid?
Aaron: No, they paid us before we played. I was in the middle of plugging it in and we were just standing around. People say that we were pussies and tried to run, but I was trying to plug it in.
T:Didn't you get a fine or something?
Aaron: That's the funny part, there was not one repercussion from that so...
Blaze/Manager: I've got a $700 bill at my house right now from Vegas.here is the link to the full article. it's from 2002 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JSE/is_2002_August/ai_87942512
"only" video (mms://msent.wmod.llnwd.net/a304/o2/msftmsne/Prod/wmv/v9/Video/44/45/69/101694544.wmv)
Quote from: mogwai"only" video (mms://msent.wmod.llnwd.net/a304/o2/msftmsne/Prod/wmv/v9/Video/44/45/69/101694544.wmv)
thank ghod. at least he realises it's the only single worth releasing.
I just made an awesome Nine Inch Nails mix that flows pretty well. I wanted to make it sound like it all belonged on the same album, so I included a bunch of remixes into the mix itself for familiarity in the beats, but if you're into NIN, you hear that the remixes still carry individual sounds, even though they share similar samples. I did a few cross fades and such to make it closer to perfect, but so far, this is the first part of it (I was thinking of expaning it to 2 discs, maybe including the Closer remixes, Eraser mixes, and/or Perfect Drug mixes)
1 - Starfuckers, Inc (Things Falling Apart)
2 - The Frail (Things Falling Apart)
3 - The Wretched (Things Falling Apart)
4 - The Frail (The Fragile)
5 - The Wretched (The Fragile)
6 - We're In This Together Now (The Fragile)
7 - Reptile (Downward Spiral)
8 - Starfuckers, Inc. (The Fragile)
9 - Mr. Self Destruct (Downward Spiral)
10 - The Art of Self Destruction (Further Down The Spiral)
11 - Self Destruction, pt. 2 (Further Down The Spiral)
12 - Self Destruction, Final (Further Down The Spiral)
13 - At The Heart Of It All (Further Down The Spiral)
14 - Starfuckers Inc (Things Falling Apart)
I know it's just a lot of tracks from the same 4 albums, but in this particular order they create a sort of story in my head when I listen to it.
received a nine inch nails dvd in the mail today. entitled "nin [collected]" it features video clips, live clips and other stuff. i think it's promo to the upcoming dvd release of "closure". it features a bit of the infamous broken "movie". it's pretty wild stuff. the only thing you have to do to recieve this dvd is to sign up at nin.com. the dvd is 22 minutes long and it also features an extensive discography with soundbytes and video clips.
some caps:
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yeah, that pretty-much looks like clips from Closure with bits of Broken thrown in.
I have a few copies of Broken from back when it was floating around without the internet and it's not that impressive... kinda bland.. the only stuff I like in it is the video clips the kid is forced to watch... they look really interesting and I wish that they would have focused more on them than with the Tromaesque torture scenes.
Nine Inch Nails drummer Jerome Dillon was hospitalised for the second time following the band's recent show in Sacramento on Wednesday night (September 28 ).
The band were playing at the city's Arco Arena when the incident occurred.
Frontman Trent Reznor posted on the band's official website www.nin.com , saying: "As I'm walking to the bus to leave Sacramento as soon as I can, I learn Jerome
is back in the hospital. I have no idea what this means."
A press statement issued yesterday read: "Dillon is returning to Los Angeles immediately to undergo tests for problems related to a heart condition discovered earlier this month while on tour."
The band were forced to cut short the opening show of their current US tour in San Diego on September 16 when Dillon suffered a medical emergency.
Speaking to crowd, Reznor said: "Here's what's up, no bullshit. Jerome came to me and said, 'My heart is pounding and I'm having chest pains'. We're all kind of freaked out back here."
The drummer was unable to continue with the rest of the show and it was postponed until November 20. The next night's gig in Tucson, Arizona was also cancelled.
However, Dillon later posted on the band's website saying "Fatigue and exhaustion are to blame for what happened with me the other night. Incidentally, I did not experience 'chest pains'- but I did spend the night at the hospital for observation. I received a clean bill of health the next morning and could not get back on the bus fast enough."
Nine Inch Nails have been forced to postpone tonight's show at Oakland's Coliseum, which will now take place on November 19.
In a new statement from Reznor has said that Dillon's health problems are nothing to do with either drink or drugs, saying: "Jerome Dillon does not have a drinking or drug problem.
His illness is not the result of abuse, nor are there any purposefully vague statements about what's really going on with him. I am sure he is as frustrated and upset with the situation as everybody else. This is not his fault."
He added: "Jerome is a great drummer and a great guy. We all wish him the best and hope to see him behind the drums again soon. At the present time, his performing live with us places him in a potentially very harmful situation."
I stopped listening to the album as a whole pretty much a week or so after I bought it. But the songs pop up on my iPod now and then, I have to say, hearing them outside of the context of each other...they're really damn good. Some of the best music he's ever written. I sorta felt this way before, even though I thought the album was inferior (and it is), but in bits and pieces, it's pretty masterful.
For example, I just heard All The Love In The World, or whatever it's called. I had to play it again as soon as it ended because it sounded so good.
can somebody host the new album for me or e-mail it to me?
does nobody know how to use soulseek or any file-sharing program anymore?
Quote from: GhostboySome of the best music he's ever written.
So I take it that you haven't heard The Fragile, Downward Spiral, Further Down The Spiral, Broken, Fixed, Things Falling Apart or any of his EP's?
No, I've got the whole catalog.
I know it's all a preference thing, and I don't think With Teeth is a bad album at all... but his best work? I don't know if any of the songs on that album could outrank some of his other mindblowing, almost epic songs...
He has just set a personal best extremely high for himself.
maybe he should go back to cocaine to make another mindnumbing epic album then?
Quote from: mogwaimaybe he should go back to cocaine to make another mindnumbing epic album then?
that's what i've been saying!
NIN Drummer Jerome Dillon Leaves Tour
October 3, 2005
After two hospitalizations post-grueling US performances, Jerome Dillon has opted to leave the Nine Inch Nails/ Queens of the Stone Age tour. Dillon's health issues stem from a congenital heart condition, and he's currently undergoing tests. According to a statement from frontman Trent Reznor on the band's website, "At this present time, [Jerome's] performing live with us places him in a potentially very harmful situation." Reznor also reiterated that Dillon's problems are congenital, not acquired: "Dillon does not have a drinking or drug problem," Reznor expressed, "His illness is not the result of abuse, nor are there any purposefully vague statements about what's really going on with him. I am sure he is as frustrated and upset with the situation as everybody else." The two NIN performances that were postponed because of Dillon's illness have been rescheduled. The September 16 date in San Diego will be on November 20, while the September 30 Oakland date will be made up on November 19.
Quote from: mogwaimaybe he should go back to cocaine to make another mindnumbing epic album then?
Umm... yeah.
nine inch nails have revealed their new drummer
it's no one other than.... *drum rolls*
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nin.com%2Fcurrent%2Fphotos%2F10_07_05.jpg&hash=e45d9524a2c32ba2b7e316e483dde7acbc168865)
MEG WHITE???
Quote from: onomabracadabra(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xixax.com%2Ffiles%2Fcine%2Fconanhuh.jpg&hash=1cea2d37afa4df8cb8ca6a229fe32fb9a39902e3)
believe it or not, they are all smiling.
Conceptually, that's fucking awesome.
but seriously,
Quote from: mogwainine inch nails have revealed their new drummer
it's no one other than.... *drum rolls*
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ultimate-guitar.com%2Fnews%2Fimages%2F6_r15376.jpg&hash=72183bd78579dbab68e3fdf666e3f51b76678461)
^^^ this guy, Josh Freese, A Perfect Circle drummer.
but seriously hedwig, where do you get your resources?
josh only played two gigs so they could find a replacement to jerome.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nin.com%2Fcurrent%2Fphotos%2F10_05_05.jpg&hash=9ca20240eb4e9c31841ac6cad92ee3bbea2cb954)
here's josh with the gang.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nin.com%2Fcurrent%2Fphotos%2F10_07_05-1.jpg&hash=ed2d9929e09ebcf83e2dd5edd9478aa8fb5a3194)
that's the new drummer. not joking.
here's what jerome dillon will do until he's rested and fit again:
"subsequently, the decision was made to hire replacement drummers (for this leg) to allow me enough time to adjust to medication and to also spend time pursuing my true passion...gardening."
Quote from: mogwaibut seriously hedwig, where do you get your resources?
josh only played two gigs so they could find a replacement to jerome.
1 source:
CONTACTMUSIC.COM (Posted 10/8/2005) (http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/perfect%20circle%20star%20is%20perfect%20replacement%20for%20nine%20inch%20nails)
"JOSH FREESE has stepped in to replace JEROME DILLON as the NINE INCH NAILS drummer undergoes tests for a heart condition. The rock group was forced to cancel two shows last month (SEP05) when Dillon was hospitalised after passing out onstage. Freese will perform with Nine Inch Nails for the remainder of the group's current tour."2 source:
ROLLING STONE (Posted Oct 07, 2005) (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7689276/greenday?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single1)
"A PERFECT CIRCLE drummer JOSH FREESE has been filling in for NINE INCH NAILS drummer JEROME DILLON while Dillon is undergoing treatment for a heart condition. It is uncertain whether Freese will replace Dillon, whose health problems led to show cancellations last month, for the remainder of the NIN tour"
http://www.theninhotline.net/news/index.php
damn you! :)
live footage (get it while it's hot, windows media) (http://www.perfitmusic.net/other/nin/VIDEOS/nin.mpg) 105 mb
Quote from: mogwailive footage (get it while it's hot, windows media) (http://www.perfitmusic.net/other/nin/VIDEOS/nin.mpg) 105 mb
yeah, it's down.
I never realized how "Richie Tenenbaum"ish Trent looks with a shaved head.
Quote from: bonanzatazQuote from: mogwailive footage (get it while it's hot, windows media) (http://www.perfitmusic.net/other/nin/VIDEOS/nin.mpg) 105 mb
yeah, it's down.
this is what happens:
1. march of the pigs. it's end of the original song and the all the pigs are lined up jam. cuts right when they rock out. annoying.
2. the frail. trent plays the piano and the stage is covered with blue moody lights.
3. the wretched. nothing but the performance of the song. trent flexes his muscles.
4. eraser. a giant curtain is down and various unrecognizable images is projected on it.
5. hurt. the new version is trent playing the song solo with his piano. the band joins in the end to provide some noise.
6. the hand that feeds. short but cool.
7. head like a hole. here's what the cool stuff happens. aaron north, the new guitarist on speed crashes his guitar head front on one of his speakers. then off camera he shugs his monitor off stage causing the crowd to go mental. trent just throws his guitar in the air and it lands with not breaking. what a wuss. allesandro (or something), the keyboardist looks like he want to take a chainsaw and take his anger out on his set. nothing happens. then the new drummer walks off and waves. and when aaron is through destroying the stage he eyes jeordie white (or something) that the concert is over. jeordie takes off his guitar and crashes down on the ground. the end. this sequence is the coolest.
edit: the file is up again
did anyone attend this show? amazing shot.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nin.com%2Fcurrent%2Fphotos%2F10_12_05.jpg&hash=51e6273d63e547b6f528a3baeee59d785600da3f)
I'm attending tonight's show.
I was so mad I couldn't attend the show, so I watched the video. That audience was completely retarded. The performance looked awesome, but when he was playing Frail the audience was just screaming stupid shit out like "I love you!!" and then during Hurt, they droned him out by singing along in their offkey voices.
Myabe it was just that crowd, though.
does anyone remember what letterman said about nin's woodstock 94 performance? i know that he thought their performance was shocking but i'm searching after quotes.
Quote from: mogwai on November 07, 2005, 10:58:47 AM
does anyone remember what letterman said about nin's woodstock 94 performance? i know that he thought their performance was shocking but i'm searching after quotes.
how specific did u want.. i found this:
woodstock.67.23: Franklin J. Flocks (fjf) Thu 18 Aug 94 17:31
Re #21 - David Letterman a couple of nights ago in reference to Nine Inch
Nails said "Book those guys" - (This is what Ed Sullivan said when
he saw the Beatles and their sceaming fans at an airport in 1963).
...
one of Letterman's guests said he only stayed long enough to catch
a couple inches. - and re #23 and #24 - Yes I did mean "screaming."over here http://www.well.com/woodstock/wstockconf/woodstock.67.html
i was thinking about if he discussed the performance for two good minutes or so. this is like when foo fighters are on the show. he namedrops them several times during the show and that's that. thanks anyway.
Q&A: Trent Reznor
The NIN leader worships Devo, disses Franz Ferdinand
By AUSTIN SCAGGS, Rolling Stone
At the moment, Trent Reznor is not happy about freezing his ass off in Minneapolis, but the Nine Inch Nails mastermind is happy that his tour has finally hit its stride. The first two weeks were a disaster, with a cancellation and two postponements because NIN drummer Jerome Dillon suffered from a heart condition. (He's been replaced for the tour by Alex Carapetis.) "That threw a big wrench into the works," says Reznor, "but now we're up and running." Reznor, who quit drugs and alcohol four years ago, is still riding the high of sobriety. "I've had a newfound appreciation for music in general -- listening to it, playing it, thinking about it and embracing it," he says, adding that there's a possible solo tour (just him, a piano and effects) and a new NIN album on the horizon. "I feel like I have a lot to do and a lot to say."
What's your first musical memory?
My dad told me that I was always putting on Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced? but I don't really remember that. I do remember my first purchase: the Partridge Family's greatest hits. I got it for $3.99 at a failed chain of pre-Wal-Mart-type stores called Jamesway. God, I'm old.
You're forty. Is that too old to rock?
It's just a number. I can tell you that making music right now feels more vital than it's ever felt. When I got sober, my first priority was trying to not want to kill myself. After that I was aware that drugs and alcohol had not only taken away my soul but also took away my love for music. It'd become a job, people hassling and pressuring me, and the competitive nature of business consumed me.
The Beatles and the Beach Boys were competitive, and they inspired each other. Was there a band like that for you in the Nineties?
