He might look like a miserable old git but
Trent Reznor isn’t as sombre and po-faced as rumours would have you believe.
Meet the real man behind Nine Inch Nails…
On a cold Wednesday night at London’s Brixton Academy, there are at least 4,000 people
frantically going apeshit under a sense-shredding assault of strobes and dry ice.
The reason? Nine Inch Nails are onstage. And, that, to seasoned NIN fans is the
equivalent of the Second Coming of Christ for Christians.
So all this isn’t much of a surprise when you
consider that it's the first of four dates at the venue on a sold-out UK tour that by its end, will see them
play to roughly 10 times that number. More surprising, however, is the fact
that among the shaking throng, you’ll find the Lostprophets and assorted
members of Deftones, all wearing fan-boy faces. Deftones frontman Chino Moreno,
in particular, is in superfan mode, enthusing to anyone within earshot about
tracks aired tonight from his favourite NIN records. But even more than that,
though, is the sight of Trent Reznor himself – a man for whom misery and
self-hate have been creative staples long before emo ever uttered a whimper,
and a man currently having the time of his life as he tears through the set,
jumping up and down, hurling mic stands this way and that, and, Jesus, did he
just crack a joke?
It’s a joy to behold, not just because it’s
proof an artist 18 years into his career and 41 years old can still rip it up
with a vitality that would put those half his age to shame, but because Reznor
is about to return to deliver ‘Year Zero’ – the best thing he’s done in years.
And he’s excited.
This is far bigger news than it might first
appear. At a time where you can buy Fall Out Boy belts and HIM wallets in high
street stores, NIN – a band that can also count album sales in the millions –
are nowhere to be seen. Yet among bands and peers – not to mention an
obsessively devoted fan-base that has followed Reznor’s every move since the
release of NIN’s 1989 debut, ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ – it’s a different story.
Though he’d kill you before admitting it, Marilyn Manson owes his career to
him. Good Charlotte don’t, but Benji Madden sports a ‘NIN’ sticker on his
guitar, and if you ask pop-punk newcomers Madina Lake about Reznor, prepare to
have them bend your ear for some serious hero worship. In fact, you’d be hard
pushed to find a star inhabiting the rock world who won’t admit to being
influenced by Reznor in some way or another. For the man himself, the reason
for all this respect and adulation is a simple and unglamorous one.
“In my darkest hours when I grew to hate myself
through addiction and chemical whatevers in me,” admits Reznor, “I always cared
about the music higher than anything else.”
If the exuberance of his recent live shows and
the fact that ‘Year Zero’, NIN’s fifth full-length album, is the first to shift
from the personal to more political leanings in lyrical content, suggest a
happier mind-set these days, it’s not something that’s immediately evident from
a face-to-face meeting with Reznor. Words often used to describe the frontman
include intimidating, serious and unnerving, and sat on an expansive, purple
sofa in a room at London’s swanky Metropolitan hotel, thumb
and forefinger pressed against his forehead in permanent think mode, the
black-clad Reznor cuts an imposing figure.
On the table in front of him are several cups
of herbal tea with a side order of honey to soothe an ongoing throat problem
that resulted in the cancellation [postponement! –TNH] of a show in Birmingham on March 4. He offers a quiet ‘hi’
as a greeting, and he waves away any questions about the state of his voice
with a dealing-with-it shrug.
Interviews with Reznor are hard to come by;
there’s been little promotion on this tour and the 45 minute audience he grants
with K! is the longest interview he’s done so far. He speaks in a slow,
considered monotone, punctuated by long pauses. His closely-cropped hair and
long face give him a stern demeanour, although he comes across as reserved and
pensive rather than aloof and arrogant. And while you sense that interviews
aren’t his favourite pastime, he’s accommodating and there’s a welcome
self-deprecating humour that he lets out occasionally – “My tea suppliers,” he
announces with mock ceremony as a label minion clunks down another cup beside
him.
