MyDisturbed

In a post-“TRL” world, even if you’ve sold more than 10 million albums, you still have to pimp your MySpace.

Disturbed – one of the most successful artists on the Warner Bros. Records roster – released “Indestructible” earlier this year, making the hard-rock quartet one of seven rock bands to have three No. 1 albums in a row. (The others: Van Halen, Pearl Jam, U2, Dave Matthews Band, Staind and Metallica.)

Much of “Indestructible’s” momentum was activated through Myspace exclusives: downloads, buzz-clip samples, live streams, and a special “Operation MySpace“ concert in Kuwait that was repackaged for TV.

Despite its position on the charts, Disturbed, which comes to The Knitting Factory for a sold-out show Satursday, has been adamant about connecting with its fans through Internet file sharing.

“This is where technology is,” guitarist Dan Donegan said in a telephone interview. “It took a while for the record industry to embrace that. At first, there was a panic and the labels were trying to sue the 13-year-old fans we’re trying to reach.”

In addition to the MySpace push, Disturbed took full advantage of available technology and its label‘s influence to set up a bulletproof release week for the album in June.

Alongside the release of “Indestructible,” Disturbed offered exclusive tracks to play in the video game “Rock Band” with pre-orders of the album from Best Buy, which in turn contained a promotional code for free song downloads from the group’s Web site.

Within the same week, Disturbed played a live online concert in Las Vegas that was broadcast to 73 countries. Between songs, the band took electronic messages from fans who asked awkwardly personal questions, voted on the setlist, and made shoutouts to their friends.

“It was weird to play our songs and stop to read questions, but the upside is we were playing to audiences in Malaysia and Sri Lanka,” Donegan said.

Disturbed has been a promotional force since it was still a local act in Chicago, starting with its mascot signature – unnamed and known to fans as The Guy, a simple, sinister smiley face.

“People were getting The Guy tattooed back then and it blew us away,” Donegan said. “We had a three-song demo and that trademark took a life of its own. Like the Nike swoosh, you don’t have to say Disturbed and people know what it is.”

The Guy was featured in the music video for Disturbed’s cover of Genesis’ “Land of Confusion.”

The video was made by Todd McFarlane, a popular comic book artist who attended Eastern Washington University. McFarlane is creator of the comic book character Spawn, as well as Spider-Man nemesis Venom, and has worked with Korn and Pearl Jam.

McFarlane also used The Guy when he was commissioned to create the album cover art for Disturbed’s 2006 album, “Ten Thousand Fists.” That branding was initiated mostly by the band, not the label, Donegan said.

“It’s unfortunate that this is a business and you’ve gotta be involved in it,” he said. “It’s not just about playing songs. Even if that is all you’re concerned about, you don’t want other people making decision about what’s best for your music.

“If it’s going to be a wrong strategy, I want it to be because it was our decision. I think we know better how to connect with our fans than some label guy wearing a suit.”

For Donegan, the downside of the Internet era in music is that the focus is taken away from making an album in favor of individual songs.

“You don’t get to appreciate a full body of work anymore,” he said. “The reason (Guns N’Roses’) ‘Appetite For Destruction’ was a great album was not just because of songs like ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and ‘Welcome To The Jungle,’ but also because of songs like ‘Mr. Brownstone’ – not just the singles.”

On Disturbed’s latest body of work, the band was focused on continuing down its dark turn on melodic metal.

Disturbed cut a leg of its “Ten Thousand Fists” tour to get a jump on writing “Indestructible,” partly because singer David Draiman was eager to exorcise ghosts of an ex-girlfriend with a heroin addiction.

“We had played two Ozzfests, we still had 10 to 15 months of touring to go and we were just hungry to switch gears,” Donegan said. “We wanted to get home and clear our minds and get into writing mode.

“I took a month off when my son was born, (drummer Mike Wrengren) was getting married. We had all this motivation and we didn’t want anything to hold us up.”

The end result is an agitated intensity in the music that calls for a more aggressive vocal performance from Draiman, a direction the band plans to take even further on the next album.

“David was getting darker lyrically and he had some things he wanted to get off his chest,” Donegan said.

“We’re using elements from our last album to develop that flavor – that rapid fire delivery with melody. It’s too early to say much about our future material, but it’s going down a similar path.”