There's different levels. When I was starting out, Jane's Addiction came through Cleveland. I might have been ten feet from the stage, and it completely destroyed me: "They kicked our ass, let's figure out how to compete." But there's another level of competition: the reality that you're in a business, competing with your peers, trying to sell your product. When Downward Spiral came out, Soundgarden's record [Superunknown] came out the same day, and they beat us. I have no beef with them, but that was the enemy at the time. Two and a half years later, I'd sunk into being a drug addict, but we sold more records. I beat you, fucking Soundgarden!
Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" is the best, but what's the worst Nine Inch Nails cover ever?
One of those hair-metal bands [Trixter] covered "Terrible Lie." I almost called them up and said, "I'll pay you if you don't put this out." One of my biggest influences and favorite bands is Devo. Imagine my thrill when they were covering "Head Like a Hole." That thrill lasted right up to hearing the second bar! But they're still awesome.
Six years ago, you said in Rolling Stone that rock & roll "has taken a big shit." How do you feel now?
Well, we've managed to put rap rock -- or, sorry, new metal -- back where it belongs, as a forgotten footnote. I'm a bit more optimistic now, but in the alternative-rock world I see a lot of hype over substance. I think Radiohead are great, and Arcade Fire -- I saw them live and couldn't believe how good it was. On the other hand, there's a band like Franz Ferdinand -- all the cool people say they're good, but it sounds like I'm getting bullshitted by somebody. That's just my take.
You lived in New Orleans for nearly fifteen years. Was there any bar you went to regularly to hear live music?
What you should've asked me is, "Was there a bar that I didn't go to?" Musicwise, generally we'd go to Tipitina's -- the real Tipitina's that was uptown. I miss that place. And I miss now the fact that it won't ever be the same.
What's romantic music to you?
I got to say, I don't think I've ever been asked that question. You mean, if there was romance in the air and I had my iPod sitting on my desk...
That's what I'm saying.
Uh, that would range from Debussy to D'Angelo -- Voodoo, in particular. Perhaps Erykah Badu, Sigur Ros or Brian Eno's latest album, Another Day on Earth. They all come in handy.
You've spoken for years about taking a female singer under your wing. Who'd work best with you?
Sade would be at the top of the list. Or someone raspier, like a Lauryn Hill type, minus the personality.
What's the best gift you've gotten from a fan?
Yesterday I got a Narcotics Anonymous keychain. And I did have a great letter that came when we were in California working on Downward Spiral. It says, "Trent, I'm your biggest fan. I would do anything for you. In fact, I'm writing this in my own blood." I'm not a handwriting analyst, but I can pretty much guarantee that this person was sincere.
Quote from: Trent Reznor on November 15, 2005, 03:26:05 PM
D'Angelo -- Voodoo, in particular.
:shock:
hell yeah. that's quite an album.
cool interview :yabbse-thumbup:
there's a lengthy interview with ex-drummer jerome dillon. he talks about life with nin, why he quit the band and his own band nearly.
the interview (http://www.thenitmustbetrue.com/dillon/dillon1.html)
New tour dates up, and I think they've been posted here yet.
http://nin.com/tour/index.html
I've gotten my second chance...
Got my tickets for Detroit! Yay!
I just saw NIN in concert and I can safely say, of all the bands I've ever seen, this has to have been the best performance.
First off, after the crappy opener left, everyone pushed to the front, and I was tightly packed in a circle of drunken, dance prone women. A thin sheet covered the stage from all sides. The show started and immediately snapped the audience's attention with the song I hoped the most he'd play, Mr. Self Destruct. A strobe light ran pretty much the whole time, and it was one of the most beautiful spectacles I'd ever witnessed (until later in the show when the lighting tricks only became more and more mindblowing).
They played Closer, which was expected, but in the middle they broke into Closer to God (one of the remixes) and then went back into the song, picking up with the solo.
They did some really cool stuff with the projectors on the screens, occasionally they'd project rain drops going down on all sides, but at different rates on each screen so it looked like it was just pouring water down. They did some really cool, subtle stuff with making it appear like blood was dripping down the back of the stage. During Right Where It Belongs he displayed a lot of clips of suburban spreads, industrial complexes, etc. then George Bush and got quite a reaction from the audience, as I'm sure they expected.
Their setlist was amazing, though. They played almost every song I wanted to hear, and surprised me with some I hadn't heard in a while. He played a surprisingly low amount of With Teeth and mostly played Fragile, Broken and Downward Spiral.
The big downside of the show was he was playing Hurt and the audience were being loud, obnoxious, rude, as it was the end of the show and they grew tired, I suppose. It was really growing in volume and eventually pissed Trent off enough to stop playing, kick his piano over and just leave, no encore. Oddly enough, it was still the best show I've ever seen, even though it left on such a downbeat.
the reason he walked off was that he got hit by a lighter. and they don't do encores any more. the usually end with smashing apart the whole stage. the songs you missed out on was "starfuckers", "the hand that feeds" and "head like a hole". shame that some in the crowd acted like idiots.
show reviews including a video of trent walking off (http://www.echoingthesound.org/phpbbx/viewtopic.php?t=16050&start=0)
Thanks for that, Mog.
no problems!
what fragile songs did he play? i saw them three times and he hardly played any fragile. it was mostly with teeth. when i saw them in boston, i think he only played the frail into the wretched.
the fragile songs are marked in bold text. i don't think the intro track is played by the band.
Pilgrimage (intro)
Mr. Self Destruct
Sin
Terrible Lie
The Line Begins to Blur
March of the Pigs
The Frail
The Wretched
Closer
The Big Come Down
Burn
Gave Up
Eraser
Right Where it Belongs
Beside You in Time
With Teeth
Wish
Only
Every Day is Exactly the Same
The Day the World Went Away
Even Deeper
Suck
Hurt (partial)
He rocked the hell out of the Day The World Went Away, too.
I just completed a pretty cool remix of Only, if anyone wants to hear it I can send it to them. I don't know how to host it so that anyone could get it without me sending it to them, though.
Monsters Of Goth: Nine Inch Nails, Bauhaus Uniting For Summer Tour
Trent Reznor's band wraps its current run April 1, launches a 31-date trek May 26.
Trent Reznor and his Nine Inch Nails spent the better part of 2005 on the road, logging miles and racking up sales for the band's 2005 LP, With Teeth — which has sold more than 904,000 copies to date. With a 31-date run set to kick off
in May, 2006 is shaping up to be another busy year on the road for the band. While Reznor is planning to take a two-month respite when the band's current trek with opener Saul Williams winds down April 1 in Las Vegas, Nine Inch Nails are looking at another busy summer. The Nails will kick off their next tour on May 26 in George, Washington, when they close out the first night of this year's Sasquatch Music Festival. The arena tour is scheduled to conclude on July 8 in Mountain View, California.
For this next road trip, Nine Inch Nails have called on two acts to fill the opening slots: U.K. gloom merchants Bauhaus will take the stage for the entire tour, just before NIN's set, and the first 14 dates of the tour will also feature TV on the Radio. The band has yet to book a second opener for the latter half of the trek, which begins June 16 in Holmdel, New Jersey.
In the meantime, Nine Inch Nail's single for "Every Day Is Exactly the Same," out April 4, will feature remixes of the track — the third released from With Teeth — as well as reworkings of "The Hand That Feeds" and "Only."
Nine Inch Nails tour dates, according to the band's label:
5/26 - George, WA @ The Gorge Amphitheatre
5/27 - Ridgefield, WA @ Amphitheater at Clark County
5/28 - Nampa, ID @ Idaho Center
5/30 - Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
5/31 - Albuquerque, NM @ Journal Pavilion
6/2 - San Antonio, TX @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
6/3 - Dallas, TX @ Smirnoff Music Centre
6/4 - Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
6/6 - Birmingham, AL @ Verizon Wireless Music Center
6/7 - Atlanta, GA @ Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre
6/9 - Raleigh, NC @ Alltel Pavilion
6/10 - Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
6/11 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
6/13 - Washington, DC @ Nissan Pavilion
6/14 - Camden, NJ @ Tweeter Center at the Waterfront
6/16 - Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
6/17 - Wantagh, NY @ Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theater
6/18 - Saratoga, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
6/20 - Hartford, CT @ New England Dodge Music Center
6/21 - Portland, ME @ Cumberland County Civic Center
6/23 - Boston, MA @ Tweeter Center
6/24 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheater
6/25 - Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
6/27 - Cleveland, OH @ Blossom Music Theater
6/28 - Columbus, OH @ Germain Amphitheater
6/30 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Post-Gazette Pavilion
7/1 - Chicago, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
7/2 - Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Amphitheater
7/3 - Indianapolis, IN @ Verizon Wireless Music Center
7/7 - Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7/8 - Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kroq.com%2Fkevinandbean%2Fbreakfast%2Ff1.gif&hash=b53a770195951ac1e4652915b9dc8a8b8b9c9ade)
Los Angeles radio station KROQ recently had a breakfast concert with NIN:
http://www.kroq.com/kevinandbean/breakfast/index.html
what's the deal with all radio presenters acting over hyperactive? and why do they ask so stupid questions? like the one about marilyn manson?
i iike the bit when trent says: "real questions from real people!".
NIN Live
Concert Review: At their Long Island show, Trent Reznor and his band bang out bleak obscurities for their cultish fans, says Ryan Dombal
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.timeinc.net%2Few%2Fdynamic%2Fimgs%2F060626%2F142912__trent_l.jpg&hash=282d93daa35998959595be91e638828a58f11e98)
Nine Inch Nails
June 17, 2006
Jones Beach Theater
Writhing behind enormous metal grates, Nine Inch Nails looked like convicts in a gothic prison as they crept through opener ''Somewhat Damaged'' at their recent Long Island show. It seems as if head Nail Trent Reznor has been trapped inside the same industrial-metal complex for years, though the struggle isn't so much about getting out of the miserable jail as it is finding fresh ways to express such nihilistic hopelessness. As the song's escalating power chords smashed down, Reznor's spiked mantra, ''Too f---ed up to care anymore,'' was met with raised fists and fervor. But as the brutally intense performance barreled on, it became increasingly clear that Reznor does indeed care — about his audience, about his fractured art, and, just maybe, about himself.
At age 41, the singer looks in better shape than ever, resembling a hulking football player rather than the pale outcast protoype of years past. The added muscle mass — along with a newly sheared dome — made his performance all the more forceful. When he jumped to accent a particularly brash downbeat, it seemed as if his entire body would rip straight through the stage upon descent. And when he threw his guitar at least 10 feet in the air at the concert's conclusion, it looked as if he did so with no more than a flick of the wrist. Armed with one of rock's most potent depths-of-hell screams, Reznor put his improved physique to work with a 24-song set that focused on Nine Inch Nails' most abrasive material; only three songs each were played from his newest and his most popular albums (2005's With Teeth and 1994's The Downward Spiral, respectively); the majority of the set was culled from his infinitely bleak 1999 double-CD The Fragile, along with highlights from early records Pretty Hate Machine and Broken.
The setlist choices proved that Reznor is in tune with his fanbase, which, at this point, is a relatively large cult of late 20- and 30-something diehards who will eat up such obscure tunes. So, while ''Hurt'' and recent rock hit ''The Hand That Feeds'' were given their due, a spastic cover of Queen's ''Get Down, Make Love'' and the quaint (really) instrumental ''La Mer'' from The Fragile got strong cheers.
Lighting and stage design can be taken for granted at shows that don't involve Madonna or U2, but the brilliant strobes and innovative LED animations thoroughly enhanced the group's performance without disrupting it. The black-clad quintet was backlit during much of the show, putting them in perfect silhouette against backdrops resembling molecules of blood and convulsive static. And though the aforementioned metal grates sometimes stood between the band and the fans, it didn't widen the distance as much as it centralized the riotous energy onstage.
At one point, Reznor took a rare breather between songs to make a confession to his loyal followers. ''Five years ago I was almost dead and I wanted to be dead,'' he said before acknowledging his recent recovery from depression. It was a genuinely tender moment. Immediately after, he hurled into ''Suck,'' yet another tortured lock-step metal diatribe with the chorus, ''How does it feel?'' On this night, Reznor found an answer to that query by focusing on the exact moment when pain becomes release, exploding that feeling into something therapeutic and joyful.
Nine Inch Nails Sued Over Microphone Stand Allegedly Thrown At Fall Concert
Security guard claims he was 'intentionally, violently' attacked by guitarist Aaron North.
Source: MTV
A security guard who claims he was knocked unconscious by Nine Inch Nails guitarist Aaron North's microphone stand at a Madison, Wisconsin, concert last fall filed a lawsuit against the group.
The suit, which alleges negligence and assault and battery, was filed in Wisconsin's Circuit Court on June 28 and seeks a trial by jury as well as unspecified punitive and compensatory damages for the guard's "past and future pain and suffering." The guard, Mark LaVoie, claims in the filing that on October 13, he was standing in front of Alliant Energy Center's stage with his back turned to the band. The suit alleges that North, a former member of the Icarus Line, launched his mic stand through the air, coming down hard on LaVoie's head.
Nine Inch Nails' label, Interscope Records, could not be reached for comment.
According to the suit, which also specifically names North as a defendant, the blow knocked LaVoie unconscious. He fell to the floor, the suit read, "and was bleeding from a large laceration on the top of his head." LaVoie was treated at a nearby hospital.
Court papers suggest North "intentionally, violently and without just cause or provocation ... attacked and assaulted [LaVoie] when he threw the microphone stand into the audience, striking [him] on the head and causing him serious pain and permanent injury." North, the suit contends, should have realized tossing the stand into the crowd would wind up hurting someone.
Nine Inch Nails, according to the suit, are liable for LaVoie's injuries, in part, because the band continues "to employ [North] when Nine Inch Nails knew or should have known that [North] had a history of violent, assaultive and criminal behavior."
By permitting North to perform at the show, the band, the suit read, "knew or should have known that such permission would probably result in injury to [LaVoie]." In addition, the suit claims the band failed to properly supervise the guitarist, "so as to prevent him from causing serious bodily injury to innocent third persons."
LaVoie is also seeking compensation for his medical expenses and lost wages, as well as any future income he might lose because of his injuries. The suit cites a 2002 incident in which North stole "Stevie Ray Vaughan's guitar ... by smashing the protective case with a microphone stand" at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. It also claims that, during a concert back in 2004 with the Icarus Line, North "physically beat and inflicted bodily injury on a fan who was in attendance" and that these two incidents indicate "an intentional disregard of [LaVoie's] rights."
