'I've always been afraid of not being good enough...for the first time, it's fun'

 

By SIMON COSYNS

Source: the-sun.co.uk

01/08/08

 

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Rating *****

 

SOMEWHERE in Tennessee, an old, dying man sings: “I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel.”

 

Somewhere in Los Angeles two weeks later, the song’s writer receives a CD of that performance in the post.

 

It’s 2002. The singer is Johnny Cash, the song is Hurt and the writer is Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, a sonic alchemist known for brutal cacophonies, ghostly melodies and dark lyrics.

 

The Cash interpretation unsettles Reznor but he’s deeply moved. He suddenly feels appreciated after years of self-doubt.

 

It’s been three years since the last NIN album (1999’s The Fragile) and the band’s chief architect wonders “if anyone still cares” about his work.

 

He’s finally emerged from the drug haze that dogged his early career but inspired songs like Hurt. The new, sober world seems a terrifying place.

 

Today, Reznor, 43, remembers the Cash cover as a pivotal part of his rehabilitation, giving him confidence to strike out on the next chapter of this most uncompromising of careers . . . four rapid-fire albums including the new and dazzling The Slip.

 

“The Cash thing was a couple of years into being clean,” he recalls. “I was very unsure of myself. Did I have anything to say? Could I still write music? Did anyone still care?

 

“I’d been out of the limelight for a while. I’d put the brakes on everything to try to get my life in order, to try to get healthy and stay alive.

 

“I’d been friends with Rick Rubin (producer) for several years. He called me to ask how I’d feel if Johnny Cash covered Hurt. I said I’d be very flattered but was given no indication it would actually be recorded.

 

“Two weeks went by. Then I got a CD in the post. I listened to it and it was very strange. It was this other person inhabiting my most personal song. I’d known where I was when I wrote it. I know what I was thinking about. I know how I felt. Hearing it was like someone kissing your girlfriend. It felt invasive.”

 

When Reznor finally saw the incredible video of Cash performing Hurt (directed by Mark Romanek, who’d also worked on the NIN hit Closer) his attitude changed.

 

“It really, really made sense and I thought what a powerful piece of art,” he says. “I never got to meet Johnny but I’m happy I contributed the way I did. It felt like a warm hug. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, I highly recommend checking it out. I have goose bumps right now thinking about it.”

 

As he considers the boost Cash gave him, Reznor remembers when NIN first got recognition nearly 20 years ago.

 

“It took a couple of years for the first record to really settle in. In ’89, it was a great moment the first time I heard my song on college radio at two in the morning. It was . . . Wow!

 

“It was also a great moment when our video for Head Like A Hole got played on MTV at two in the morning. We’d made it!

 

“It was cause for allowing myself a pat on the back and saying: ‘It’s something I always wanted, I did it. Your s**t still stinks but enjoy the moment.’

 

“Over the years, you can’t help but get more jaded and you know a thing like a Grammy in the States doesn’t mean anything, it’s not from people that matter, it’s from old men, old-school business a**holes that help their buddies out. There’s no legitimacy to it.

 

“Having Johnny Cash, one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time, want to cover your song, that’s something that matters to me. It’s not so much what other people think but the fact that this guy felt that it was worthy of interpreting.

 

“He said afterwards it was a song that sounds like one he would have written in the Sixties and that’s wonderful.”

 

In 2008, Reznor stands as a one-off, still clean, obsessive in his work, a true visionary with groundbreaking ideas on releasing music in the download age.

 

He also happens to be in the middle of the most creative burst of his life. He refutes the oft-used “industrial” tag given to NIN as an invention by “clueless journalists” who couldn’t place his music.

“Although the word ‘metal’ irritates me even more,” he adds.

 

And he rails against much of the music around today: “If you were to turn on rock radio in the United States, there’s probably 20 different pop-punk type bands that sound exactly the same, that sing-songy bulls**t.

“It’s a like a terrible version of the Buzzcocks, teen pop s**t.

“I often wonder, if you’re in that band, why are you doing it?

 

“Is it because you wanna be rich, or get laid, or be on TV?

“If that’s what you want, fair enough, there’s nothing wrong with that.

 

Suffered

 

“I hope it’s not because you think you’re doing something great, that you’re going to change the world — because you look and sound and act and dress just like everyone else.

 

“What’s the point? It’s just product.

 

“The Beatles or Led Zeppelin are the ultimate archetypes for what a rock band can and should be. I’ve just suffered through Wolfmother at some festival we just played. Come on, guys! You know what I mean.

 

“I’m not saying they do a bad job but they’re a f***ing cover band. Not to single those poor young men out, but . . . ”

 

Meanwhile, the latest Nine Inch Nails album The Slip is a concise distillation of the band’s sound, grinding guitar riffs, dirty rhythms, computerised effects, ambient serenity, nihilistic themes and exquisite tunes.