‘Year Zero’ began life as ideas knocked out on
a laptop in 2005 during spare moments on the 18-month promotional tour for
‘With Teeth’ – the long-delayed follow-up to 1999’s ‘The Fragile’ and his first
sober after a long catalogue of drink and drug problems. Partly, as Reznor
explains, because he found a way to “make it fun” on tour, partly because it
passed the time, and because it kept him sane, too.
The biggest reason, however, was that he knew
he finally had the confidence to make the record he wanted. Ask him what he
thinks of ‘With Teeth’ now and he’ll describe it as “cautious”, adding that it
wouldn’t be his “favourite NIN record today”.
“Looking back, I can see I wasn’t completely
sure of myself,” he confesses. “I got sober six years ago in June, and I took a
few of those years just trying to stay alive and feel comfortable in my own
skin before I jumped back into work to possibly fail.”
‘Year Zero’ is a different place for sure. For
one it’s the most musically ambitions NIN have ever sounded. For another, its
fiendishly involved concept is possibly the nerdiest NIN have ever been.
“I’m a nerd,” Reznor states, breaking into a
grin. “I’m with you on that.”
Trent Reznor was born on May
17, 1965,
which puts him one month shy of his 42nd birthday. He spent his 40th in court –
“being sued by my lying prick ex-manager,” he says, flatly. “I won”. That the
past year has seen more activity from him since the start of his career is less
of a surprise than the fact he’s here at all. Certainly, were you a betting
man, you wouldn’t have put your money on Trent Reznor being alt-rock’s last man
standing. When 1994’s ‘The Downward Spiral’ was shifting two million units and
counting, he disappeared at the height of his fame for four years. When he
resurfaced with ‘The Fragile’ in 1999, the gap was six years.
“When you get some fame, you’d be surprised at
how you as a person changes,” he explains. “With the whirlwind of stuff that
comes at you, it’s often difficult not to become that guy you were just
laughing at.”
Can you still relate to a ‘Pretty Hate Machine’-era
Trent? Or an instrument-smashing
‘Downward Spiral’ Trent?
“They’re all friends,” Reznor considers. “It’s
not all me in those people but I know why I did those things at the time. They
were done with the right intentions, and obviously there have been some
missteps, but you live and learn.”
Though Reznor writes, records – and with the
occasional collaborative exception – provides the sole creative force behind
the music, when it comes to touring, NIN have always functioned as a live unit.
The current line-up, which he’s played with for two years – guitarist Aaron
North, bassist Jeordie White, drummer Josh Freese and keyboardist Alessandro
Cortini – is also the longest standing, and in Reznor’s eyes, the best he’s
had.
“But we haven’t explored actually writing music
together,” Reznor explains. “I’m open to it, but I’ve never had success doing
it. So now I’m just like, ‘let’s see what happens’.”
Ask him how close he is to the other members,
whether he socialises outside of gig hours and he’ll say yes, a bit of that
goes on. Before admitting that he’s certainly not rock’s resident party animal.
“I don’t really ‘hang out’ at all,” he says.
“But it’s not like we aren’t friends.”
The photo shoot the following day seems to
attest this. With the whole band in one place together, the atmosphere seems
relaxed and natural. There might not be any ostentatious displays of
camaraderie, but there’s clearly enough rapport between them that allows for
some joking around, as Reznor and White play-hug in-between shots.
Ask North about Reznor and he’ll tell you that
he’s not “some kind of Führer-esque control freak dude”, adding that in two
years, he and the frontman have “screamed at each other” just once (although he
declines the offer to share what they were fighting about).
In interviews in the past, Reznor has made no
secret of how he is determined to keep himself – the man – out of the NIN
spotlight as much as possible. And it has been a wish that most journalists
have granted, possibly due to the fact that he is such a formidable, stern
presence in the flesh, or perhaps because no one has dared play the low-brow
goof in front of such a smart and articulate artist. K!, however, decided that
it was about time that the world got to know some things about Trent Reznor –
the man. And here’s what Reznor gave us…
Describe yourself in
four words.
