DISTURBED was inducted into the Illinois Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on Sunday, September 14th at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet, Illinois. The members of DISTURBED were inducted by Frank Mastalerz, who has been in the concert industry, booking and producing shows for over 30 years.
In his acceptance speech, DISTURBED guitarist Dan Donegan said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s been a great honor. We’ve come a long way from playing in a public storage unit back in the ’90s and playing all the great bars — anyone who’d let us play, from Champs to Sidetracked to J.J. Kelley’s. And Frank would always be there from the beginning promoting and supporting all local, original bands and still keeping it alive to this day.”
Dan added: “But thank you all, thank you to our families, our kids who were a big part of this journey and the sacrifices to allow us to go out on the road and do what we do. And my brothers David [Draiman, DISTURBED singer], Mike [Wengren, DISTURBED drummer], John [Moyer, DISTURBED bassist], who’s in Texas right now, and Fuzz [Steve Kmak], our original bass player. Jeff Battaglia, our former manager. And Q Prime, who we are with now. Thank you very much, guys. What a great honor.”…