Quote from: MacGuffin on June 28, 2006, 01:06:00 AM
NIN Live
Concert Review: At their Long Island show, Trent Reznor and his band bang out bleak obscurities for their cultish fans, says Ryan Dombal
fuck that's so annoying. the reason i didn't buy tickets to any of the new shows was b/c i thought it was gonna be the same old shit he's been doing this whole tour. now i find out he's doing all the cool shit. WHAT THE FUCK! i was pissed when i read that. dammit.
Quote from: bonanzataz on July 13, 2006, 11:40:51 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on June 28, 2006, 01:06:00 AM
NIN Live
Concert Review: At their Long Island show, Trent Reznor and his band bang out bleak obscurities for their cultish fans, says Ryan Dombal
fuck that's so annoying. the reason i didn't buy tickets to any of the new shows was b/c i thought it was gonna be the same old shit he's been doing this whole tour. now i find out he's doing all the cool shit. WHAT THE FUCK! i was pissed when i read that. dammit.
I was supposed to be at that show but I gave my ticket to a friend of mine in favor of visiting my dad in Miami that weekend (Father's Day). When my friend texted me that they were doing Get Down Make Love, Suck, and I think they did Dead Souls too, which I never heard live, I wanted to cry.
Nine Inch Nails will be releasing a high-definition live DVD early next year titled "Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You in Time." A teaser for the effort has been posted to the band's Web site. The DVD will feature live footage captured during Nine Inch Nails' 2006 trek.
nine inch who?
Nine Inch Nails DVD Due
Three formats coming for the band's concert doc.
On February 27, 2007, Interscope Records will release Nine Inch Nails: Beside You In Time - Live on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray. The concert DVD will be the first live music feature to be released simultaneously on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray formats, and will feature tons of bonus materials and extra features.
The Nine Inch Nails: Beside You In Time - Live DVD will feature the following bonus materials:
24 songs, spanning NIN's entire career
"The Collector" (Live Rehearsal 2005)
"Every Day Is Exactly The Same" (Live Rehearsal 2005)
"Love Is Not Enough" (Live Rehearsal 2005)
"The Hand That Feeds" (Music Video)
"Only" (Music Video)
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Sneak Peek: NIN's Latest
February 6, 2007
Spin's got the early scoop on the upcoming NIN album, which is possibly called Year Zero (released on april 17).
While many details have yet to be confirmed about the forthcoming Nine Inch Nails album, the first since 2005's With Teeth, its title may turn out to be Year Zero, or so one can glean from a new URL on NIN's website: http://yearzero.nin.com.
Spin editors recently had the opportunity to preview a few tracks from the album. "It's a more compact, immediate Trent," said Spin assistant editor Kyle Anderson after the listening session. "It's probably the most minimalist Nine Inch Nails has ever been. Conversely, Trent's getting outside of himself lyrically -- it's a real state-of-the-union message wrapped in a sci-fi concept album about a totalitarian government in the not-too-distant future."
so soon? more minimalist? Doesn't he understand that he needs to lock himself up for another five years and find one more really good album instead of just giving up and recording a simple version of whatever crappy song comes out of him while he's humming in the shower?
To hold you guys off, heres something I found.
Heres the vinyl version of the fragile that someone ripped from their record.
Their at 192.
http://www.seamless-vision.net/thefragile/
from the nin hotline:
NIN kicks of European tour, plays Last
The European tour kicked off tonight (as of yesterday) with Mr. Self Destruct and the live debut of Last, but as promised, no songs from the new album.
Manuel Lino wrote in tonight with a link to this Portuguese article about the show (http://www.musica.iol.pt/noticia.php?id=772555&div_id=3321), which is accompanied by about 40 pictures from the show. The article also includes a full setlist, check it out.
two new songs "survivalism" and "my violent heart" is available to hear at nin's myspace (http://www.myspace.com/nin) page.
they're kinda blah on first listen. i have a friend who called me up yesterday to tell me about the singles b/c he loves them, but i'm not so into it. it seems like he's trying to be a little more dance friendly (didn't he tour with peaches on the second leg of the with teeth tour?) but it's not incredibly interesting. if this is the single, i don't know if i should be setting my standards too high for the album, but i am still excited to see what else he's got.
My Violent Heart has its moments. Survivalism is crap.
I'm not too crazy about either one after first listens.
Seems like he's entering his "late 80s Bowie" period right about now. Expect him to turn out albums for the next 5-10 years that die-hard fans will defend but everyone else will write off as crap.
actually, i don't even think die hard fans try to defend "never let me down." even bowie calls it a piece of crap.
look at this cheesy ass cover...
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i kinda like My Violent Heart after a few more listens, although it's clearly mediocre NIN.
i'd rather listen to 80s bowie. :shock:
Quote from: Hedwig on February 18, 2007, 12:54:48 AM
i kinda like My Violent Heart after a few more listens, although it's clearly mediocre NIN.
i'd rather listen to 80s bowie. :shock:
I like the keyboards in My Violent Heart... it's kind of oldschool... I'd say it's on par with 80s Bowie though overall
Weird Web Trail: Conspiracy Theory — Or Marketing For Nine Inch Nails LP?
Series of alternate-reality sites linked to 'concept record' Year Zero, due April 17.
By James Montgomery; MTV
A dystopian civilization in the throws of extinction. A government poisoning its own citizens through the drinking water. Military police raiding private residences. The end of civil liberties. The creation of a Church-State. Mind control.
The contents of some conspiracy theorist's personal manifesto? The plot of a rote first-person shooter? The results of a quick jaunt through Snopes.com? Actually, it's all part of the elaborate (and somewhat terrifying) concept behind Nine Inch Nails' upcoming Year Zero album (due April 17), details of which are currently being disseminated through a series of increasingly spooky — and downright odd — Web sites.
Strangely enough, the story actually began on the back of a T-shirt sold on NIN's current European tour. Dates and cities are listed, with certain letters highlighted. When those letters were arranged, they spelled out the phrase "I am trying to believe," which most saw as just another statement of shattered hope from NIN mastermind Trent Reznor ... that was, until one particularly, uh, "enterprising" individual decided to Google the phrase.
What was revealed was a rather unsettling site (IAmTryingToBelieve.com) dedicated to information on "Parepin," a drug allegedly added to the water supply by the federal government at some unknown date to protect citizens from bioterror attacks. While all appears to be normal, the author of the site — who is not identified — paints a different picture, referring to Parepin as "bioterrorism" being waged on U.S. citizens without their knowledge, designed to placate them.
But in some cases, the opposite occurs. Dosage is not controlled and, according to the site, the more water that unknowing citizens drink, the harsher the side effects.
"Parepin affects brain chemistry — specifically dopamines. Dopaminergic overactivity is linked to schizophrenia. Parepin dosage is not controlled. It's just in the water. The more water you drink, the more Parepin you ingest," the author states. "Parepin may make some people more susceptible to visions and hypnagogic hallucinations (those very vivid dreams you have when you think you are awake.)"
The site also makes mention of citizens witnessing something called "The Presence," which is shown in a series of blurry photographs as what appears to be a giant hand descending from the heavens.
"I used to dismiss conspiracy theories about the Administration's 'real reason' for adding Parepin to our water," the author writes. "Now, I'm not so sure."
Hidden on the site is an e-mail address to contact the author, yet all correspondence to the address is answered with the following auto response, which indicates that he or she has changed (or, possibly, was forced to change) their opinion:
"Thank you for your interest. It is now clear to me that Parepin is a completely safe and effective agent developed to protect us from bio-terrorism. The Administration is acting purely in the best interests of its citizens; to suggest otherwise was irresponsible and I deeply regret it. I'm drinking the water. So should you."
And things only grow more confusing — and unnerving — from there. Members on a NIN fan site, EchoingtheSound.org, soon began to uncover even more sites, all seemingly unrelated upon first glance. But through careful — and some may say obsessive — examination they all began to tie together, creating a rather Orwellian picture of the United States circa the year 2022.
AnotherVersionOfTheTruth.com is, on the surface, a site created by "the U.S. Bureau of Morality," featuring a fluttering flag superimposed over a rippling cornfield and emblazoned with the motto "Zero Tolerance. Zero Fear." But if users click and drag their mouse across the image, what is revealed is a black-and-white photo of a bombed-out wasteland. Visitors are then taken to a secret "messageboard" with topics like "End of the World?" and "Cops Murder Muslim Kid."
On the board, members — or perhaps government agents — discuss Parepin and the Presence (sample entry: "Was it an angel? Devil? Alien? God? I don't know. It was a Presence,") the rise of a new drug called Opal — which, we're told, was created by the U.S. Government after global warming destroyed coca leaves in South America — and a secret-police raid on a Muslim home in Saginaw, Michigan.
Several audio samples are also available on the site, including one taken from the cell phone of a girl in the Michigan home, and an "angry sniper" who opens fire (what he calls an act of "violent resistance") during a baseball game.
The messageboard also contains a link to BeTheHammer.org, the site belonging the "angry sniper," and makes mention of "Consolidated Mail Systems," both of which are important clues to advancing the story.
On BeTheHammer, the sniper says he worked for the secret police, raiding homes of Muslim-Americans, torturing and in some cases murdering them. He also makes mention of time spent in the 105th Airborne Crusaders.
And, of course, a quick Google search of "105th Airborne Crusaders" turns up a site dedicated to a special-forces group formed "as part of our nation's swift answer to the atrocities in Los Angeles," and made up of "men and women who kept a personal relationship with our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ and allowed the Holy Ghost to guide their rifles true." According to posts from former members of the 105th, the Crusaders launched campaigns in Iran (even mentioning the detonation of a nuclear device in Tehran), Yemen, Chad, Turkey, Syria and the Kashmir Region.
There are also mentions on that site of a New Evangelical Church, which donated land to the 105th. Somehow — and we're not entirely sure how — this led NIN fans to the discovery of another site, ChurchOfPlano.com, run by a fictitious New Evangelical outfit that practices "Neighborhood Cleansing" and holds sermons about the Presence.
And finally, as if all of that wasn't mind-bending enough, a Google search of Consolidated Mail Systems turns up a purported e-mail in-box owned by someone with the handle "NoOneImportant," which contains a police-manual definition of Opal that suggests it causes users to suffer the same hallucinations as those who ingest too much Parepin.
Are we to believe, then, that in the future the government has really been drugging its citizens? Will we engage in a Holy War with Muslim nations? Will secret police groups creep in the shadows at night? We're led to believe that the answer to all of these questions is "Yes."
And it all brings up a couple of new questions: Just who is behind all these Web-related shenanigans in the first place? And what do they have to do with Nine Inch Nails?
Well, in relation to the former: all of the sites are registered through Domains by Proxy, an Arizona-based company that protects the identities of site owners (when reached for comment, a spokesperson for DBP would not reveal exactly who registered any of the sites as it would "violate the terms of service provided by the company.") But according to reports published on the Web site of the U.K.'s Digit magazine and elsewhere, the sites are part of an alternate reality game, created by 42 Entertainment, a marketing company responsible for one of the most famously ambitious ARGs in history: "I Love Bees," an effort that combined Web sites, banks of public telephones and vials of honey sent through the mail to create, well, "buzz" for the fall 2004 release of "Halo 2".
When contacted by MTV News, a spokesperson for 42 had no comment on the company's involvement with NIN.
And about the latter: When the band's label, Interscope Records, was contacted they too had no comment, though they did release a statement by Reznor which seemed to put the whole project — and the concept behind Year Zero — into focus.
"This record began as an experiment with noise on a laptop in a bus on tour somewhere. That sound led to a daydream about the end of the world. That daydream stuck with me and over time revealed itself to be much more," Reznor said in the statement. "I believe sometimes you have a choice in what inspiration you choose to follow and other times you really don't. This record is the latter. Once I tuned into it, everything fell into place ... as if it were meant to be. ... The record turned out to be more than a just a record in scale, as you will see over time.
"Part one is Year Zero. Concept record. Sixteen tracks. What's it about? Well, it takes place about 15 years in the future. Things are not good. If you imagine a world where greed and power continue to run their likely course, you'll have an idea of the backdrop," he continued. "The world has reached the breaking point — politically, spiritually and ecologically. Written from various perspectives of people in this world, Year Zero examines various viewpoints set against an impending moment of truth."
youtube clips (bad quality) from the upcoming live dvd "beside you in time"
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ac1dfr3ak1zback
get 'em while they're hot.
Quote from: bonanzataz on February 17, 2007, 04:35:43 PM
actually, i don't even think die hard fans try to defend "never let me down." even bowie calls it a piece of crap.
look at this cheesy ass cover...
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Come on... you can't completely hate an album where Mickey Rourke does a rap during one song.
OK, maybe you can.But to add to the "what the hell is Trent thinking" discussion, this is an e-mail I got this morning from a friend who likes the new stuff more than I do:
And another song has leaked. Apparently people on the european tour are finding little data holders with a song in high quality on it. One at random shows along the tour. Me I'm Not leaked. I heard it. It has a very "even deeper" sound to it. The new songs are quite fantastic....oh yeah....call this number
216.333.1810The only thing I can make of this after calling the number is that Trent is a big fan of Lost.
Come on, Trent... :yabbse-undecided:
"year zero" album artwork
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"year zero" trailer (http://yearzero.nin.com/yearzero_hi.html)
Go on, Trent... :ponder:
you know, these new tracks have really grown on me. the more i listen to them, the more i find reasons to like them. i feel that way about "with teeth" as well, which i've been listening to a lot lately due to the new singles that are out. when "with teeth" first came out, i was like, this isn't the nin i know and love. it's very different from the place he was in back when he wrote "the fragile" and all those other great albums. thing about those earlier albums is that they're great on the first listen and they're great 100 listens later. thing about the new stuff is it's more of an acquired taste. takes a few listens for it to make a whole lot of sense. i don't think it's necessarily fair to fault the guy for not living up to his older material. this stuff is nearly as strong as the old stuff but in a different way. i'm a fan.
and that advertisement made me jump.
new song "me i'm not" can be heard at the n.i.n. myspace.com page (http://www.myspace.com/nin)
new track "in this twilight" can be found through google searches. i guess he's just leaking the whole album at this point.
