DISTURBED's JOHN MOYER On Band's Musical Evolution: 'A Lot Of It Is Thought Out Ahead Of Time'

During an appearance on STITCHED UP HEART's YouTube livestream on Tuesday (July 6),bassist John Moyer discussed how DISTURBED's sound has evolved over the years, particularly in the 17 years since he joined the band. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "On every record, there is an evolution. In fact, the last record was called 'Evolution'. At that point, we were putting on ballads; almost half that record is some version of a ballad. And I think that's fair, because every other record before that, there was never a ballad besides [the cover of SIMON AND GARFUNKEL's] 'Sound Of Silence'; everything was just really heavy and super aggressive.

"The first record, Dan [Donegan, guitar] was definitely more in sort of an industrial mindset," he continued. "The second record, he started really creating more lush chordal changes. The third record, he introduced guitar solos. So, I feel like every record — he's always saving something for the next record. And the evolution happens naturally.

"I think there's something to be said for having a sound, like AC/DC. And there's something to be said for not abandoning your fanbase. They listen to you for a reason. They do not want your next record to be something completely different or [for] you to ignore what got you there. So, we still rely on the sounds and the sonics and the style that our fans wanna hear, but then we also try to push ourselves to, like, 'Okay, now let's…' And it's very conscious. It's not like we accidentally go down a road. It's, like, 'Okay, on this song, we are going to push this or go here with it.' So, a lot of it is thought out ahead of time as far as how far we wanna push the envelope without taking it too far."

DISTURBED had great commercial success with its orchestral treatment of "The Sound Of Silence", which appeared on 2015's "Immortalized" album. The band also previously covered TEARS FOR FEARS' "Shout" in 2000 and GENESIS's "Land Of Confusion" in 2005, the latter of which landed at position No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

"The Sound Of Silence" earned DISTURBED its highest Billboard Hot 100 chart position ever (No. 42 in 2016).

Last September, DISTURBED's "No More" landed at position No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart. The track, which was the third single from "Evolution", marked DISTURBED's seventh straight No. 1 on the chart.

In March, DISTURBED's "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" was officially canceled. The amphitheater tour, with very special guest STAIND and BAD WOLVES, was originally slated to take place last summer but was rescheduled to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was eventually scrapped altogether.

"The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" was supposed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of DISTURBED's seminal album "The Sickness". On this tour, the band was expected to perform songs off the album, as well as tracks from "Evolution" and its extensive catalog.