New Regime Mastermind Gets to Spread Wings After Nine Inch Nails Tour

It's pretty major for a young band to have the backing of Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor. But the eccentric frontman is known to take care of his own. Take Ilan Rubin for one. The man behind the New Regime drummed for Nine Inch Nails most of 2009 and, in return, Reznor is offering a free download of the band's 2008 debut, 'Coup,' in its entirety at thenewregime.nin.com. "That kind of support is amazing," Rubin told Noisecreep via telephone from his California home.

Feeling energized by the new crop of fans he's collected due to Nine Inch Nails' Wave Goodbye Tour, Rubin has put together a special limited-edition deluxe package of 'Coup,' which was available beginning Nov. 10 exclusively on the band's Web site. For $45, fans will get a 180-gram vinyl, the CD, a DVD featuring live performances and an interview with Rubin, a 16-page, full-color booklet and an exclusive Web site link to download instrumental mixes from the New Regime's Web site. All 1,000 limited-edition copies are hand numbered and signed by Rubin. A stand-alone digipak CD is also available for $7.

Also formerly of the Welsh band Lostprophets, the American is no mere time-keeper, as the adept multi-instrumentalist wrote and recorded every note of bass, drums, guitar, piano and vocals on 'Coup.'

"Nine Inch Nails was fantastic," Rubin said. "It's the most fun I've ever had playing drums for a band. It was the most different thing I've ever had to do drum-wise. I had to play keyboards and piano as well. Having to learn 60, 70 songs before going out on tour, then playing all these different kinds of things. It kept the excitement up.

"I love touring, but coming home is always nice. There's things I can do at home that I can't do on tour. Honestly when I'm on tour, I get to pretty much only play drums. It's harder to write when you're out. I don't have access to all the instruments and stuff that I usually use. When I'm home I can write whatever I want, work on things on my own pace."

Playing for Nine Inch Nails was a challenge, given the wealth of material created by Reznor. Learning those songs made it impossible for Rubin to properly promote 'Coup' when it was released the first time around in late 2008.

"I was announced as the new drummer [in November 2008], but I didn't start rehearsing and playing with the band until mid- January," he said. "That wasn't enough time for me to go out and promote my album. It just wasn't enough time. I had to learn and practice all of the Nine Inch Nails material before I rehearsed with the band. That's why I'm able to [promote 'Coup'] now. It's weird because the album's been out for a while, but we just came out with this package. It's interesting, because I almost have an album's worth of material done."

If Rubin learned anything from working with Reznor, it was to have a strong work ethic. "The biggest difference between NIN and any other band I played with is a very strong work ethic," he said. "You need to put in the hours and make sure everything's perfect. That's the way I like to function, personally. That's something I really enjoyed with the band. Plus, he knows how to put on a well-rounded show. They're all fairly aggressive and loud, but they're all fairly dynamic. There's a lot of thought into how the shows flowed."