Nine Inch Nails really is going to be a band again, has tour dates and everything

After nearly four years of distracting himself with soundtrack work, side projects, unsettlingly omniscient streaming services, and some bicep curls, Trent Reznor has confirmed what he's been saying since late last year: Nine Inch Nails is back, with live dates planned for this summer and on into 2014, including a “full-on arena tour of the US this fall.” The official Nine Inch Nails website has been updated with a “Nine Inch Nails — Twenty Thirteen” teaser that leads to this Reznor-written release on Pitchfork, wherein he talks about some tentative musical collaboration with King Crimson’s Adrian Belew that “led to the decision to re-think the idea of what Nine Inch Nails could be”—a brainstorming session that eventually settled on deciding that Nine Inch Nails could be a touring band that plays Nine Inch Nails songs and makes a lot of money again. Or, possibly a travelling improv troupe that puts on skits for high school students warning them of the dangers of drunk driving.

Belew is part of that new touring band/fun youth outreach program, which also features Jane’s Addiction’s Eric Avery and Telefon Tel Aviv’s Josh Eustis alongside returning NIN collaborators Alessandro Cortini and Ilan Rubin. Confirmed dates are still yet to come, as is further word on that previously hinted-at new album, but Reznor promises “lots of details to come”—and presumably sooner than four years from now this time.