Post by Scott on Jan 21, 2007 14:30:42 GMT -5
NINE INCH NAILS frontman Trent Reznor has revealed to Kerrang! magazine that making the band's forthcoming fifth studio album, entitled "Year Zero", has resulted in him feeling stronger and more self-assured than ever before.
Reznor is currently working on the follow-up to 2005's "With Teeth" in his home studio in Los Angeles, but recorded a lot of new songs in hotel rooms around the world on laptops and a portable studio. Although remaining tight-lipped about the new songtitles, Reznor did confess that writing and recording on the move has been "fun and inspiring."
"I feel a lot more confident recording this record than I did 'With Teeth'," Reznor revealed. "'With Teeth' was me kind of wondering if I could still even do this and being pretty cautious. And this one, I've got my confidence back. I feel stronger about what I have to say as an artist and I feel a lot less concerned about what people think about it. I feel personally that my best work's ahead of me," he added. "I don't know if that's going to be the case in the public's opinion but that's out of my control. What I can do is try to make the best shit I can and push myself and that's what I think this record is right now."
Reznor is not, however, feeling quite so optimistic about the rest of the current rock scene.
"If I happen to accidentally turn the radio on and hear, for example, an emo type screamo band, I literally can't tell the difference between one of 20 bands," he sighed. "I think either I'm getting old, which is a fact, or I'm turning into my dad! I wonder about the person that's in a band, the young kid who just got signed or is trying to get signed — why is he doing it?" Reznor mused. "Is he trying to change the world and do something different and express himself, because that is why he wanted to do it? Or is it because they want to f*ck Paris Hilton and be photographed outside trendy restaurants?"
"Year Zero" is due out in April.
NINE INCH NAILS will release a DVD called "Beside You In Time" on February 27. The disc documents the band's tour in support of "With Teeth".
In a January 11, 2007 posting on on the official NIN fan club web site The Spiral, the band's mastermind Trent Reznor wrote, "While mixing, I spend most of my time NOT in the control room to allow myself some objectivity when it comes time to listen to the progress of a track. During that time, I'm working on the new set list, tour production, thinking about tracks that aren't being mixed yet, working on a few things NIN-related I can't tell you about yet, finishing Saul's record, and occasionally checking in on you people online.
"Let me clear a few things up so some of you don't kill yourselves (or maybe you now will). This is not a f*cking hip hop record, for f*ck's sake. I imagine my referring to old PUBLIC ENEMY records as an influence and the fact I'm working with Saul sparked that. To clarify what I meant by being influenced by PUBLIC ENEMY: HANK SHOCKLEE's 'Bomb Squad' had a unique and highly influential way of constructing tracks — layers of samples and loops that combined together to form something chaotic and new. Do not expect Flavor Flav to appear here.
"While we're at it, I wouldn't consider Saul's record to be labeled hip hop either. Certainly there is an influence there but his record reaches far beyond the confines of what I consider a dying genre.
"As far as the sound and content of my new record, you'll see and hear soon enough. I am certain some of you will HATE it. I am also certain some of you will find it the best thing I've ever done. It is different in a number of ways and it is who I am now.
"I am creating right now and I do not care what the record label or marketing people think about what I'm doing. I also do not care what the public think about what I'm doing. I certainly appreciate your patronage — and I HOPE you will get and enjoy what I'm working on, but I will not patronize you or pander to what you want. I assure you I am pouring every ounce of my life, heart and soul into this and it will be the best work I am capable of — and that's all I can do."