Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor Finds New Channels for Rage
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor still has plenty of rage, he's just finding more healthier ways to channel it. The rocker tells the Guardian that his band's 1994 classic 'The Downward Spiral' and the new 'Hesitation Marks' album are two parts of the same journey, each addressing his rage in different manners.
He explains, "'Downward Spiral' felt like I had an unending bottomless pit of rage and self-loathing inside me and I had to somehow challenge something or I'd explode. I thought I could get through by putting everything into my music, standing in front of an audience and screaming emotions from my guts … but after a while it didn't sustain itself and other things took over -- drugs and alcohol."
Speaking about his current state, the rocker added, "I'm happy that I don't feel that way anymore. I've learned to recognize and a lot of it forced through the process of recovery, that I'm wired wrong in certain ways. The chemical balance of my brain is off in terms of depression a little bit. This record was written as the other side of the journey."
He adds, "The despair and loneliness and rage and isolation and the not-fitting-in aspect, that still is in me, but I can express that in a way that feels more appropriate to who I am now. And often that rage is quieter."
Nine Inch Nails' 'Hesitation Marks' album is due Sept. 3. The group will continue to tour into the fall with the 'Tension' trek, giving fans a chance to see some of that "quieter" rage. The full itinerary can be seen here.