Trent Reznor Announces Trilogy of Nine Inch Nails EPs

Nine Inch Nails’ follow up to ‘Not the Actual Events’ should arrive around July 23rd, ahead of their first scheduled tour date. Photo: John Crawford

Nine Inch Nails announced that their 2016 Not the Actual Events EP was the first of a trilogy, according to an email to fans from lead singer, Trent Reznor. 

“Did you know Not the Actual Events was the first part of a trilogy of related EPs that will be released about 6-8 months apart? Now you do,” he wrote in the message. If the band is on schedule, the second EP should arrive around July 23rd, ahead of Nine Inch Nails’ first scheduled tour date at FYF Fest in Los Angeles. The final EP would come out by the end of 2017. 

So far, fans have little reason to doubt NIN’s release schedule. When Reznor proclaimed that new Nine Inch Nails music would arrive in 2016, he delivered on his promise with Not the Actual Events, which was released digitally Friday ahead of its “physical component” version. 

“A lot of what’s blessed as the cool thing feels pretty generic and also feels, a lot of it, like a desperate plea for commercial airplay and success,” Reznor said of Not the Actual Events. “That combined with just our own worldview and a kind of daydream I was having led to ‘Let’s make a record that feels challenging, and exciting to us …’ I wanted the music to sound kind of ugly and to sound unfriendly not suck you in with a sexy hook.”

Reznor also hinted at plans for 2017 in an interview with Rolling Stone last year. “That will be part of the reveal,” Reznor said. “I don’t want to spoil it. If I’m interested in a film, I prefer not to watch the trailer. We live in overstimulated times.”