 

It quickly follows the abstract, instrumental four-disc magnum opus Ghosts I-IV, released earlier this year, and last year’s apocalyptic songcycle Yero Zero.

 

His work rate is a far cry from the five-year gap between 1994’s The Downward Spiral (which featured Hurt as the final track) and The Fragile and the six-year gap between that and 2005’s With Teeth.

 

So what explains the Reznor revival?

 

“It’s a number of factors,” he suggests. “Getting sober a few years ago helped that process but that also coincided with me maturing a little bit. A major thing that kept me at a snail’s pace was fear.

 

“I’ve always been afraid of not being good enough. I’ve always questioned myself. But, as I’ve gotten older or whatever’s happened chemically in me, I’m a lot more at ease with myself and a lot more excited about making music. Maybe for the first time, it’s actually kinda fun.”

 

The Slip was recorded at lightning speed by Reznor’s standards and, as a thank you to the incredibly loyal NIN fanbase, was released free — without even a Radiohead-style attempt to prick the conscience of downloaders by suggesting they can make a donation.

 

It’s already done two million downloads worldwide and this week sees its physical release.

 

His ability to put the record out on his own terms stems from his departure from major label Interscope and founding his own label The Null Corporation.

 

The move proved liberating but not without drawbacks.

 

Reznor explains: “Aside from what’s happening in my head, getting off of any kind of record label last year was very exciting and it felt like the right thing to do. At the same time, it was very scary because I missed some of the infrastructure.

 

“But with all of that collapsing, you’re really capable of anything so, at first, it feels great. A couple of minutes later, it’s pretty daunting because you realise, OK, there is no real clear-cut path.

 

“The business side of music is kinda messed up right now. Rather than just b**ch about it, I thought about how we can use this to our advantage.

 

“It’s very, very exciting as a musician to finish a piece of music and be able to immediately get it out to people as opposed to waiting around for several months while a record label does whatever it does.

“I spend more time thinking about things like distribution and marketing than I would prefer as a musician.

“But I can’t sit around and hope someone else is gonna point me in the right direction. It’s the wild west right now, let’s do the best we can.”

 

As for the songs themselves, Reznor says: “I wanted to see what happened writing quickly and not getting bogged down.

 

“I had a weird sense of being outside from myself in isolation and watching myself getting older.

“As a person, I tend to bog myself down in work. I enjoy the process of being lost inside my head, working on stuff.

“I’ll come up for air every once in a while and go ‘is it summer?’ I missed that.

“My friend that I thought just got pregnant has a two-year-old kid now.

“So The Slip was not meant to be an over-thought thing.

“Initially it was going to be an EP and then it just kept growing legs until it is what it is.”

 

I suggest to Reznor that he takes pride in being a one-off, a true original talent in the music world.

 

“You know, it’s what I’ve always strived for and I’m trying my best,” he replies.

“It’s f***ing difficult to write a good melody.

 

“It’s a lot easier to write some avant-garde impenetrable piece of noise. Nothing against impenetrable noise but I think there’s a balance.”

 

So give Nine Inch Nails a listen and you’ll find that balance perfectly controlled by Mr Reznor.

He’s been on one hell of a ride.

Woah The Sun wrote that :o

 

That was a really good read, and shows just what a genius Trent is, I think his music at the momment is the best in a long time.

 

There is a reason why he is my most favourite musician ever.

 

 

Trent Reznor is the absolute epitome of the "independent" ethos, his work over the past four years has been pretty astonishing.... He really just does what he wants to do, but is ever mindful of the fact that there IS an actual audience out there...

 

Johnny Cash's reading of "Hurt" is probably one of the greatest cover versions of all time, if not THE greatest, seriously moving and emotional, (any of you bloody Emos out there who want to know what "emotional" music really is should check out both versions of this frankly amazing song...), individual, unmistakeably Johnny yet incredibly respectful to Trent, although I can understand Trent's initial scepticism. I totally relate to his comment about it giving him goosebumps... I can honestly say I was in tears when I first saw John's version, because you just know that this is the last song he's ever gonna do and you cant help but be affected by it....

 

I'm rather amazed this is a Sun article to be honest, although, obviously it didn't actually appear in the paper itself I suspect.... It's well written, articulate, the author coming at the subject with a pretty sound knowledge.... WOW... If only the rest of The Scum's journalists were as good as this guy....

New Interview from Rolling Stone which focus' on live performacne:

 

Trent Reznor has some modest goals for Nine Inch Nails' summer tour: "I want you to leave feeling like your head exploded," he says backstage at the Forum in Inglewood, California, where his band is rehearsing. It's a fitting goal for a guy who has spent the past year blowing up many of the standard practices of the modern music business.