“Oh for fuck’s sake. That’s my four words
there.”
What’s your best
quality?
“Determination.”
And your worst?
“I tend to focus on one thing and let other
things slip away.”
People suggest you’re
a very intimidating, scary person. Would you say that’s an accurate
observation?
“It’s weird for me to hear that because I don’t
see myself as that. A lot of times when I’m in a situation where I’m being
around other people, I can mistake them as being standoffish, and later I
realise that they might be intimidated. But I don’t see myself that way.”
So you’re quite a
warm, friendly person, then?
“No, quite not! Not that either.”
Why do you think
people get you so wrong?
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the music a bit –
it’s not necessarily happy songs and I do take my work very seriously. I try to
keep my personality out of headlines and there’s a reason for that. I want it
to be about the music and Nine Inch Nails and not about me the personality.”
What’s the most
annoying untruth you’ve read about yourself?
“There was a time when I used to pay a lot of
attention to things and I’d get upset when I’d hear that I’m really depressed
or I’m a vampire or I never laugh, that kind of thing. But I don’t let that
come out in the music too much. As far as irritating untruths… Anything that’s
ever come out of Courtney Love’s fat, liposuctioned mouth or that’s in Marilyn
Manson’s fictional book. Those are things that have irritated me because
they’re absolutely, patently untrue.”
So you and Courtney
aren’t pals?
“I make a point not to ever speak her name, but
somehow it just crossed my mind. I saw a recent photo of some fat lady that
looked like her and there was her recent transformation…”
How do you relax when
you’re not working?
“I’m never not working! Actually, I do enjoy
reading and I enjoy mountain-biking.”
Are you quite a fit
person?
“Um, yeah, pretty much.”
What’s the last book
you read?
“It was a book called ‘The Road’. I forget who
the author is [Cormac McCarthy], but it was a post-apocalyptic, futuristic
tale. You know, cheery light reading!”
What was the last
thing that made you really laugh?
“Really laugh? We went to the torture museum in
Amsterdam recently and somebody farted in the
middle of a presentation. I probably laughed for five whole minutes about that!
There was a bunch of us laughing. It was one of those contagious, inappropriate
moments.”
Can you cook?
“Not very well, no. It’s on my list of things
to get better at.”
If I was coming round
to your house for dinner, what would you cook me?
“I would probably suggest a take-out. But it
would depend on if I’m trying to impress you or not.”
Say you are really
trying to impress me?
“If I were trying to impress you, I would call
a friend of mine whose mother is an excellent chef, and I’d have her come over
and cook. And I may even bullshit you into letting you think that I cooked it.
Depending on how much I’m trying to impress you…”
Does the whole notion
of a celebrity lifestyle still turn you off?
“Yeah. Life in front of the cameras has no
appeal to me whatsoever. I can understand that if your career is one that
relies on that, if you’re an actor, or a type of actor I should say, or a type
of ‘musician’ – that ego needs to be fuelled by thinking that that’s the way
they want to portray themselves. But I have no personal interest in that. It
plays into everything that’s wrong with music and art right now.”
So you don’t go to
celebrity parties?
“No, I hate that kind of shit.”
How do you feel about
getting old?
“That’s a good question. It’s surprising. You
don’t have any choice in the matter, I’ve discovered, and I’m trying to be
honest with myself as I can be – trying to reassess what matters to me and what
makes me happy as an artist. It’s weird because I woke up one day and I was
several years older than I thought I was and it was like, ‘How did that
happen?’ But then maturity begins to creep in… I’m feeling at peace with a
number of things that I wasn’t in the past.”
Is staying sober still
a struggle for you?
“It’s nothing that I let my guard down about.
I’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that the place I’m at is… I’ve got safety
nets around me if necessary. But I do feel that I’ve made my peace with
accepting that’s what I am and I don’t go through life wishing I could do
things that I can’t do. I really don’t. I feel what I’ve got in sobriety is the
ability to think again, and make music, and feel good about myself and about
making music. I could never have pulled off a project like ‘Year Zero’ fucked
up.
