Trent Reznor: 'I’m More Creative Than Ever'

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has revealed the reason why the bands latest album, ‘Year Zero,’ has been completed so quickly.

Speaking to Gigwise about the album - which is released on April 16 – Reznor explained that he’s now feeling more creative than ever.

Talking amidst an expansive European Tour Reznor said: “I think for the first time I’ve found out how to write music on tour, so for most of the With Teeth tour I was sitting on the back of buses, backstage, playing around with beats and stuff on my laptop and at the end of the tour last summer I had a good collection of things that passed the test, that felt musically solid and cohesive to me.”

He continued: “I felt inspired and didn’t take any time off and moved out to the woods for a few months, rented a place and came up with the idea for ‘Year Zero.’”

In the latter half of the 1990’s Reznor battled addiction problems and it’s something that he now admits stifled his creativity. He says it was also one of the main reasons NIN failed to release more material during those years.

Reznor explains: “I can see now with pretty much crystal clear clarity that that.phpect had governed my life. I had made writing out to be a terrifying prospect filled with pain and failure and some things that I dreaded doing because I’ve always lacked self-confidence and every other thing.”

“By the end of my run with drugs I’d also realised that my brain wasn’t functioning right and I’d lost the power to really concentrate – it really made my art suffer, which made me feel worse, which made me want to get high and you know, that cycle starts up.”

Nine Inch Nails’ tour continues tonight (March 22) in Amsterdam. Stay tuned to Gigwise for an extensive feature with Trent Reznor coming soon.