After completing his contract with Interscope Records, Reznor released Ghosts I-IV, a double instrumental record, in packages ranging from a $5 download to a $300 deluxe set. With no advance warning, he followed up in May with The Slip, an album free for download from his Website. Reznor's giveaway of The Slip went smoothly — more than a million people downloaded it — but he has some misgivings, worrying that he's contributing to an environment that devalues music and exploits musicians. "People feel it's their right to get stuff free," he says. "I don't agree with it, but I understand it. I think that's a fight you can't win. So then how can you treat fans with respect and treat yourself with respect? By experimenting." Reznor rejected the Radiohead scheme of letting fans decide what to pay for the album. "It gives them too much power," he says. "I'm not saying that you have to pay for it, but don't tell me that it's worth 50 cents." The Slip is now also available as a CD-DVD package, in a limited edition of 250,000, and it debuted at Number 13 when it was released in July. "People who want something physical at a reasonable price, they can get something that has value to them," he says.

 

Reznor is talking during a break from rehearsals at the Forum; he's wearing a black T-shirt and drinking a Diet Hansen's Soda. While his music is full of howling battles between the id and the superego, offstage he's calm with a sharp sense of humor. "I'm just an actor playing me," he jokes. "Puff Daddy and the real me are on a yacht somewhere."

 

The show's production was complicated enough to require weeks of rehearsal, which meant Reznor had to wrangle teams of technicians. "I didn't go to leadership class," he says. "But I'm having to transform from being an a-hole to being a full-on dick." When problems arise, Reznor doesn't throw tantrums; he just wields his wit like a knife. "Are the smoke machines here?" he asks the techie manning the light board.

 

"Yes!" shouts the techie.

 

"Why, may I ask, is it completely smoke-free in here, then?" Reznor is joined on this tour by four other musicians: drummer Josh Freese, multi-instrumentalist Alessandro Cortini, bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen (formerly with Beck) and guitarist Robin Finck, who has returned to NIN after a decade with Guns n' Roses. Reznor remembers telling a previous guitarist that it didn't matter how he played "Terrible Lie" as long as he got across the message "f*** you." Now, in what Reznor thinks might be a sign of growing older (he's 43), he prefers to work with musicians who can play their instruments.

 

As an experiment, Reznor gave away a pair of tickets for the tour's dress rehearsal by hiding an envelope under a rock in Burbank. Using a Google Earth link on his Website, Reznor indicated the tickets' location with a question mark. Fans quickly found the envelope. "Well, we couldn't leave that alone," Reznor says. "We hid another 30, in places from Watts Towers to behind a mirror in a strip-club restroom to a Home Depot." One envelope was hidden in a graveyard; the location was announced after it had closed for the day: "We wanted to see if anyone would break in, because I would've. And someone did." Reznor contemplated providing the location of Axl Rose's house and encouraging people to dig in his yard for tickets, "just to see how many people got arrested on his front lawn."

 

On opening night at Seattle's Key Arena on July 26th, Reznor delivers on his head-exploding ambitions. After an opening half-hour played under bright white lights, the band is sandwiched between video screens upstage and downstage. The screens create optical illusions, assault the audience with strobes and even deliberately hide the musicians' images behind a wall of static. The two-hour show careens through Reznor's catalog, including a set of chilled-out Ghosts material featuring Reznor on marimba. "Hurt" is apocalyptic, and during his savage attack on "March of the Pigs," Reznor throws his mike stand like a javelin. There are still a few technical glitches, including one point where the show grinds to a halt. "Somebody's supposed to press a button to turn on the lights," Reznor tells the crowd. "Things f*** up."

 

Reznor is girding himself for the rest of the tour, which crisscrosses the U.S. through September before moving on to South America and Mexico. A lot of the Nineties are a blur to Reznor, who was an alcoholic and a heroin addict; he's been sober since 2001. "I've learned how to stay sane on the road," he says. "One of the great things about being f***ed up on the road is that it's not as boring. There's a lot of hours in the day. 'Have I jacked off to that movie yet?' Yes, I have. Again. Finally, I realized I can get work done — I've got three hours before soundcheck, let's see if I can get a song written in that time." He still relishes the moment when he hits the stage. "That's the ultimate — you walk out, and you feel cool. Having good lighting and a cool stage is like having a nice outfit on." Has he ever wished he had that lighting offstage? Reznor laughs. "Yeah, and have it follow me around, playing 'Closer' the whole time." He beatboxes his song's famous rhythm and adopts a faux-smug expression: "That's me."

 

[From Issue 1059 — August 21, 2008]