Nine Inch Nails Brings The Apocalypse To The Big Screen?
Source: Bloody-Disgusting
With the crazy viral marketing campaign leading up to the release of Nine Inch Nail's latest album, Year Zero, it almost seems natural that there is talk of turning the concept into a feature length film. Kerrang Radio reports that Trent Reznor "admitted he's already in talks about a movie version of his upcoming album a concept piece, with part two scheduled for next year. "I'm excited by the prospect of what this has brought to me, We're really looking into things it could be." Reznor revealed.
"survivalism" music video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiE1d96oe3w)
so should i go see them when they come round in may?
Quote from: Pubrick on March 09, 2007, 09:41:06 AM
so should i go see them when they come round in may?
i would. do you have free tickets or something?
When I saw them it was an amazing show, probably the best I've ever seen. It's not so much that I'm going to see one of my favorite bands, but the spectacle coupled with the music makes it a really great time.
Quote from: Pubrick on March 09, 2007, 09:41:06 AM
so should i go see them when they come round in may?
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well i already went last time they came, and it was great except for the with teet tracks. this time they'll hav that crap AND the new stuff. doesn't sound very appealing.. and no free tickets.
so i was watching the new live dvd and couldn't help to feel a wee bit disappointed. the previous live dvd was so overwhelming and brilliantly produced. and also the line up of musicians also added to the experience. the new line up is not bad but to me they sound like a bunch of people trying to find a chemistry. anyway, the performance on the new dvd is more energetic and there's more anarchy. the lead guitarist aaron north is a mixture of kurt cobain and trent reznor 94-96, if that makes any sense. :yabbse-smiley: he's definitely gifted with his guitar playing, and is a great replacement of nin's best guitar player, rob finck. anyway, this dvd is worth picking up and all that jazz.
could've been better but i think trent has more dvd's up his sleeve.
Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero Preview: Beginning To Solve The Mystery
A track-by-track tour through the album, due April 17.
Source: MTV
For weeks, we've been feverishly following the ever-twisting web of promotion surrounding Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero.
From a simple message encoded on the back of a T-shirt, that web — or, more specifically, an Alternate Reality Game — has grown to encompass eerie voice mail, Web sites, Morse code clues hidden in MP3s and messages buried deep within music videos, all building an impressive (and generally terrifying) back story of a future society poised on the brink of spiritual, moral, political and environmental Armageddon.
And we're not the only ones hooked by it all. The buzz surrounding Zero is seemingly growing daily, with every blog write-up and each clue revealed. And while a certain amount of that interest can no doubt be attributed to the unbelievable thoroughness of the Year Zero ARG, even more of it is due to the harrowing believability of the concept Reznor's cooked up for the album.
It's not a stretch to say that the pressure is squarely on Reznor to deliver. After all, you'd be hard-pressed to think of another musician who's released an album backed by this much self-imposed, carefully crafted hype. With each week that passes, the stakes grow a little bit higher, the chances of Reznor falling flat on his face a little greater. How could Zero — which is due April 17 — be expected to support such an epic and far-reaching story line, one spanning 15 years and three continents, involving a cast of hundreds? How could it possibly live up to the brilliantly labyrinthine promotional scheme from whence it came?
You get the feeling Reznor sort of wanted it that way. It's probably the most adventurous, experimental and ballsy album released on a major label since Green Day's revelatory American Idiot, which also happens to be its closest kin, in spirit at least. Because for all its growling electronics, squelching guitars and plinking African kalimbas, Year Zero is essentially a punk-rock album, one born of the same bold attitude that drove Green Day to jettison traditional thinking while making Idiot.
But that's about as far as those comparisons can go. Because there's no jaunty, nine-minute rock-opera pieces to be found on Zero, nary a ballad on par with "Wake Me Up When September Ends." Shoot, there are barely any discernable guitars. Instead, almost every sound you hear on the album has been chopped, ripped, pulled, flayed, destroyed, flattened, squeezed or smashed beneath the massive, ominous bit-mapping of Reznor and co-producer Atticus Ross. Sixty-four minutes of disorienting, pummeling Sturm und Drang roiling atop a rumbling, certifiably bone-chilling layer of white noise that recalls the wind whipping through a war zone.
Album-opener "Hyperpower!" is all piston-like drums and bit-crushed power chords, a doom-laden instrumental that builds and builds to a snarling frenzy before falling away into silence. "The Beginning of the End" follows that with a fog of spooky synths and Reznor's order of "On your knees," all hidden behind a wall of feedback and guttural, demonic growls.
The first single, "Survivalism," is next, a certified stomper powered by a startling loud/soft dynamic and a menagerie of electronic baubles (fans of modern-rock radio are already well acquainted with this one). "The Good Soldier" snakes along atop a meaty bass line and squawking guitars, recalling NIN's "Closer." The verses are filled with Reznor moaning/singing couplets like, "Blood hardens in the sand/ Cold metal in my hand." The chorus makes mention of "I am trying to believe" (the first Web site revealed in the Year Zero ARG), and the whole thing dissolves into a bizarrely lounge-y composition featuring vibraphones and synths.
"Vessel" is a dissonant, dead-ringer for a Shocklee Bros. track, featuring blaring, siren-like synths and thudding drums. The chorus seems to make reference to the drug Opal (another cog in the Year Zero ARG) as Reznor's voice rasps, "My God/ Can it go any faster?/ Oh my God/ I don't think I can last here," and the song features another lengthy, somewhat dancey outro.
"Me, I'm Not" is a down-tempo excursion through howling, barely discernable guitar wails and electronic bleep-bloop that bubbles up like air escaping from an undersea vent. "Capital G" takes swings at American pig-headedness ("Don't give a sh-- about the temperature in Guatemala/ Don't really see what all the fuss is about") and a holier-than-thou commander in chief who just might be George W. Bush ("Traded in my God for this one/ And he signs his name with a capital G"). And "The Warning" tells the tale of a visitation from the Presence, who delivers a warning about mankind's selfish destruction of the environment (one of the earliest discovered sites in the ARG makes mention of a police manual that describes Opal users feeling as though they had been visited by a Presence, where they "feel the rape of Gaia").
"God Given" kicks off with a tribal, electronic spook show, then steadily quickens to a rush of guitars and a huge build that disappears as quickly as it came, leaving a glaring moment of silence and a sharply whispered, machine-gun missive from Reznor. "Meet Your Master" is a raucous, unsettling exercise in crunching chords, backed by animalistic howls and bellows and a supercharged chorus, all of which stop on a dime for a spindly, electro solo that builds again before slipping away into "The Greater Good," the album's most disparate track.
Starting off with Reznor imploring us to "Breathe" in barely there pants, the track slithers around on a sinewy bed of electronic noise and synthetic whispers, bringing to mind a windswept desert-scape. Through the subtle noise, a twinkling kalimba builds and builds, until being swallowed by a scraped and scratched ball of noise, which in turn is quickly eclipsed by a gently plucked guitar line. Then it's all submerged in inky blackness, while a looped vocal repeats the mantra "Slowly ... breathe ... a sin."
That's followed by "The Great Destroyer," which features drums that stomp like a mythical behemoth and Reznor singing, "Oh, they cannot see/ I am the Great Destroyer," in a lilting upper register. It crashes about until the second chorus, when Reznor's vocals are suddenly lifted through the stratosphere, and the whole song collapses into a grinding, shockingly placed drill-'n'-bass section that would make Richard D. James (a.k.a. the Aphex Twin) crack an evil smile.
And then we enter the homestretch. "Another Version of the Truth" follows all that clanging with an equally deafening mass of sonic fuzz and the sound of a piano being played in the other room. Perhaps in the haze, there's the buzz of a fly or the drone of a dial tone. The somber piano line is slowly brought to the forefront, as the instrumental track slows to a beautiful maudlin halt. It all falls away, save a single held note, then another wash of white noise and we're on to "In This Twilight," a grandfather-clock creaker spotted with respirator breaths. Reznor sings about what appears to be the detonation of a nuclear device ("And the sky is filled with light/ Can you see it?/ All the black is really white/ If you believe it").
And finally, we stumble into "Zero Sum," all wobbly, fuzzed-out bass and breathy whispers, sounding much like wind trying to move through ash-filled atmosphere. It all gradually rises, the clanging increases, and a multi-voiced army chants, "God have mercy on us." Then there's the slow washout, more somber piano and finally, the slow, low drone of hornets or the whispering wind. And then, nothing.
And in the end, we're left with a whole new series of questions. Has Reznor detonated the world, or are we to believe — as the title implies — that this is the beginning of something new? Has mankind ignored the warnings for too long, or is there still a faint glimmer of hope in the ashes? And, wildly switching gears, will Year Zero have the same effect on Reznor that Idiot did on Green Day? Will it lead a new generation of fans to rediscover his gloriously dissonant body of work?
As with all great art, there are more questions than answers.
Quote from: mogwai on March 07, 2007, 11:32:00 PM
"survivalism" music video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiE1d96oe3w)
oh, cool! just like big brother!
:yabbse-undecided: :yabbse-thumbdown:
Quote from: bonanzataz on March 19, 2007, 08:24:53 AM
Quote from: mogwai on March 07, 2007, 11:32:00 PM
"survivalism" music video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiE1d96oe3w)
oh, cool! just like big brother! sliver, the architect scene, ozymandias' lair
fixed fixed fixed.
this is season 13 of NIN.
I'd still prefer Year Zero as Season 13 NIN over With Teeth as Family Guy NIN.
Quote from: Pubrick on March 10, 2007, 12:00:08 AM
well i already went last time they came, and it was great except for the with teet tracks. this time they'll hav that crap AND the new stuff. doesn't sound very appealing.. and no free tickets.
i had the same experience. i got really into his live performance when he toured last year, but every time a with teeth track was played i was jarred out of it.
i like year zero a lot more than with teeth. a lot more. which isn't saying all that much really.
so i'm on track six. year zero, from what i'm hearing right now, is just so radically different from old nine inch nails. he's really expanded on the sound he was trying to create on with teeth, which i feel must have been a transitional album. plus, i've said before, after several listens, with teeth is pretty fucking good. there's no way that with teeth could've lived up to its expectations. i mean, coming after downward spiral and the fragile, everybody was expecting another complex, dark masterpiece. as it is, with teeth is simply a very good album, i think it's unfair that it gets so uniformly maligned on this board. year zero, i was worried, was going to rely solely on its concept and marketing campaign and would be a step down from with teeth, marking the steady decline of the band. but, what i'm hearing negates that. it shows me that on with teeth, trent and co. were trying something new and testing out the waters. here, the sounds are a bit more complex, the beats are a bit dancier, it just seems to gel a little more. i can see myself listening to this one for a while. but only time will tell.
they just need to make good videos again.
fine i'll go.
BUT THIS IS THE LAST TIME.
haha, didn't really take too much convincing, did it?
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Nine Inch Nails' Year Almost Here, But Real-World Game Continues
Some 60 fans gather in L.A. to collect 'resistance kits' — part of band's mysterious marketing scheme.
Source: MTV
LOS ANGELES — On a sun-streaked Friday evening, on the corner of Melrose Avenue and Ogden Street, underneath a mural featuring a bleary-eyed Uncle Sam and a giant pig with the Washington monument and a revolver strapped to its back, roughly 60 black-clad people milled about on the sidewalk. It was a bizarre assembly of people who don't assemble for much — made even more bizarre by the fact that no one was really sure why they'd gathered there in the first place.
Here's what everyone did know: Last week, followers of the ever-expanding Alternate Reality Game surrounding Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero album received an e-mail from OpenSourceResistance.net, one of many Web sites established by Trent Reznor and company to help spread the story behind Zero.
In the message, the organizer of OSR (a man named Neil Czerno, who claims to be a clandestine revolutionary battling the oppressive government that dominates the album's story line) advised members of a meeting taking place in Los Angeles on Friday. In typical YZ fashion, little else was divulged.
"If you're interested, show up near Melrose and Ogden at or a little after 7 p.m. on Friday evening. Wear something that shows you're one of us," the e-mail read. "Stand under the big pig and follow the revolver across the street to the marked van. Knock twice. When you've got the stuff, get out of there fast. Don't attract attention. Don't be followed."
And so on Friday evening, they showed up, wearing black NIN T-shirts and homemade resistance arm bands. There were even some families, moms and dads with kids in strollers ... all a little bit anxious, all waiting beneath the same mural, all waiting to see what would happen when the online ARG took the leap into the real world.
"Me and my friends were making jokes that we might get abducted and taken to some undisclosed location in the desert, or something like that. And we would have been OK with that," joked fan David Norstad, decked out in a black leather jacket with NIN stencils on the sleeves. "We just got an e-mail to show up by the mural and wait for the van, and I love this Tom Clancy kind of crap. I've never seen a more brilliant back story to an album. It goes to show that you can get your word out about the art without being too commercial about it, flashing too many billboards."
A few minutes after 7, a gun-metal gray van pulled up to the Smart & Final warehouse store across the street, threw it into park and waited. The throngs of fans dashed through the late-evening traffic on Melrose and queued up behind the vehicle. Soon, the back door of the van swung open, and out popped several muscle-y dudes, who quickly surveyed the situation and started handing out black metal cases, each stenciled with OSR's flag logo.
Inside the cases — or "resistance kits," as they were being dubbed — were 10 OSR fliers, 10 buttons, four stickers and one stencil, plus a host of materials (hat, bandanna and patch) emblazoned with the resistance logo, a sort of guerilla street team in a box.
But that wasn't all. One of the event organizers, who wouldn't reveal his name, told MTV News that three of the cases also contained cell phones, which the folks behind OSR would be calling "at an undisclosed time" with instructions for a future gathering.
Nine Inch Nails' label, Interscope Records, had no comment on the gathering, or what was next for the Year Zero ARG. And though it's not known if the OSR gathering will be replicated in other cities, attendees in Los Angeles hope that the movement — and the message — behind the album reaches their resistance brethren across the world.
"If there's some art-resistance movement happening in L.A., I'm down for it. I think it's about taking art and making a political statement with it. Because there's not a lot of that going on these days," NIN fan Natalie Potell said. "So maybe it's making people open their eyes a bit. It's an album, but it's more than an album. It's got its own little movement behind it."
