Dear Trent Reznor:

1. The most important question ever (for all the Polish fans)! After countless, sorrowful years of anticipation, you're finally giving a show in Poland. The obvious question is... what took you so long? (I suppose this will be the most frequent question in the press interviews).

2. In the Digg Dialog you've shared some thoughts about the game industry and mentioned some of your favorite games. My question is: are you planning (in NIN-hiatus era, or sooner/later) on working on some game soundtrack, and if not, is there a game/series that you'd like to work with (its music/sfx)?

3. The third question is about your activity on nin.com. Do you ever read any forums on nin.com? If so, which ones? How many private messages do you get per one day (spam excluded)? Do you reply to some, if so, what makes you do this, what's the factor that makes you decide whether or not to answer somebody? Damn, that's a few questions made into one, forgive me .

1. Of all the songs you've written, do you have any particular favorites or ones of which you are most proud? (and, if you're willing to elaborate, for what reasons are they your favorites?)

2. What is your favorite song to play live?

3. Do you have a list, on paper or in your mind, of non-music-related things you've not yet done but would like to do? (Skydive? Travel to a certain place you haven't yet? Learn a specific new skill?)

My questions:

I novelized Year Zero for a school project (imaginative writing), and I would like to re-write it fully as a proper novel and get it published sometime in the future. First of all Trent, what would you think of an idea like this should I go ahead with it? I have heard that there is more to come in the Year Zero area, and I would like to contribute if that is possible.
Also, if I was to go ahead with it, where and how would I gain permission to use the concept? I really hope something can be sorted out. [forum.nin.com] = my thread.
Last one: Trent, I hear you composed the music and sounds for QUAKE, a video game from 1996. It contains ambient music, which is rare in the NI? genre. There was also the recent Corona Radiata on The Slip. Will there be more ambient music in the future?

Thank you.

Ok, here goes.

1. You've mentioned that you had an alternative potential path as a programmer. So, if you could design one piece of fantasy hardware/software with absolutely no technical or monetary restraints, what would it be? And would you ever consider attempting it?

2. Since you broke from Interscope, and took on the business side of your work in addition to the creative side, have you felt under pressure by the media, the industry, and fans to come up with a new business model which hasn't evolved yet? If so, do you think this has taken up more of your resources than expected and left you with less time to concentrate on the artistic, creative aspect of your work?

3. Do you think it would be cool if the current emergence of the new business models you've talked about that are developing would extend outwith the music industry, and perhaps in the future lead to less barriers around discrete parts of the creative industry (as in, music, film, graphics, games etc) and lead to more opportunity for collaboration across different mediums and potential for more immersive creative experiences for the consumer?

Quite possibly way too 'over the top' crazy talk. Oh well. These are the things that keep me up at night...
As submitted to Digg:

I can't help but feel that somehow, in somewhat of a mystical way, music connects people spiritually and on a level, that most don't recognize, because it is unseen or unspoken. Is there more to this? Experiencing music, to me is very similar to an addiction, although this raises negative connotations, I mean this in the most positive way possible. Music heals, music inspires = positive! Do you wonder if we were to strip away all that makes us human and strictly look at our internal make-up that we would find some similarities? Ie: are the rhythms and sounds somehow mimicking patterns that are in our personal make-up, our DNA, our beating hearts, etc.?

Tack onto this, aside from the obvious (voice, instrument type, etc) what is it about your music that is so trademark Trent Reznor. If we were to hear a new song with no vocals, with no knowledge of who the artist is upon first listen - I guarantee many of us would automatically 'know' it was yours, but how is that possible? I'm wondering if there is one single basic pattern of notes, keys, sounds, rhythms that you start from and build from, in other words is the foundation of every song created from a similar combination of 'elements'? I often wonder if musicians are given some type of handbook once they reach a certain level of 'knowledge and talent' - a handbook consisting of chapters like 'basic chords to addict your fans' - seriously kidding, but c'mon?!!!! There has to be something to this.

You've created music that is so aesthetically beautiful to your fan base - but to others it's only noise! I can't help but feel that there is some relation to music and people and their inner make up that is connected.

1. Do you ever get your own songs stuck in your head?

2. When you hear your own songs played, do you turn it up and sing along?

mod edit: done up to here. marodi 4/10/2009 3:02 PM



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2009 01:02PM by marodi.

Maybe we should ask him some pre-nin stuff i mean stuff like

Playing in bands before NIN like the Exotic Birds, Slam Bam Boo, Option 30 and so on, how did NIN come to have it's birth? Did you always think you would write the music you do in NIN or did it evolve out of playing with bands like these with the computer programming and keyboards etc.?


