Rob caught up with Disturbed back stage at the Birmingham leg of The Taste Of Chaos tour to talk about their current album 'Asylum', their fan's and much more..

You have been together as a band for 15 years now, what would you say your main highs and lows have been so far?
Mike(Drums)As we continue to grow and evolve as a band and when we think we've had the biggest high, something comes along and tops it and were fortunate for that to keep happening to us, our fan base keeps expanding and we keep kicking ass!The lows are being away from our family for long periods of time.

You released your fifth studio album ‘Asylum’ back in August, how has the album been received from both the press and your fans?
Mike) We feel its been going really well, its been getting great reviews, when we go to a new city that we haven't played on this new record, and we play some new material, a lot of the fans are singing, and there pretty into it.

John (Bass) I like to think with each record with us and got them hooked with an earlier record, we feel that every record we put out were giving them something that not only we feel good about but something that's going to connect with our fans. On this tour like mike said we've got a big response from our new songs when we've played them live.

Would you say ‘Asylum’ is one of your most strongest and personal sounding albums?
Mike) Everyone seems to say that about there new record, were proud of it, we feel its our best body of work to date, and the challenge for us will be to top it on the next one

You are one of the only rock bands who have had 4 consecutive number one albums in America, is this something you are proud of?
Mike) It was never something that we set out to do, but to part of that elite group is pretty amazing, Metallica, U2, ourselves, Dave Mathews . To be in a category like that with Metallica, who we look up to and want to have the longevity of career like they have, its a huge honour, but ultimately its down to our fans loyalty, its about the fans buying records and we still sell records, the industry is down in record sales, our fans still buy records and we couldn't have done that without them doing so.

How do you go about writing new material?
Mike) Were very focused when it comes to the aspect that disturbed is doing at anyone time, when were on tour its all about being on tour, and concentrating on giving the best shows we can to our fans. Danny's always playing around with his guitar coming up with riffs and storing them in the back of his mind, once we get off the road, we take a short break and then switch gears from touring to writing, Danny and I will get together, he'll throw the riffs at me and ill put down the beats and we'll get some rough songs, then send them to David and John, to add there parts, then its back and forth till we feel its good enough to get it down on tape.

I know your music has helped a lot of your fans get through dark times of their life, how does it feel when people thank you for saving their life or for helping them get away from such a dark place?
John) I don't think there's a bigger compliment than that, when we do meet and greets, and people come up to us and tell us that or music got them through an awful time in there life, or when people tell us that they use our music to get pumped up, soldiers tell us that they use our music before they go out on missions to get pumped up, or athletes, but the everyday person that uses our music to get them through the hard times that's impressive stuff, nothing makes us prouder than that.

Your music videos are always quite hard hitting and full of shocks, who normally comes up with the ideas and direction to take within the music videos?
Mike) A lot of times we'll submit or put the word out to directors and different production companies, that this is the song that were gonna be doing video for next, throw your ideas at us, at times there's they'll come up with some good stuff and others it depends on the certain topic on certain songs, where the band will have an input, like on another way to die, and put the word out that this is something we want to do. We've experimented with different directors, using our ideas and there ideas, in different ways of doing it.

You are currently touring on The Taste Of Chaos tour, how have the shows been so far? And how does it feel to be headlining such a long running tour?
Mike) Its great for us, to be coming over here and a lot of times in the past we've been able to do big productions with good supporting acts, but a lot of the times over here unfortunately due to cost, we've had to scale back the production,for the first time,we've been able to put on big production with a good performance with the visuals as well.

What has your stage show and set list been like on this tour?
Mike) You'll have to watch the show

John) We try to take the fans on a journey, there's the highs and lows in the set, there's the visuals, its a unique Disturbed experience for our European fans.

Can we expect you to head back to the UK in 2011 to play some headline shows or even summer festival appearances?
Mike) The plan is to come back next year and be part of festivals, Download Rock am Ring etc, and any other that's happening at the time.

You had to cancel your US tour back in October due to David being diagnosed with a serious throat condition, how frustrated were you at having to cancel a tour and is David back 100% fighting fit now?
Mike(I think he's back to a 110 percent right now, he's killing every night, its disappointing when you have to cancel a tour, but its been a tough road for him, his body is his instrument, sometimes touring wears heavily on your body and if you get sick, it makes it much worse, so you have to take some time off and let your body heal, so that's what he did, and he's back stronger than ever!(Chuckle from David)

You have announced that you will be co-headlining with Korn on the Music As Weapons 5 Tour in America in 2011, when does this tour kick off and how many dates will you be playing for?
Mike) Not sure of the exact number of dates but its starts in mid January then goes for 4 or 5 weeks, then a few weeks off then then there's a 2nd leg planned after that.

Where would you like to see yourself this time next year?
John) Well I guess this time next year, we will have finished this album cycle, then after that being home with the family, kicking it at the holidays, and in warmer climates, as Mike said the lows are being away from the family so its good to get back, and we cherish them.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a Zebra and a Giraffe which one would you be and why?
Mike) A giraffe, because you always see Zebras getting eaten and you have your head in the clouds!

John) Yeah ill have to go with that because you have your head in the clouds!

Thanks for your time, do you have an message for your fans reading this?
Thank you for coming out to the shows, buy the records, supporting us as a band, hard rock and heavy metal, we'll keep coming back for as long as you'll have us.

Interview By Robert Lawrence