Nine Inch Nails creates a world from 'Year Zero'
Real-world concerns filter into a gamers' paradise as Trent Reznor mixes it up.
Source: Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times
There's a misconception afoot about "Year Zero," the latest project from musical puppet master Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails. Launched in February with a cryptic message on a tour T-shirt, fleshed out in dozens of websites, scary voicemail messages, Morse code blips, murals, fliers and other real-world propaganda, "Year Zero" reaches a peak (but not its conclusion) with today's album release. There's never been such an extensive or well-planned campaign involving a major pop release. But "Year Zero" represents something more than just killer marketing.
Reznor has been complaining that the alternate reality game, or ARG, set in motion before the album's release has been portrayed as separate and subservient to the album. He's right. "Year Zero" isn't just a cyberpunk "Dark Side of the Moon" augmented by a few impressive Web-based extras. Nor is it merely a game, the latest take on Quake with an amazing soundtrack. (Reznor did, incidentally, write the music and effects for that bestselling shooter game.)
"Year Zero" is a total marriage of the pop and gamer aesthetics that unlocks the rusty cages of the music industry and solves some key problems facing rock music as its cultural dominance dissolves into dust.
It's easy for even Reznor appreciators to overlook this accomplishment, because "Year Zero" also works as pure pop. Composed mostly on a laptop and inspired by the Situationist hip-hop of Public Enemy's Bomb Squad production team, its 16 tracks reinvigorate Reznor's most effective sonic tricks: surface noise, extreme dynamic shifts, dinosaur riffing and the slashes of prettiness that drive light into the hard stuff.
Reznor's been picking at these elements forever, rearranging them, exploring their inner structures, breaking them apart.
He's been criticized for being insular, but think of Reznor as Tolkien, not Timbaland, and the repetitions make sense. He's building a world, and that world needs its own language, and language establishes itself through trial and error.
In his own universe
After the grim, hit-hungry perfectionism of the group's previous album, 2005's "With Teeth," it's great to hear Reznor sprawl out in his own universe again.
But to stop at the music is to miss what "Year Zero" accomplishes as a larger, ongoing work. In fact, it may be a mistake to even start with the music. Hard-core NIN fans and online game enthusiasts have been adding up the ARG's clues to uncover its "X-Files"-like narrative, a compelling vision of a near-future afflicted by multiple calamities.
Grainy and hard to navigate, full of text and images so commonplace they feel real, these interlocking pages (executed by veteran game designers 42 Entertainment) don't tell a story; they lock the participant into an experience that feels both personal and epic. That's exactly what Reznor's music does. Equal parts whisper and arena-sized punch, it immerses listeners into an emotional state that their own responses come to mirror.
The songs on "Year Zero," each from the perspective of a character or characters already existent in the ARG, draw a connection between the music fan's passionate identification with songs and the gamer's experience of becoming someone else online.
Though it's supposedly a leap that Reznor's not writing about his own pain anymore, he still puts his gift for the ultra-personal to good use. The frantic first single, "Survivalism," reveals the inner thoughts of a resistance leader; "Vessel" does the same for a religious fanatic; "The Good Soldier," with its swaggering drum line beat, captures the reluctance of a military man.
Lyrics describing group experiences still circle back to the individual. Even the beautiful, cataclysmic closing suite, with its images of nuclear winter, focuses on a dying lover's tender plea. Melodramatic on their own, Reznor's lyrics gain believability when heard under the encompassing sway of the game.
Reznor has always been tuned into alternate realities, mostly those that occupy and distort the minds of average, uptight social outcasts. He emerged during the 1990s heyday of psychological rock, when fellow angsty boys Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder were making generational anthems about sexual confusion, personal drift and the sorrows of the broken home.
A tech nerd with roots in meticulous synth pop instead of punk or metal, Reznor made screamingly intense music about repression and its consequences; his great themes were sadomasochism (literal and metaphorical) and mental disorder.
Personal to political
Whatever personal issues propelled Reznor toward this ugly subject matter, his genius in the studio made his obsessions blossom into art. The Nine Inch Nails sound quickly evolved from plain industrial rock to the satanic equivalent of the Beach Boys — infinitely complex explorations of the way musical structures can mirror the ups and downs of an interior life.
On "Year Zero," he's reaching beyond his usual fascination with personal (or interpersonal) torment to confront group dynamics — specifically, politics. But he's still most skilled at evoking the way the mind works in isolation.
This is where the multitiered experience of "Year Zero" intersects with the worldview it presents to show how pop music can communicate in a new way. The isolated experience of politics is ideology — the personal, even isolated, absorption of a set of beliefs. Embracing an ideology is a lot like playing an alternate reality game. You commit; you move where the rules lead; you risk failure if you doubt the path.
The usual model for political pop is to state ideas or conviction in an anthem or a ballad — to foreground meaning over experience. But hard rock has always been more about body-shaking physical possession than words.
On "Year Zero," Reznor attempts to explore the physical experience of political ideology — how it feels to believe, or to rebel. His soldiers and subversives and faithful idiots speak in bromides, but the music, embedded with dissonance and sudden squalls of beauty, gives each character his own imperfect, powerful voice.
Factor in the listener's experience of "Year Zero" on the Web and in community with other fans, and you have an event that bowls over the boundaries of the usual pop release.
Reznor promises to continue the "Year Zero" project into a new recording, and possibly a feature film. I hope he opts against that second option and sticks with more innovative forms.
Writing on the ARGoriented site unfiction.com, a theorist whose pseudonym is "Spacebass" coined the term "chaotic fiction" to describe the particular art of alternative reality gaming; such a phrase also fits music that strives to create a universe while staying open-ended enough for fans to find themselves within it.
At the very least, Trent Reznor is still creating chaotic rock 'n' roll. And that's more than marketing; it's pioneering art.
track #13 starts out so good then goes bleh so quick
really? i kind of like when it turns into an abstraction of weird electronic beats.
overall, i like the first half of the album better. the last half strives for a more stripped down electronic feel, i think, but ultimately it just feels like boring rehashes of all the songs that came before. everything just starts to sound a little too similar and one track is nearly indistinguishable from another. i mean, "god given" is pretty bitchin', but it sounds a lot like "the good soldier" without the cool bassline.
anybody feel the same way?
Quote from: bonanzataz on April 23, 2007, 04:01:20 PMoverall, i like the first half of the album better.
I do too. While I do appreciate Trent getting back to a "concept" album, after a few listens, I wouldn't put this album ahead of With Teeth, which I agree with taz is an underappreciated work.
Quote from: bonanzataz on April 23, 2007, 04:01:20 PM
really? i kind of like when it turns into an abstraction of weird electronic beats.
i do like that too, but think it shouldve came back to what it was doing in the beginning. couldve been the best song on there if it did that. i agree with the rest of what you said.
I felt that With Teeth felt kind of cold, lacking a lot of musical textures that Reznor is masterful with, but this took the landscapes of the Fragile and mixed it with the single-oriented tunes of With Teeth, so I think it's definitely a step in the right direction.
Quote from: MacGuffin on April 23, 2007, 05:01:52 PM
While I do appreciate Trent getting back to a "concept" album, after a few listens, I wouldn't put this album ahead of With Teeth, which I agree with taz is an underappreciated work.
I'm glad I'm not the only one.
When Downward Spiral came out, I wore out the cassette. When The Fragile came out, I played both discs into the ground. When With Teeth came out, I played it a fair amount but not as much as I did the others. My friend gave me a leaked version of Year Zero two weeks before it was released. I have listened to it twice all the way through with a couple of extra listens to a few tracks. Whenever I acquire a leaked album, I tend to buy the CD the day it hits the streets to ease my guilty conscience. I haven't done that yet with this. I don't doubt it'll grow on me some more (as I don't grimace anymore at
Wish Redux Survivalism like I did when I first heard it on myspace) but I don't know that it'll make its way past With Teeth for me.
Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor has lashed out at his record company in blog posts on the band's Web site. "As the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more," he wrote. "A couple of examples that quickly come to mind: The absurd retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia. Shame on you, [Universal Music Group]. Year Zero is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars (or $29.10 in the States). No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne's record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 U.S.)." When Reznor asked his label about the pricing of the LP, he said he was told "it's because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out." So, Reznor surmised, "I guess as a reward for being a 'true fan,' you get ripped off."
hahaha, at least now he knows where i'm coming from.
also i saw them a week ago and while i don't think i'll ever listen to their new album more than twice this year, they really bring it live. i can't stress that enough. i don't know how he does it but the songs i would not even pay attention to from the new stuff is just GREAT live. they do a pretty lean show, so pretty much no filler.
shame again about the douche bags surrounding me at the concert. seriously trent isn't even promoting that embarrassing get-up anymore so why is everyone still cutting themselves? anyway, there is some hope, there were a lot more "normal" ppl there this time. but for the most part if you looked at an aerial image of the grounds it would appear that a massive black hole was forming in the middle of brisbane that nite. it's a shame cos a lot of the girls are pretty. and pretty stupid.
in conclusion, avril's "girlfriend" is one of the best pop songs of the year.
cool by the way. i gots to go when they come around again come... whenever. missed two opportunities last time. thirds a charm, eh?
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails
May 17, 2007 12:00am
ON stage at the Metro on Monday night, it seemed you're enjoying being a rock star again. True?
It's funny you'd say that 'cos that was not one of my favourite shows.
It went downhill at one point.
Yeah. I enjoy playing these days. I try to make the most of it and sometimes it's great fun and sometimes, like Monday night when it was crippled with technical problems, it made it not fun. I couldn't hear what was going on, s--- was breaking . . .
Fools in the crowd were yelling . . .
Yeah, mixed feelings about that.
I mean, if you want me to go off on a tangent . . . I'm kind of in a weird space right now. I'm not real centred. We've been touring for a long time. I went from the record right into the tour, nine weeks in Europe in winter, which I don't recommend in any circumstance for anybody. I'm moving. There's some stuff in my personal life that's up.
It must be an odd time then to have a new album, Year Zero, out?
It's a very odd time to be a musician on a major label, because there's so much resentment towards the record industry that it's hard to position yourself in a place with the fans where you don't look like a greedy asshole. But at the same time, when our record came out I was disappointed at the number of people that actually bought it. If this had been 10 years ago
I would think "Well, not that many people are into it. OK, that kinda sucks. Yeah I could point fingers but the blame would be with me, maybe I'm not relevant". But on this record, I know people have it and I know it's on everybody's iPods, but the climate is such that people don't buy it because it's easier to steal it.
You're a bit of a computer geek. You must have been there, too?
Oh, I understand that -- I steal music too, I'm not gonna say I don't. But it's tough not to resent people for doing it when you're the guy making the music, that would like to reap a benefit from that. On the other hand, you got record labels that are doing everything they can to piss people off and rip them off. I created a little issue down here because the first thing I did when I got to Sydney is I walk into HMV, the week the record's out, and I see it on the rack with a bunch of other releases. And every release I see: $21.99, $22.99, $24.99. And ours doesn't have a sticker on it. I look close and 'Oh, it's $34.99'. So I walk over to see our live DVD Beside You in Time, and I see that it's also priced six, seven, eight dollars more than every other disc on there. And I can't figure out why that would be.
Did you have a word to anyone?
Well, in Brisbane I end up meeting and greeting some record label people, who are pleasant enough, and one of them is a sales guy, so I say "Why is this the case?" He goes "Because your packaging is a lot more expensive". I know how much the packaging costs -- it costs me, not them, it costs me 83 cents more to have a CD with the colour-changing ink on it. I'm taking the hit on that, not them. So I said "Well, it doesn't cost $10 more". "Ah, well, you're right, it doesn't. Basically it's because we know you've got a core audience that's gonna buy whatever we put out, so we can charge more for that. It's the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy it. True fans will pay whatever". And I just said "That's the most insulting thing I've heard. I've garnered a core audience that you feel it's OK to rip off? F--- you'. That's also why you don't see any label people here, 'cos I said 'F--- you people. Stay out of my f---ing show. If you wanna come, pay the ticket like anyone else. F--- you guys". They're thieves. I don't blame people for stealing music if this is the kind of s--- that they pull off.
Where does that extra $10 on your album go?
That money's not going into my pocket, I can promise you that. It's just these guys who have f---ed themselves out of a job essentially, that now take it out on ripping off the public. I've got a battle where I'm trying to put out quality material that matters and I've got fans that feel it's their right to steal it and I've got a company that's so bureaucratic and clumsy and ignorant and behind the times they don't know what to do, so they rip the people off.
Given all that, do you have any idea how to approach the release of your next album?
I've have one record left that I owe a major label, then I will never be seen in a situation like this again. If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. Come see the show and buy a T-shirt if you like it. I would put out a nicely packaged merchandise piece, if you want to own a physical thing. And it would come out the day that it's done in the studio, not this "Let's wait three months" bulls---.
When your US label, Interscope, discovered the web-based alternate reality game (ARG) you'd built around Year Zero, were they happy for the free marketing or angry you hadn't let them in on it?
I chose to do this on my own, at great financial expense to myself, because I knew they wouldn't understand what it is, for one. And secondly, I didn't want it coming from a place of marketing, I wanted it coming from a place that was pure to the project. It's a way to present the story and the backdrop, something I would be excited to find as a fan. I knew the minute I talked to someone at the record label about it, they would be looking at it in terms of "How can we tie this in with a mobile provider?" That's what they do. If something lent itself to that, OK, I'm not opposed to the idea of not losing a lot of money (laughs). But it would only be if it made sense. I've had to position myself as the irrational, stubborn, crazy artist. At the end of the day, I'm not out to sabotage my career, but quality matters, and integrity matters. Jumping through any hoop or taking advantage of any desperate situation that comes up just to sell a product is harmful. It is.
Is the Year Zero ARG something labels will copy now?
Well, their response, when they saw that it did catch on like wildfire, was "Look how smart we are the way we marketed this record". That's the feedback I've gotten -- other artists who've met with that label ask 'em about it: "Yeah, you like what we did for Trent? Look what we did for Trent". They've then gone on to try to buy the company that did it to apply it to all their other acts. So, glad I could help them out. I'm sure they still don't understand what it is that we did or why it worked. But I will look forward to the Black Eyed Peas ARG, that should be amazing.
Quote from: Trent Reznor
But I will look forward to the Black Eyed Peas ARG, that should be amazing.
good interview. good to hear the melbourne show had problems. ha sucked in.
