Trent Reznor recalls near-fatal flight

2 August 2018

Trent Reznor had a near-death experience on a flight to Las Vegas.

Trent Reznor

The Nine Inch Nails frontman was travelling from Coachella in Indio, California, to Sin City recently, with his bandmate Atticus Ross and the DJ Bassnectar - whom he was comforted by - when the aircraft suddenly descended at a high speed, and the incident has made him more weary of boarding planes.

The 53-year-old rocker recalled to The Quietus: "Bassnectar was on the flight too and I remember him sitting next to me and I wasn't sure who he was at first. But when you have a near death experience on a plane, that changes everything.

"We may have been holding hands by the time we regained altitude.

"I never used to be conscious of it but now I'm aware that I'm in a flying tin can of potential death every time I step onto a plane."

Meanwhile, the 'Closer' hitmaker recently admitted he still thinks about David Bowie "all the time".

The musician knew his recent track 'God Break Down the Door' - on which he plays saxophone - would remind people of his late friend, who died of cancer in January 2016.

He said: "The decision to do the Bowie-esque, croony vocal was just f***ing around initially without the intent of it ever going to the outside world. And Atticus spoke up and said, 'You gotta keep that.'

"I knew it would [remind people of Bowie]. I mean, I still think about that man all the time."

And the 'Mr. Self Destruct' rocker admitted the passing of the musical icon felt almost like a member of his own family had died and explained how the deaths of certain people in the public eye is a huge loss to society.

He said: "Let's first talk about Anthony Bourdain. I never met him. But I liked the world with him in it better. I liked knowing he was out there in some fashion, especially in these times. That's a loss; culturally, we needed that voice.

"With Bowie, I did know him to a degree. I certainly studied his work and continued to do so.

"It felt like, 'Man, we weren't done. There's more to go. I needed you in the world.' It was like a family member almost.

"There are these people that you feel you can rely on out there - not for support necessarily, but it's good to know they're experiencing life as we're in semi-uncertain times and even when we aren't. I think about that a lot."