So it’s the music that
keeps you strong?
“It’s one of the many things. Liking myself
again is a huge thing because I’d hated myself and I’d hated what I’d become.
And I surprised myself that I could get myself in such a bad place.”
Are you single?
“Um, no.”
Can you see yourself
married with kids in the future?
“Yes.”
In the near future?
“Perhaps.”
What one thing would
you really like Nine Inch Nails fans to know about you?
“There’s not really anything. With Nine Inch
Nails, I’ve dedicated a huge chunk of my life and it really is the thing I care
most about, aside from being alive and treating people properly. I feel like
I’m doing it for the right reasons and I still approach it by trying to be as
honest with myself as I can be and make music that’s out there to resonate and
matter and be something you can make a part of yourself for the right reasons.
It’s not to be rich or famous or follow trends.
What do you think
you’ll do when NIN comes to an end?
“Nine Inch Nails has a lifespan that’s ticking.
If I’m fortunate enough to be in a position to do what I want to do, then I’ll
always be making some kind of music. I’d like to branch off into some other
fields of entertainment in terms of writing things.”
Like films?
“Perhaps. I’ve always toyed with the idea of
directing things or writing screenplays. With ‘Year Zero’, that may come into
reality or it may not. And that’s exciting for me. It’s more than just a
record.”
Are you happy?
“Yeah. Generally, I feel very, very fortunate.
You’re wanting to speak to me, people want to show up for shows and people
appreciate what I do. And I enjoy what I’m doing. It’s taken me a long time to
get to that place.”
But you’re there.
“I’m here at the moment. And there’re still
places I’d like to go, but I’m fucking a lot further along than I was a few
years ago.”
What would you like on
your gravestone – ‘Here lies Trent Reznor, he…’?
“He did what he thought was the right thing to
do and now he’s dead.”
There you have it: Trent Reznor sharing a few
intimate details about Trent Reznor. Believe what you like about him, but let
this be one of them – he’s a good sport. And yes, he’s super-serious,
immaculately professional and as sharp as a razor, but you know those rumours
he was talking about – the ones saying he never laughs? Bullshit. He does, you
just have to ask the right questions…
NIN’s new album ‘Year Zero’ is out on April 16
via Interscope.
Extra Kasten: A Bluffer’s Guide To ‘Year Zero’
What is Year Zero?
It’s the title of the fifth studio full-length
album from Nine Inch Nails, the follow-up to 2005’s ‘With Teeth’, and it’s a
concept record.
A concept album? Did he catch that bug from MCR?
“Well…,” says Reznor, “It is unfortunate that
My Chemical Romance have done anything. I heard they made a concept record and
that’s as far as my interest has gone. So whatever.” That’s a ‘no’, then.
Will the concept melt
my brain?
Probably. It’s an elaborate multimedia,
conspiracy theory web-trail of which the album is but a part. It began with a
NIN tour T-shirt bearing a URL – iamtryingtobelieve.com – that took fans to a
site concerning a ‘mind control’ drug, Parepin. And if you go to fan checkpoint
echoingthesound.com [.org, morons! –TNH], you’ll discover that ‘Year Zero’ is a
dystopian vision of the future – 2022 to be exact – depicting an Orwellian
society in the throes of extinction. Crikey.
Complicated much,
then?
What did you expect? According to Reznor, it’s
“the most elaborate album cover in the world”. Why? Because the websites, the
fan forums, the coded merchandise, are all part of the ‘artwork’. And by
reading this, you’re contributing to it, too.
So, is an anorak
mandatory?
An anorak is strictly optional. “I wanted
something the insane, superfan couldn’t believe how involved it was,” explains
Reznor. “But there’s an entry point for the ‘casual’ person too.” In other
words, you can just enjoy the music, if you’re not arsed to get too involved.
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