Trent Reznor nails trilogy plan
Source: Herald Sun
DURING his big old – and brilliant – whinge to Hit last week, Trent Reznor also managed to squeeze in a bit about Nine Inch Nails' music.
Reznor positioned the new NIN album, Year Zero, as the first in a trilogy, but says he has been sidetracked from the second instalment.
"I wrote myself into a corner because I saw Year Zero as part one of something," he says.
"But some interesting things have come up in terms of turning this into another format of entertainment, like a television show or a movie. I've had some meetings with A-list people I'm interested in possibly working with.
"But it interjects a narrative into it that, if this is all going to make sense, it affects the second musical part of it. Or not. It depends on how closely I want the puzzle to go.
"I haven't written any new music for this yet, I literally haven't had a second to do that. That's what I'm doing when I get home. But I don't expect it to sound like Year Zero did. It won't be another 15 songs from that same vibe."
Nine Inch Nails return to Sydney in September to play rescheduled shows, postponed due to illness. No word yet on whether they will add Melbourne dates.
i was at a department store with my dad and i was passing by next to the music section and i saw 'the fragile' cd from a distance and felt sad.
santa claus is your parents sad.
FRom MTV:
Nine Inch Nails have surreptitiously revealed on their Web site that a Year Zero remix album, Y34R Z3R0 R3M1X3D, is in the works.
More remix album details emerge
Mike Finke and Jason Lynes both mention an article at Pitchfork (whom I generally avoid linking to anymore) where they say "it looks like this thing is actually going to be pretty fuckin' awesome." I'll save you the trouble of visiting their website and rehash.
They touch on Bill Laswell's wicked remix of Vessel, name the two Ladytron mixes that are slated for the album, rehash that The Faint are taking on Meet Your Master, and bring news that Fennesz is contributing a remix, Sam Fogarino from Interpol is remixing The Good Soldier.
New Order's Stephen Morris has his hands on a track, The Knife's Olof Dreijer is remixing a track, as is Saul Williams, and while they mention Paul Epworth (Phones) and Switch as shit-hot producers, they apparently haven't heard Switch's abysmal 'Gonzo Midget Gay Porn Orgy' remix of Capital G. The Phones 666 RPM mix, that's not so bad. Both were available via a UK promo around the time Capital G was released as a vinyl single.
On top of all that, Kerrang mentioned the possibility of fan remixes showing up on this album. There was a rumor on ETS about a September 25th release date, but from what we hear, this was something put out by Interscope without really running it past, you know, that one guy, Trent Reznor. Still, with artwork having been posted, and more track information coming out of the woodwork, it's probably not too much longer til we get to hear the remix album, and it's looking more and more like it's going to be a really good one.
http://www.theninhotline.net/news/index.php
It's sad watching Trent try to hang on and stay relevant.
8 years ago, around the time Fragile came out, he was doing everything he could to try and stay away from the nu-metal genre, but now, it's like he'd give his life to be a part of it, but that genre is dead, but he's trying his hardest to bring it back.
I pray for a Reznor/Durst collabo!
Quote from: Stefen on August 21, 2007, 05:22:39 PM
It's sad watching Trent try to hang on and stay relevant.
8 years ago, around the time Fragile came out, he was doing everything he could to try and stay away from the nu-metal genre, but now, it's like he'd give his life to be a part of it, but that genre is dead, but he's trying his hardest to bring it back.
I pray for a Reznor/Durst collabo!
nu-metal? are you out of your fucking mind?! have you listened to the album?
No.
30 minutes of nine inch nails recent performance at the recent reading festival
link (http://kenthebear.com/files/Reading%20Festival/nineinchnails_16x9_bb.bsr.wmv)
and some weird dude posted a vintage video of trent destroying a keyboard (self destruct era)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJMk3XtCr8
don't mess with trent reznor (and aaron north and jeordie white for that matter):
part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUSIC5nl3Vg
part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2zywRgdgus
Quote from: mogwai on September 02, 2007, 11:58:05 AM
don't mess with trent reznor (and aaron north and jeordie white for that matter):
Ok, now I know how NIN chinses tour would end up being
Trent Reznor on CD prices
Source: Los Angeles Times
I don't know what his contract with Universal's Interscope Records provides, but I suspect that Trent Reznor doesn't hold the copyrights to his band's latest album (Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails). So I'd be surprised if he could legally authorize fans to "steal it," as he instructed attendees at a recent concert in Sydney, Australia (http://youtube.com/watch?v=TJ5iHaV0dP4). But he does have a certain moral authority on the subject. It is his work, after all. And he has a legitimate beef about the price of CDs Down Under. HMV sells Year Zero for a stunning AU $32.99, which converts to about $28 here. You can blame the lousy exchange rate for part of the sticker shock, but not all of it.
Reznor's eagerness to share the record with fans hasn't been confined to Australia, however. To promote the album, he leaked three tracks as MP3s (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/mar/29/pop.guardianweeklytechnologysection), fully intending them to be passed around online. At the time he said the freebies were an attempt to boost sales, not crater them. Although his comments in Australia go further, they are in line with his previous remarks about the labels' greed and separation from music fans. In sum, his attitude speaks volumes about the growing problem for labels as established acts join newcomers in craving ears, not dollars, for their CDs.
Granted, it's a lot easier to part with CD revenue when you're capable of filling auditoriums at $75 a head, which is what it cost NIN fans to get into the 3,500 seat Hordern Pavilion. Nevertheless, a business model that trades CD revenues for ticket sales makes an increasing amount of sense even to veteran acts as the slide in CD sales deepens. No wonder Warner Music Group honcho Edgar Bronfman is so keen for "360-degree contracts" that would cut his labels in on tours, merch and other pots of revenue they don't share today.
Trent Reznor is a free man. According to a post on Nine Inch Nails' Web site, he and his band have fulfilled their contractual obligations to Interscope. "I've waited a long time to be able to make the following announcement: As of right now, Nine Inch Nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label," he said in the post. "I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate. Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008. Exciting times, indeed." NIN were signed to TVT prior to joining Interscope in 1994.
Source: nme.com (http://web.nme.com/news/radiohead/32071)
Nine Inch Nails do a 'Radiohead'
Saul Williams collaboration is available to download for free
Nine Inch Nails have followed Radiohead's recent unique release of 'In Rainbows' by giving their latest album away free.
Frontman Trent Reznor's collaboration with Saul Williams, 'The Inevitable Rise And Liberation Of Niggy Tardust', is available to download via Niggytardust.com (http://niggytardust.com) for free from November 1.
Speaking about the way the album is being distributed on NIN.COM, Reznor said: "There are obvious similarities in how Radiohead just released their new record and they way we've chosen to. After thinking about this way too much, I feel we've improved upon their idea in a few ways that benefit you, the consumer.
"You obviously will be the judge of this in the end. One thing that is very different in our situation is that Saul's not the household name (yet!) that Radiohead is, and that means we need your support on this more than ever."
--------------------------------------------
Looks like they're giving you the option to pay $5 for the album to get your choice of 192kbps mp3, 320 kbps mp3, or FLAC. If you get it for free, you get it in 192. It'll be interesting to see how this works out.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnymag.com%2Fdaily%2Fentertainment%2F2007%2F10%2F30%2Fimages%2Fsaultrent.jpg&hash=b832355a02c9dbde968c4ed403fb65391dbe1c15)
Trent Reznor and Saul Williams Discuss Their New Collaboration, Mourn OiNK
Source: NY Mag
Spoken-word and hip-hop artist Saul Williams toured with Nine Inch Nails last year, and Trent Reznor liked him so much that he decided to produce his new album. The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!, a mind-boggling fusion of genres — think NIN meets Gnarls Barkley meets Justice, if you can do so without your head exploding — will be released tomorrow through Williams's Website as a free download (or you can chip in five bucks to support Saul). The two artists spoke with Vulture by phone from L.A. this afternoon, discussing the album's genesis, the imploding record industry, and how much they paid for the new Radiohead album.
How did this collaboration come about?
Trent: I'd come across Saul through his "List of Demands" video, and it really impressed me as strong piece of work, as an aggressive rock-type track that jumped out of the television. So I checked to see if he was interested in touring with me. And it impressed me that he could go in front of an audience that probably didn't know who he was. He won the crowd over, and I watched it happen every night. I said, "Hey, if you ever want to experiment on some tracks, let's see what happens."
How would you characterize the music?
Saul: Gosh, I don't know, ghetto gothic? I guess I'd characterize it as hard-core dance. I don't know if I'd include spoken word in it, actually. It's so danceable. I have a lot to say, but I wanted to find a way to say it that didn't get in the way of me dancing my ass off.
Did you ever butt heads?
Trent: There were times when we disagreed on things, certainly, but sooner or later he'd realize that I was right. [They both laugh.]
What inspired you to go the In Rainbows route with this album?
Saul: From the start, I remember Trent saying, "Let's give it away for free." At first, I was like, "This dude is out of his mind!" But then it really started making sense, and, of course, with Radiohead doing it, we were like, "What the fuck? The idea that we had was great, and we should really follow it through."
Trent: I think it's just an awkward time right now to be a musician. The reality is that people think it's okay to steal music. There's a whole generation of people, that's all they've known. I used to buy vinyl. Today, if you do put out a record on a label, traditionally, most people are going to hear it via a leak that happens two weeks — if not two months — before it comes out. There's no real way around that. I'm truly saddened because I think music has been devalued, so that it's just a file on your computer, and it's usually free. But we can't change that. What we can do is try to offer people the best experience that we can provide them. Will it work? I don't know. But I think it's a great way to get music out to people who are interested. At the end of the day, all I care about is the integrity of the music, and that the feeling of those who experience it is as untainted as possible. I'd rather it not be on an iPod commercial. I'd rather it not be a ringtone that you have to get with a free cell phone or any of that bullshit.
Are you using this project, Trent, to test the waters for a self-released NIN record?
Trent: There isn't a Nine Inch Nails record done. I'm starting one right now. If I had one that was done, I would [release] it today in exactly the same way. I won't have one done for several months. One of the things that started this in motion with Saul was me sitting around thinking about finally getting off a major label, which I think is the right move for Nine Inch Nails. I wasn't looking to jump right back into another binding contract with a big company, and I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't advising Saul to do that in today's climate. We decided to go the route we did, and we'll see what happens.
How long do you think before the labels are out of business?
Trent: I mean, who knows? I remember a time when it felt like, being on a major label, our interests were aligned. At times, it's a pretty well-oiled machine and the luxury is that I feel like I've got a team of people who are taking care of the shit I don't want to think about. I don't care about the radio guy, I just want to make music. But those days are gone. Because, mainly, that infrastructure is broken at the moment. How long before [record companies] are irrelevant? Who knows? They seem to be doing everything they can to make sure that happens as quickly as possible.
Saul: I had already had experiences with my first album, with Rick Rubin and Sony and everything, where the company basically sat on it for two years and told me it wasn't hip-hop. So, I was also very familiar with the infrastructure, and this just made the most sense.
What do you think about OiNK being shut down?
Trent: I'll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world's greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted. If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now. iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don't feel cool when I go there. I'm tired of seeing John Mayer's face pop up. I feel like I'm being hustled when I visit there, and I don't think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc. Amazon has potential, but none of them get around the issue of pre-release leaks. And that's what's such a difficult puzzle at the moment. If your favorite band in the world has a leaked record out, do you listen to it or do you not listen to it? People on those boards, they're grateful for the person that uploaded it — they're the hero. They're not stealing it because they're going to make money off of it; they're stealing it because they love the band. I'm not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want.
How much did you guys pay for the new Radiohead album?
Saul: I paid $7, which is like, what, fourteen pounds? No, wait, that's like three pounds!
Trent: I bought the physical one, so I spent a whopping $80. [Pauses.] But, then I re-bought it and paid $5,000, because I really felt that I need to support the arts, so people could follow in my footsteps. [Saul laughs.]
Quote from: MacGuffin on November 01, 2007, 11:46:05 AM
Trent: I'm not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want.
shit for free.
Trent's a cool dude. He understood that OiNK wasn't a place for chumps just to get stuff free, but a place where fans of music could go and hear music. Nobody was there to get the new Britney Spears record, they were all there to get stuff that would be impossible to get at a Best Buy or a Circuit City.
my only question is, I wonder who invited him.
This is absolutely great news! How did I not hear about this before?! Saul Williams is absolutely fucking amazing, and I've been getting into NIN lately too. They've both got such abraisive sounds, but not afraid of experimentation - could be a match made heaven. Downloading very excitedly as we speak (for $5, obviously)...
THIS IS AWESOME!
Nine Inch Nails has self-released a new instrumental album, Ghosts I-IV. Consisting of 36 instrumental tracks described as "music for daydreams" and released under Creative Commons, it is available in a wide range of formats: MP3, double CD, a package with: the 2xCD, multitracks on DVD, and a deluxe book, and finally the super-deluxe limited edition which includes all that as well as a copy of the album on vinyl.
The free MP3 download includes the first volume - nine tracks (each with unique artwork), wallpapers, and a PDF of the 40 page book. Available directly off nin.com, you also have the option to torrent it via official NIN profiles on Waffles, what.cd and The Pirate Bay. Absent from this release was any kind of leak of audio or information.
http://ghosts.nin.com/
can also dl it from amazon
has anybody been able to listen to this more than once? i haven't even been able to get through the whole thing. it's good, but it's a little pretentious, and it more than borrows from bowie's berlin period. it feels like he made the album because of all the heat he was getting from fans saying he's not as artistically intriguing anymore, so he was like, "well i'll release an all instrumentals album, then, ha!" if it were more concise and thought out rather than a random smattering of shit he came up with when he was playing with protools, i'd like it more, but as is, an hour and a half of somber instrumentals just ain't my particular cup o' tea.
New NIN track, Discipline:
http://dl.nin.com/discipline/nin
Nine Inch Nails is touring the US and Canada this summer. Premium tickets for all NIN headline dates will be made available to registered nin.com members in advance of public on sales. Pre sale tickets are personalized with the members legal name printed on the face of the ticket and ID will be required for pickup and entry into the venue on night of show. Pre sale ticket supplies are limited and available on a first come, first serve basis. Our goal is to put the best tickets in the hands of the fans and not in the hands of scalpers and/or brokers. Register at nin.com and check the performance page for additional tour updates.
