DISTURBED frontman David Draiman has a message for anyone who has an issuewith the fact that the band’s new song, “Fire It Up”, which opens with the sound of a bong hit, was inspired by the singer’s pot-smoking routine: “Lighten up. Lighten the fuck up,” he tells Artisan News. “It’s, like, you know what? Not everything needs to be gloom and doom and serious and smacking you constantly. You’ve gotta have a little bit of yin and yang. I mean, for God’s sake, BLACK SABBATH wrote ‘Sweet Leaf’. All of a sudden, that’s untouchable material? All of a sudden you’re gonna have a political issue with it or some shit?”
He continued: “I’m not making a political statement. I’m talking about something that simply has been the catalyst for my creativity and for me being able to relax enough to let the doors open a little bit for the vast majority of my career. 95 percent of the song I’ve written — easily, easily — while under the influence, beyond any shadow of the doubt. And I’m not ashamed to say it or anything else. And I don’t view it as demonically as some people do, and I’m not viewing it as demonically as some people do, and I’m not viewing it as a political statement. I may be for legalization in general, which I am, but that’s not why we did the song. We did the song because Danny [Donegan, guitar] suggested it to me when I was searching for additional themes…”
