Even if you're barely into metal, you know the "oh-wah-ah-ah-ah" bit from Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness". The song is approaching 750 million streams on Spotify, the music video has 216 million views, and the album The Sickness has sold over 5 million in the United States alone. So we've all heard it… but how did Disturbed vocalist David Draiman come up with it?
In an interview with The Jesea Lee Show, Draiman said the part was completely improvised one day, much to the shock of his bandmates.
"It was just improvisational, man," said Draiman. "It was just… the first time we ever started writing the song, when we first came up with it, that section where that first began was just a pause for dramatic effect. It was just dead space before the whole band kicked back in.
"That beat, the rhythm, that primal tribal vibe that it had…. I just, one time improvisational, I just tried it and literally the guys stopped the song. They didn't know what I was doing. They all looked at each other like ['is he okay?']. They all looked at me and they're like 'what are you doing?' I'm like 'I don't know, but just humor me. There's something to it.' And it stuck.
Draiman joked: "I think my only fear is that when I finally am laid to rest, on my headstone it's going to say 'Here Lies David Draiman. Oh-wah-ah-ah-ah.'"
Draiman later talked about some of his early vocal influences, citing nü-metal OGs Jonathan Davis of Korn and Chino Moreno from Deftones.
"Jonathan Davis in particular, who ever since I heard that first Korn record… I mean, there just so many parts of his beatboxes, kind of gibberish rapping that he does that were very inspirational to me. Chino Moreno from Deftones – you know, their first couple records were incredibly inspirational and seminal for me. Just understanding what more could be done with rhythm, and how the voice could end up becoming a rhythmic instrument in and of itself, it really helped me focus myself in that direction. And certainly the musicality lent itself to that."