That is the type of stuff we won't hear in ANY other interview

Most of your early work lyrically was a sort of exploration of the self, minus a few exceptions of course. Beginning with With Teeth, and of course Year Zero, many songs became extrospective, even with a political tinge to it. What was your inspiration, whether specific or not, that led to this lyrical evolution?

Trent!
As a fellow vocalist I was wondering if you had any tips for singing, or perhaps some insight on how you came to learn how to sing. I (and I'm sure other vocalists) are envious to have such control over our vocal chords.

Malcolm Gladwell's "The Outliers" takes an interesting look at "Success" by pulling focus away from the outlier and looking around them instead. You are clearly an outlier, and aside from your talent and drive, what do you think were the elements/contributions/circumstances that enabled you to become the person you are today and achieve all that you have?

I won't ask you the peanut butter question, as I already did that in 1995 (your answer, in case you don't remember, was "creamy JIF" ), so here's a couple of new ones:

1) How did you end up becoming involved in greyhound rescue? I'm assuming you've been an animal lover your entire life, so your becoming involved in animal-related causes in general isn't surprising at all; I'm just curious as to what led you to this particular one. (And how is Josie doing these days?)

2) As a generational peer of yours, I've found that as I've gotten older, I've come to realize that I have far more in common with a number of people/artists with whom I've had social/artistic differences in the past than I had realized, and that the spaces between us really aren't as large as we all initially assumed. (Could be we're getting older and mellower, could be we're just developing a greater sense of perspective on the world--one of the good things about getting older, IMHO--but the fact remains.) A more public example of this would be Elvis Costello's new series on cable, where he interviews and performs with artists who at one point seemed to be diametrically opposed to him; now, however, they're able to find common ground through both art and life experience. Have you found this to be true in your own life as well, and are there people whom you initially dismissed that you've now found yourself allied with, or at least much closer to you in terms of their perspective than you ever could have realized years ago?

3) From a fairly apolitical beginning, you've become much more outspoken about your political beliefs (and, as a fellow liberal/progressive, I thank you for that ) both in your work and in your public statements. Have you considered becoming more directly involved with other performers in joining together to influence people and more actively promote particular causes? Case in point: after a Billy Bragg show last fall, I would up explaining the YZ phenomenon to Billy's manager, Peter Jenner, who found it all quite fascinating, especially in terms of how online media were used to both put forth the message and to draw the audience into a far stronger sense of participation. (Not entirely surprising of Peter, as he worked with Pink Floyd at the beginning of their careers.) Billy, to use him as an example, has been far more traditional in how he's combined art and politics, but it appears that he and others like him might well be interested in joining forces with artists like you who understand the newer electronic media, in order to achieve common political goals. Is this something you've ever considered doing?

(If you want to get in touch w/Billy, BTW, Tom Morello would be a good place to start. Just sayin'... )

ok here are some questions:

mod edit

Are you lonely?

mod edit

Is it difficult getting close to people now that you are famous?

Can you trust people and connect with them easily?

mod edit: no more than 3 questions and NO PERSONAL QUESTIONS PLEASE!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2009 12:37AM by marodi.

1. From the historical point of view artists were always dependent on their masters/maecenas/ etc., but that didn't hindered them from creating great masterpieces, which the whole world praises now. Do you think pure artistic freedom is ever possible, and have you achieved it ?

2. Are you still interested in collaborating with female vocalists ?

3. At what stage you stopped to practise the piano constantly and were there any pieces/composers you really hated to play?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2009 09:57PM by metaphysical_belle.

I don't know if this would be too "personal" but I am wondering, after 20 years of being known for NIN..... all the good/bad things that come with fame would you do it all over again? I read a lot of the post on here, or else where and it just seems to me that "people" give you a god-like persona, save this, save that and all you want to do is give us your music. I guess I'm old school, I still like my "cd's" versus the digital and I like to know my artist and get annoyed when people start treating the artist as if they own them, or like the artist owes them something. Or like "you" are not one of us too..... a music fan.

First: sorry for my English... A few years ago I had the chance to study History of music (which was awesome)for a semestre. I learnt very cool things about it including the Pentatonis scale. Said scale is based on 5 notes, and it's known (I think) by every culture of the world since ancient times even when they didn't listen to each other music, etc. So...

Have you heard about Pentatonic scale before?

Have you ever considered to use it?

Would you like to use it in case you haven't?

Thank you.

mod note: done up to here. marodi 04/11/2009 2:50 AM



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2009 12:49AM by marodi.