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Page 1
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Enjoying the lustful perks of stardom ...
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Page 2
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A team of surgeons are most responsible for David Draiman's vocal growth ...
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Page 3
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"I'm letting you see me naked. Do you like it?" ...
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"Acid was spilling all over my vocal apparatus in my sleep every night," he explained. "So I'd be on tour singing on top of acid-burned vocal cords. It frustrated the sh-- out of me because I was doing everything I could to maintain my voice at the highest level possible and yet I'd wake up in the morning and half my voice was gone, even though I was on medication."
In August 2001 Draiman went under the knife to remove the damaged valve. The procedure was a success, and not long after, he found he had complete control over his voice and was able to sing with more range, emotion and nuance than ever. Also, he didn't have to worry so much about what he put into his stomach.
"He can drink again now," Donegan said with more than a hint of relief. "Before, he wasn't supposed to drink and I would feel really guilty when I'd crack a beer in front of him."
"I still have to watch myself, though," Draiman interjected, "because to do what I do as a vocalist takes a lot of discipline. You can't just annihilate yourself every night and expect to be able to pull this off. That's what the song 'Remember' is about — not focusing on all of the existential chaos that's going on around me and not necessarily getting drawn back into bad habits. We have been given this gift of this record and this union and our abilities and the whole gambit. Our responsibility is just not to squander that."
Draiman takes that responsibility pretty seriously, but he knows taste is subjective and he's painfully aware that even though Disturbed worked tirelessly on Believe, there's a chance that the record won't set the rock charts ablaze. It doesn't help that the video he co-directed for "Prayer" was nixed by various video outlets, including MTV, because its imagery — which was meant to parallel the biblical trials of Job — was deemed too reminiscent of footage of the World Trade Center collapsing.
While the video debacle was a blow, Disturbed have rebounded and are getting ready to shoot a second video, this one for "Remember." Then they'll hit the road opening for Korn, one of Draiman's biggest influences.
Disturbed have done everything they can to promote Believe, and now Draiman and his bandmates are eager to find out whether it will be embraced by the metal community. They've poured their hearts into the album and are ready for whatever judgement awaits them.
"We genuinely believe that this is the greatest work we have ever done in our lives, so on that level we're very excited, but we're also terrified because what if we're wrong?" Draiman posited. "What if everything we're basing our perception of reality on is not what we think it is? That's very, very humbling and frightening, because we have our souls exposed to the general public on a platter. I'm giving you every single emotion that I thought was strong enough and difficult enough for me to contain that I had no other choice but to validate myself in the form of music. I'm letting you see me naked. Do you like it?"
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Photo: Warner Bros.
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