Last month Avery bowed out, saying he was "overwhelmed" by NIN's touring commitments. Belew announced his departure at the beginning of June, insisting there had been no fall-out but that "we both agreed it just was not working."

"It's been disruptive," Reznor tells KROQ. "I started off with an idea of who would be in the band, and we started working that way. You can spend a lot of time, as I have done, projecting what it's going to be like with this chemistry and this recipe � and in reality, it rarely is that.