Trent Reznor Indicates Nine Inch Nails Isn’t Going Anywhere, Already Knows What Next Project Will Be

A new Nine Inch Nails album is not as far off in the distance as fans might think. Trent Reznor was once the sole creative force behind Nine Inch Nails, hiring musicians to play specific parts for touring purposes. In the studio, however, the show was run by Reznor.

Notoriously uncompromising, the musician was known for sometimes taking long breaks between albums, leaving fans to guess as to when, if ever, they’d see a new album. In recent years, Reznor has decided Nine Inch Nails should no longer remain the one-man-band it used to be. Reznor added Atticus Ross as his official partner when conceptualizing and recording music. Since then, it appears the band is avoiding stagnancy and planning to remain productive. The addition of Ross has increased Nine Inch Nails’ output by a significant margin and with the release of Bad Witch, followed by a massive tour, it seemed Nine Inch Nails was due for a nice, long break.

Not happening, according to Metal Injection. Trent Reznor recently spoke to reporters and stated that aside from a number of movie scoring projects the duo are committed to finishing, he knows what the next Nine Inch Nails project will be and is looking forward to beginning work.

“Once we get a significant amount of scoring things out of us right now, we know what the next Nine Inch Nails project is going to be. In six weeks we’re going to have a few weeks off. Maybe we could start on it there, or we may not, but it’s nice to be looking forward to that thing and subconsciously know that it’s coming up and you’re putting things in that bucket… ideas to try when it comes up. We’re just trying to make the best music possible in whatever format that might be.”

Beginning in 2016, Nine Inch Nails released a trilogy of short albums, each one dropping less than a year apart. The trilogy began with Not The Actual Events, followed by Add Violence in 2017, and culminated with the recent release of Bad Witch, earlier this year.

Bad Witch concluded with the song “Over and Out,” sparking online rumors that the band may in fact be completely done, following their completion of the trilogy. Trent’s comments about a forthcoming album seem to debunk those rumors.

Currently, the band is still on the Cold and Black and Infinite tour, playing to sold out venues across the country. Stage-regulars like Robin Finck and Ilan Rubin are once-again along to back Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and the band has been pleasantly surprising fans by playing a completely different setlist every night.

This tour also featured the first-ever live performance of the 1997 Nine Inch Nails hit-single, “The Perfect Drug.”