2008 Summer Tour
NOTE: all times are local venue time zone
7/25/08 Pemberton, BC [Pemberton Festival]
On sale: NOW
7/26/08 Seattle, WA [Key Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10:00AM)
7/28/08 Edmonton, AB [Rexall Place]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (10:00AM)
7/29/08 Calgary, AB [Pengrowth Saddledome]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (10:00AM)
7/31/08 Winnipeg, MB [MTS Centre]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (10:00AM)
8/2/08 Minneapolis, MN [Target Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)
8/3/08 Chicago, IL [Grant Park - Lollapalooza Festival]
On Sale: NOW
8/5/08 Toronto, ON [Air Canada Centre]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5:00PM)
8/7/08 Uncasville, CT [Mohegan Sun Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/21 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/24 (10AM)
8/8/08 Worcester, MA [DCU Center]
Pre Sale: 5/14 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/17 (12NOON)
8/10/08 Baltimore, MD [Pimlico Race Course - V Festival]
On Sale: 5/3
8/12/08 Knoxville, TN [Knoxville Civic Coliseum]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (9AM)
8/13/08 Duluth, GA [Gwinnett Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5PM)
8/15/08 Oklahoma City, OK [Ford Center]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)
8/16/08 Houston, TX [Toyota Center]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5PM)
8/18/08 Dallas, TX [American Airlines Center]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5PM)
8/20/08 St. Louis, MO [Scottrade Center]
Pre Sale: 5/28 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/31 (10AM)
8/22/08 Cleveland, OH [Quicken Loans Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)
8/23/08 Auburn Hills, MI [The Palace of Auburn Hills]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)
8/27/08 East Rutherford, NJ [Izod Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (12NOON)
8/29/08 Philadelphia, PA [Wachovia Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)
8/31/08 Lexington, KY [Rupp Arena]
Pre Sale: 4/30 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/3 (10AM)
9/2/08 Morrison, CO [Red Rocks Amphitheater]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)
9/3/08 Salt Lake City [E Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On sale: 5/10 (11AM)
9/5/08 Oakland, CA [Oracle Arena]
Pre Sale: 6/12 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 6/15 (10AM)
9/6/08 Los Angeles, CA [The Forum]
Pre Sale: TBA
On Sale: TBA
Oh and the new NIN album is totally free...if you guys are into that sort of thing.
http://theslip.nin.com/ (http://theslip.nin.com/)
Oh, Robin Finck! How I missed you so!
Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor In Talks With HBO For Year Zero Series
'This is my grand ambition,' frontman says of project that would involve second album, alternate-reality game.
Source: MTV
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor's paranoid, apocalyptic vision of worldwide chaos, nuclear war, bioterrorism attacks and the dissolution of civil liberties could be making its way to your television screen in the not-so-distant future.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Reznor has been in discussions with HBO about turning his Year Zero LP, and its companion alternate-reality game, into a two-season series.
"It's the most exciting thing on the horizon, [and] it's the thing that, when I wake up in the morning, it makes me say, 'God, it would be cool if that happened,' " Reznor told the Times. "This is my grand ambition. Will it happen? I don't know. It was fun sitting and telling [the HBO] guys and watching them shake their heads and having writers on board and producers that are into it. It's been a fun thing."
Long before the album's release, Reznor said he wanted to take the Year Zero concept even further and was toying with the idea of transforming the story into a graphic novel. He said he'd met with a number of companies, "but it didn't feel quite right." He then considered bringing it to the big screen, "but that has a different timetable and too many people need to say yes. That wouldn't line up right."
Reznor began mulling different types of media, hoping to create a more interactive experience. That's when he hooked up with 42 Entertainment, who'd developed an ARG for Steven Spielberg's "A.I.," and the result was the Year Zero game. Now he'd like to finish the story, which is where HBO comes in.
Reznor said he met with the network two weeks ago to discuss the project. And it sounds like a green-lit series could mean another LP.
"We would have a second ARG tying into the second album and [that] ties into the series, and they all happen together with a budget needed to pull that all off. There would be a tour down the road," Reznor said. "The record completes the story — the ending that no one knows. I know what happens. I knew when I started it. And it's not what people think."
Trent Reznor saying goodbye, with Jane's Addiction?
A small consolation to those not seeing Jane's Addiction at the Echo tonight: It sounds like you'll get another shot to see the original lineup.
But here's the catch: It will probably be on a much bigger stage, and it may be the last time you see Trent Reznor -- at least for a while. Reznor posted today on the official Nine Inch Nails website that he's plotting a major world tour, with Jane's Addiction as a co-headliner.
After the outing, which will commemorate the 20th anniversary of Nine Inch Nails' debut, "Pretty Hate Machine," Reznor writes it will be "time to make NIN disappear for a while." While Reznor doesn't offer too many details as to why the time is ripe for a hiatus, he notes that 2008's "Lights in the Sky" tour was the "culmination of what I could pull off in terms of an elaborate production. It was also quite difficult to pull off technically and physically night after night and left us all a bit dazed."
A proposed tour with Jane's, he writes, would be "much more raw, spontaneous and less scripted." He promises further details soon, and credits Jane's Addiction for giving Nine Inch Nails one of the act's first big breaks.
However, nothing sounds too set in stone, although there have been some Trent/Jane's rumors circulating for a bit now. "I reached out to Jane's to see if they'd want to join us across the US and we all felt it could be a great thing," Reznor writes. Pop & Hiss has requested a comment from the Jane's Addiction camp.
Reznor's announcement to take a hiatus comes as Nine Inch Nails has seemingly been on a creative surge. Last year saw two Web-first releases, the instrumental "Ghosts I-IV" and the more fierce "The Slip." Both albums saw Reznor not only experimenting in the studio, but also toying with new distribution models.
But expect it to be a while before the break comes -- Nine Inch Nails will be playing the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn. Also, here's betting Reznor isn't completely silent during the hiatus. He's spoken in the not too distant past about developing a TV series inspired by 2007's "Year Zero."
Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction set tour dates
The pairing of Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction will hit the Los Angeles area May 20 with a date at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine. The itinerary was released late Tuesday night on the Nine Inch Nails website, and a "here's what we can tell you" note up top hints that more dates are to come.
An on-sale date has not you been announced, and the dates don't yet appear to be in either the Ticketmaster or Live Nation databases. Thus far, 22 dates have been revealed. The concert, which Trent Reznor threatens will be his last before he "makes NIN disappear for a while," will open May 8 in West Palm Beach, Fla.
There's a May 18 date in Las Vegas for road-trippers, as well as a Friday-night performance tabled for May 22 in Mountain View.
Friends of Pop & Hiss who live in Chicago will see Nine Inch Nails sans Jane's, which will fuel suspicion that Jane's Addiction will appear at this year's edition of the Windy City fest Lollapalooza, which is set for Aug. 7-9.
May 8: West Palm Beach, Fla. [Cruzan Amphitheatre]
May 9: Tampa, Fla. [Ford Amphitheatre]
May 10: Atlanta [Lakewood Amphitheatre]
May 14: Albuquerque [Journal Pavilion]
May 15: Phoenix [Cricket Wireless Pavilion]
May 16: Chula Vista [Cricket Wireless Amphitheater]
May 18: Las Vegas [The Pearl]
May 20: Irvine [Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – Irvine Meadows]
May 22: Mountain View [Shoreline Amphitheatre]
May 26: Englewood, Colo. [Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre]
May 27: Kansas City, Mo. [Starlight Theatre]
May 29: Chicago [Charter One Pavilion] (no Jane's Addiction)
May 30: Noblesville, Ind. [Verizon Wireless Music Center]
May 31: Clarkston, Mich. [DTE Energy Music Theatre]
June 2 Toronto [Molson Amphitheatre]
June 3 Darien Lake, N.Y. [Darien Lake Amphitheatre]
June 5: Camden, N.J. [Tweeter Center at the Waterfront]
June 6: Holmdel, N.J. [PNC Bank Arts Center]
June 7: Wantagh, N.Y. [Nikon at Jones Beach Music Theater]
June 9: Columbia, Md. [Merriweather Post Pavilion]
June 10: Burgettstown, Pa. [Post-Gazette Pavilion]
June 12: Charlotte, N.C. [Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre]
The NIN/JA 2009 tour site is now live at ninja2009.com and features a FREE download with exclusive, previously-unreleased music from Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction, and Street Sweeper. You can also browse tour dates, photos, videos, and listen to streaming music. http://www.ninja2009.com
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April Fool's: Trent Reznor's 'Strobe Light'
Source: Los Angeles Times
We already know that Trent Reznor was not too impressed by Chris Cornell and Timbaland's new album, but for April Fool's Day he's taken it a bit further with the "announcement" of his own collaboration with Timbaland called "Strobe Light." The title of the faux-album blinks obnoxiously at the Nine Inch Nails website, which also offers these helpful downloading tips:
To download NIN's new full-length album... enter a valid email address in the fields below. A download link will be sent to you immediately. Your credit card will be charged $18.98 plus a $10 digital delivery convenience fee. Your files will arrive as windows media files playable on quite a few players with your name embedded all over them just in case you lose them.
It's too bad "Strobe Light" is fake because some of these collaborations would've been grimly fascinating, not to mention a challenge to the most faithful of poptimists. Here is the song line-up:
intro skit
everybody's doing it (featuring chris martin, jay-z AND bono)
black t-shirt
...grinder (featuring sheryl crow) [Ed note: we had to edit a naughty word out of this one]
coffin on the dancefloor
this rhythm is infected
slide to the dark side
even closer (featuring justin timberlake and maynard james keenan)
on the list (she's not)
clap trap crack slap
laid, paid and played (featuring fergie of the black eyed peas and al jourgensen)
feel like being dead again
still hurts (featuring alicia keys)
outro skit
Al Jourgensen and Fergie sound like a pretty inspired pairing, but what about Hannah Montana and Genesis P-Orridge?
^lulz. Hilarious.
hahaha this is trent's best work in years.
Nine Inch Nails say goodbye to the United States
Fans surely knew the day was coming, but Trent Reznor offered a reminder early this morning in Manchester, Tenn., telling the crowd at the three-day Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival that his performance with Nine Inch Nails would be the band's last in America.
"It just dawned on me that this is our last show ever in the United States," Reznor is quoted by the Associated Press. "Don't be sad. I'll keep going. But I think I'm going to lose my ... mind if I keep doing this, and I have to stop."
Reznor noted earlier this year that Nine Inch Nails would "disappear for a while" in a posting on the band's website, but sounded a little more finite in his declaration from the Bonnaroo stage. Of course, Reznor's statements have been vague enough to not completely shut the door, leaving open the possibility for more studio work under the Nine Inch Nails banner. Additionally, retirements in rock 'n' roll tend to be short-lived, and this year's Bonnaroo saw the return of Phish, which broke up in 2004.
The Times recently reviewed Nine Inch Nails' farewell tour with Jane's Addiction, and didn't find the band's vitality remotely diminished, writing that Nine Inch Nails would be going out on a "creative hot streak." With 2007's "Year Zero," and last year's "The Slip," Reznor's ambitions, and aggressiveness, haven't shown any signs of waning. Reznor brings the Nine Inch Nails goodbye tour to Europe later this month.
Trent's recent Web 2.0 output has been some of the funnest shit ever. Everything from his twitter to his acknowledgment that he had an oink, what and waffles account has really made him awesome.
It's too bad he got shat on by the very fans he was trying to interact with.
I've always enjoyed NIN and had more than a handful of trent's songs but recently I've become seriously addicted. Before I only had Pretty hate machine, TDS, The Fragile, and With Teeth. I now, of this morning have all of his songs and going to at least one of his final los angeles concerts in september.
Quote from: SiliasRuby on July 12, 2009, 11:23:51 AMI now, of this morning have all of his songs and going to at least one of his final los angeles concerts in september.
I was gonna try for the Wiltern show.
Quote from: MacGuffin on July 12, 2009, 08:02:36 PM
Quote from: SiliasRuby on July 12, 2009, 11:23:51 AMI now, of this morning have all of his songs and going to at least one of his final los angeles concerts in september.
I was gonna try for the Wiltern show.
It's either that for me or the hollywood palladium.
Anyone going to join 'Mac and Me' for any of the shows in LA?
i will forever think of you two together as below. Silias on top of course.
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Silias is Mac and Mac is Me?
envisioned-wise, yes.
I AM GOING TO THE HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM SHOW. Barely got in and happy I did. Gonna be badass. Anyone else get tickets to any these last US shows??????
Who did you blow?
Nobody, you asshole. Thanks for always being a beacon of human decency.
and the show?
Nine Inch Nails digs "Downward" at farewell NY gig
NEW YORK (Billboard) – Nine Inch Nails fans in New York got more than they bargained for Sunday, when the rock band played its 1994 classic "The Downward Spiral" in its entirety for the first time ever.
The Trent Reznor-led act, on a "Wave Goodbye" tour of small venues, had the 1,000-strong crowd at Webster Hall drenched in sweat within minutes of launching into the punishing rock of "Mr. Self Destruct."
It was soon clear that the band was plowing through "Downward" in sequence." Reznor later told the audience, "I've always wanted to play that whole record, and this seemed like the time to do it."
The "Downward" sequence of course featured Nine Inch Nails' iconic single "Closer," which wasn't played the night before during the band's stop at the 550-capacity Bowery Ballroom, and finished with the hushed "Hurt," which became known to an entirely different audience thanks to Johnny Cash's memorable 2002 cover version.
Once "Downward" was completed, NIN played 10 more songs without an encore, including "Suck," "The Hand That Feeds" and its breakthrough 1989 hit, "Head Like a Hole."
The NIN farewell tour continues Tuesday and Wednesday at New York's Terminal 5, and wraps September 6 at Los Angeles' Echoplex. The band had originally planned to bow out of live performances after a summer tour with Jane's Addiction, but Reznor said that since "we had to rush through sets due to a limited allotted set length and many shows were in daylight, it just didn't feel right to end NIN that way."
Reznor has not given specific details about what he plans to do following the tour's conclusion.
I'm going to see them tonight for the first time at the 3000 capacity Terminal 5. I hope it's good.
