Trent Reznor Promises Fans "Nine Inch Nails Is Not Dead"

Trent Reznor has finally spoken out about his new project How to Destroy Angels, answering fan questions about the band — which also features Reznor's wife Mariqueen Maandig and NIN contributor Atticus Ross — on Facebook. As Rolling Stone previously reported, How to Destroy Angels will release a self-titled six-song EP this summer, and first single "A Drowning" was revealed to fans earlier this week.

"This EP is the results of early collaboration," Reznor said, adding that the band originally planned to "experiment and gestate" music in 2010 but "liked the early results and decided to share them" via the upcoming EP. He reported that a full album will tentatively arrive early next year, "and then MAYBE some degree of touring."

As for The Fragile-esque aesthetic of "A Drowning," Reznor admitted, "Yes, it sounds more NIN-ish than I believe it will as we progress. To me, HTDA frees me from some of the constraints I've begun to feel (primarily emotionally) in NIN." But the rocker assured fans, "NIN is not dead and I am about to work on some material that I believe will be quite different than previous NIN very soon." Reznor also promised "A Drowning" will be available for sale on digital music services in several days, however no physical release of the single is planned.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, How to Destroy Angels take their moniker from a Coil song of the same name. When the project announced its arrival, RS wondered whether Coil/Throbbing Gristle member Peter Christopherson, a frequent Reznor collaborator who appears on the song "How to Destroy Angels," is involved. "The band at the moment is Mariqueen, Atticus and myself. Peter is an old friend and collaborator," Reznor said in response to fan inquiries. "I obviously ran the name choice by him first and we've discussed him contributing to the upcoming material in one form or another."

Reznor didn't reveal the upcoming EP's release date, but when asked whether the teaser video clips on the HDTA site will factor into the finished product, Reznor said, "This will become clear soon."

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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