Fuck, what a great show tonight. Glad I go the hollywood palladium tonight because tomorrow night the show at the henry fonda theatre got cancelled because trent was sick. I'm still on such a high from it
Trent Reznor shines some light on what's next for Nine Inch Nails
As Trent Reznor stepped up to the mike during the fourth encore Thursday night at the Wiltern, he reinforced the plans that crushed fans and fueled skeptics -- that Nine Inch Nails is done taking their act on the road.
"To be clear, we're just not going to tour anymore as Nine Inch Nails," Reznor said to an emotionally drained crowd.
"I'm going to miss them," he said, turning to his band members. "It's been great to play with you and know you as friends and hang out with you and be cramped in a bus and smell each other's farts all day."
It certainly felt like the end. But Reznor etched a bit of a silver lining before launching into a powerful performance of "Hurt."
"We will be making music," Reznor said, inciting a roar of applause. "I'll be making music with these guys. These guys will be making music on their own."
And like a good entrepreneur, he plugged the band's website, which he says will be updated with relevant info about the group's future projects.
One of those projects, some speculated after they closed their final show with "In This Twilight" from the "Year Zero" record, could be a TV series. Last year, Reznor was in talks with HBO about creating a show based on the futuristic, dystopian story line that drove his 2007 concept album and its accompanying alternate reality game.
Another project might be a rumored DVD that will document Nine Inch Nails' Wave Goodbye tour that spanned New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The band's crew filmed many of those shows.
And who knows? Maybe we'll get a musical collaboration between Reznor and fiancée Mariqueen Maandig, who recently split from her band, West Indian Girl.
"I'm not stopping making music," Reznor said. "I've got lots of stuff I want to work on. I just don't want to be touring, and I'm going to die if I keep it up."
If anyone wants the palladium show or the show at the wiltern let me know and I send you the audio files.
Whenever I mention Nine Inch Nails to someone whether its a friend, a coworker, or one of my parents old colleagues they seem to know exactly who I am talking about. They eyes either light up or they give me a 'Really Michael? You like that kind of music?' Yes I do. Un apologetically.
In the summer of 1994 before I was even ten years old I was introduced to this music from a friend of a friend. I was boiling with frustration and anger I got from getting teased at school the past year. The teasing would not really stop until after I proved myself to underlings during the 4th grade play later in the year. This friend (or friend of a friend) gave me a copy of an album on tape saying, 'You GOT to listen this. Its cooler than Metallica'. A casual fan of Metallica and lover of all types of rock music (Before this I was listening to Dylan, Beatles, Huey lewis and the News and Michael Jackson,) I happily accepted the piece. On the side of the copied tape it simply said 'NIN-TDS'.
I looked at the guy hesitantly for a moment, about to ask a question. He was older and had this wise aura about him.
"What-"
"Just listen to it and it will help get your anger out. I know how you have been feeling lately and this will help and its really cool" (Yes we said cool all the time)
"Okay" I said.
That afternoon I ran home. I always anticipated new music and this is the first time someone who wasn't in my family really URGED me to listen to something. I previously listened to whatever was on the radio and whatever my family thought I would like and I usually did aside from Barbara Steisand music which my mom seemed to love. She's still in love with Babs but that's another story.
I got into my room, locked the door, and searched for my tape player. Once I found it, bright yellow and dark black I made sure it worked by playing another tape. I received it as a present either on my last birthday or as a regular gift that my dad gave me from one of his business trips. He went on a lot of them. I opened up my back pack and found the tape. I studied it. 'NIN-TDS'. What in God's name does that mean? I would later find out that NIN meant Nine Inch Nails and TDS meant The Downward Spiral. That they were the same band that had that scary music video on MTV, 'Closer'. (This was when MTV still played music videos instead of the shit that they have on there now. Other than 'the hills'. I LOVE THE HILLS. But I digress).
I put in the tape and pressed play. 'Wooh Jeez. This is...awesome!' I was in a trance. With my huge bulky headphones on top my head and my rug rats T-shirt sticking to my chest I was transported to a world of pain, destruction, hate, and heartlessness that I was not attuned to just yet as a young-in'. My eyes closed and weird images of consequence flew in my mind. I could not grasp exactly everything Trent was saying or the meaning behind the lyrics, all I knew was that it rocked and It had curse words in it. Then the following came through my head and this is true: "Oh man, this is too heavy I don't think even Curt could handle this. This would freak him out and I don't want to do that. His mom would probably not let him see me if I introduced him to this. He has to find it on his own."
Plus I felt like this piece of music was made just for me. The singer really feels like he is just as frustrated as I am. How right I was. I wouldn't know until a couple years later. The next day I tried to find this guy who gave me the tape. I thanked him profusely. Almost to the point of humiliation. This band saved me. I never felt really truly alone since. If I'm ever angry, depressed or feeling just plain negative I put on some nine inch nails and I feel like there's someone there representing me. That's what most NIN's fans feel. It was made just for us, the angry geeks. Its this market niche small as it is, that made Trent and his eclectic cohorts the band that they are today.
As the years passed and I opened myself to more and more bands. Unusually NIN let me get into Limp Bizkit, Korn, and Linkin Park even though they are totally different bands from my Beloved NIN. I got newer versions of Nine Inch Nails' Albums on CD and then finally on MP3. I often compare NIN to Bob Dylan, its music that will often mean something completely different as years go by. No matter which album or song you are listening to (I have all 8 albums and they are all different) Trent's got that constant heavy energy ingrained in his music that is un mistake-able from anything else in music today.
Some will complain that its nothing but noise but they said the same thing about The Beatles and look what happened there. I never went to a NIN concert before this year, possibly because when I was in their heyday (the mid 90's) my parents wouldn't have taken me to such challenging music. Lyrics like 'HEAD LIKE A HOLE BLACK AS YOUR SOUL I'D RATHER DIE THAN GIVE YOU CONTROL' and 'GOD IS DEAD AND NO ONE CARES' would have set them and me to the Arco arena parking lot, never to even mention the band again. I think they would be much more open minded now that we are all adults and the compositions and lyrics of all of their songs (not just 'Head Like a Hole' and 'Heresy') would impress them. Also, if my dad read up on Trent's business models for distributing his music while still making money and not compromising himself as a artist he would be impressed. I might just send them a mix. Some of the stuff could be construed as work out music which my mom could enjoy. My Dad really likes Bowie and so does my Mom I believe so I now KNOW they would be into them since Bowie was such a heady influence on Trent's music.
When I heard earlier this year that Nine Inch Nails was going to stop touring all together I tried and succeeded in getting tickets. My friend Jeremy and I went on that september 2nd. It was at the Hollywood Palladium which I was happy to get since I heard that the acoustics were out of this world amazing. In fact I knew they were since I saw Third Eye Blind there in June. They were another staple of my childhood. When I went I was blown away. Trent was sick and he still played the full TDS album in its entirety plus 10 songs extra, 24 songs total. Just over 2 hours. The Palladium was a perfect place to hear such a huge band.
Now they have said they are not touring anymore. They just wrapped up their wave goodbye tour here in LA just this thursday. Trent has been touring under NIN since 1989 when "Pretty Hate Machine" debuted to the world. While that may be true (that he's stopping touring) Trent Reznor is not going to stop making music. He's pulling what the beatles pulled, for the same reason they did, "I'll die if I keep doing this", in reference to touring. That's why The Beatles stopped touring right?... Joking. For those who don't know The Beatles stopped touring because all of the fans were screaming so loud you couldn't even hear their own instruments. Its wonderful Trent will still be making music. Whether it will be as Nine Inch Nails or as a quote unquote "Solo" artist is up for debate. Solo artist. Funny. If you are not familiar Nine Inch Nails is basically just Trent with a round scatter of different artists playing with him.
I'm starting to think this is going a little long but Nine Inch Nails and Trent deserve this type of note filled with adulation, even though he'll never see it. It needed to be said. Nine Inch Nails changed my life and thank God it was for the better.
Closer was a real important video for me, too. I've always had a problem sleeping, so I used to stay up when my family was asleep to watch 120 Minutes on MTV (and all its iterations). This is the time when I'd see the videos they wouldn't allow during the day, anyway. The Director's Label DVD's was definitely a rush of nostalgia because all those videos definitely shaped who I am now.
Fun fact: When Trent asserts that he wants to "Fuck you like an animal" I had no idea what he meant. I knew that fuck had several connotations and I had never assumed that it meant sex, especially in the context of the song because to someone very unfamiliar with BDSM, nothing in the song is entirely sexual. At the time, I assumed it was just something violent and that the whole song was about beating someone senseless.
between me and you silias, and maybe i read this wrong, but if you were listening to dylan in 4th grade, i think we should hang out. Granted maybe you weren't getting fully cathartic with it, but still that kind of exposure at such a young age, you're very lucky if that was your folks' doing. I'd like to know where you're at now, and i don't mean in the physical sense.
Quote from: Neil on September 15, 2009, 11:46:03 AM
I'd like to know where you're at now, and i don't mean in the physical sense.
Can't it be both?
sure, i just thought asking his exact location was creep status. because i'm serious. My dad always tried to show me dylan, but i just like "tangled up and FUCK OFF DAD!"
I physically live in L.A. In my music I'm still addicted to my roots of Beatles, Dylan, NIN, Rolling Stones, Third Eye Blind, the Doors, Hendrix, and Janis Joplin and the whole era of late 60's and 70's music. Emotionally, I'm in flux. I know there is array of music in those two decades. Well, Neil, you are partly right-I was listening to Dylan starting in the 3rd grade as well as the artists that I just mentioned. For a time in my youth (5th and 6th grade) my mother got me addicted to Aaron Neville. It was partly my parents doing as far as music goes, my parents and my cousins that I used to visit in Ohio. I have a strange music collection now: I have Everclear and Joni Mitchell. Crosby, stills, nash, young and Portishead.
Anyway, ya, if you live in L.A. We should hang out. I have some very cool bootlegs I'm very proud of, one being of a recording session between John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder and the other being a record of Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix playing live in New York in 1968, both completely wasted.
...third eye blind?
Yeah, Third Eye Blind. I threw them in there even though they are not part of the late 60's early 70's music that I loe so much. Their lyrics to a lot of their songs could have come from songs that were made in the 60's though...possibly.
So, I guess Nine Inch Nails is dead?
Anyway, there's a new track from Trent's new project, How To Destroy Angels on Pitchfork:
http://pitchfork.com/news/38686-how-to-destroy-angels-a-drowning/ (http://pitchfork.com/news/38686-how-to-destroy-angels-a-drowning/)
Basically sounds like generic NIN (I can't place it, but I feel like it's exactly like another NIN song) with a female (his wife) singing just like he would sing if it was him.
It gets sweet, but it takes a while of bland to get there.
lyrically the guy's just tapped out. and being this way makes me question his early stuff. was he really ever saying anything? NIN is one of those bands that doesn't age well for me. this is mainly due to the fact with every album i see trent less and less intelligent.
if anyone was getting into nine inch nails now i'd tell them to listen to the downward spiral, and end there.
i'd turn them on to bands with a similar mood but that are actually progressive with their lyrics.
Quote from: socketlevel on May 06, 2010, 10:20:52 AM
if anyone was getting into nine inch nails now i'd tell them to listen to the downward spiral, and end there.
And completely overlook The Fragile, With Teeth, Perfect Drug and all its remixes, not to mention the plethora of remixes he'd released post-Spiral?
No thank you, sir!
Well, With Teeth isn't necessarily brilliant, but it's grown on me since its release.
i'm with you on the perfect drug, but not the remixes.
what was the name of the ep with the blue cover?? that was fantastic through and through.
Quote from: Alexandro on May 07, 2010, 12:58:57 PM
what was the name of the ep with the blue cover?? that was fantastic through and through.
"fixed"? that was remixes from "broken"
or maybe "the perfect drug" single?
how old an ep are you talking about?
yeah it was fixed...used to love that 15 fucking years ago. fuck.
Trent Reznor making a sci-fi series for HBO
Source: SfyFy
The Nine Inch Nails frontman is bringing his apocalyptic 2007 sci-fi concept album to the small screen as an HBO miniseries. Warning: It won't be feel-good TV.
More than two years ago, Trent Reznor dropped the news that he was in early talks with HBO to adapt Year Zero—which had already been turned into an alternate reality game—and now it seems like things are moving along at a pretty decent pace. BBC Worldwide Productions has come aboard as the studio, and Carnivale's Daniel Knauf is writing the pilot.
"It's exciting," Reznor told the L.A. Times' Geoff Boucher. "I probably shouldn't say too much about it except that I understand that there's a thousand hurdles before anything shows up in your TV listing. It's been an interesting and very educational process, and it cleared the HBO hurdle a few months ago, and now we're writing drafts back and forth. So it's very much alive and incubating at the moment."
As for what Year Zero is about, it was born out of Reznor's frustration with what America and, by extension, the world became during the Bush years. And, rather than write a traditional protest record, he decided to spin the story forward. "I started by writing a kind of world bible about what life would be like around 15 or 20 years from now if things continue on the same path. I spent a few weeks filling it in with the events that could lead to this kind of time and place. Then as an experiment I started writing songs about people in this place and from different points of view."
Who knows when you'll see Year Zero? As Reznor freely admits, "I've learned that [television development] moves at a glacial pace." But be prepared for a downer of monumental proportions whenever it arrives.
Nine Inch Nails New Album Finished, Out This Year
Reznor: "I've been less than honest about what I've really been up to lately."
Source: Pitchfork
Trent Reznor's revived incarnation of Nine Inch Nails have signed to Columbia Records and will release a new album later this year.
Reznor's other project, How to Destroy Angels, is also signed to Columbia.
In a press release, Reznor said, "I've been less than honest about what I've really been up to lately. For the last year I've been secretly working non-stop with Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder on a new, full-length Nine Inch Nails record, which I am happy to say is finished and frankly fucking great. This is the real impetus and motivation behind the decision to assemble a new band and tour again. My forays into film, HTDA and other projects really stimulated me creatively and I decided to focus that energy on taking Nine Inch Nails to a new place. Here we go!"
The revived band is heading out on tour starting this summer. As reported, the touring NIN lineup will include Reznor, Adrian Belew of King Crimson, and Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv, as well as previous NIN collaborators Robin Finck, Alessandro Cortini, and Ilan Rubin.