Trent Reznor on working with David Lynch as "The Nine Inch Nails" for Twin Peaks: The Return

Five years ago this summer, Twin Peaks returned with its third season after a quarter of a century wait. Among this batch of excellent episodes was one that not only stood out at the time but has gone on to gain a reputation as a landmark work for co-creator/director David Lynch: “Part 8" or “Gotta Light?”

Like the rest of the season, “Gotta Light?” included an in-universe musical performance by a band, which meant that “She’s Gone Away” by Nine Inch Nails—introduced in the episode as “The Nine Inch Nails—also ended up as an important part of the episode. In order to mark the fifth anniversary of its release, Fangoria spoke to Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor about his thoughts on “Gotta Light?” and working with Lynch in general.

Reznor had collaborated with the director (who he describes as “kind of a mythical creature”) before on both the Lost Highway soundtrack and NIN’s “Came Back Haunted” video. For The Return, Reznor received a call a few weeks ahead of filming that asked if he’d be interested in having NIN play in an episode with “no further information” about that episode provided.

Reznor and the group agreed and worked on a song that “ultimately became the music for ‘This Isn’t The Place’” under the impression that Lynch would want a song “that was a bit more broken down or open and David Lynch-ish,” Reznor told Scott Wampler. After hearing the track, though, Lynch asked for something “more menacing and unpleasant” instead, which resulted in NIN speedily writing and recording “She’s Gone Away.”

While filming their performance, J.R. Starr “kept fucking up [the line reading]” as the Roadhouse announcer, calling the band “The Nine Inch Nails,” which was funny enough that it stayed in the show. Following the shoot, Reznor was invited by Lynch to see the scene before it aired but was only shown the group’s performance so he “had no idea how that would fit into what was happening inside the show.” Lynch apparently said the decision wasn’t anything personal but that he had to “keep everything locked down.”

When Reznor did see the full episode on TV he said that calling it mind-blowing “would be a massive understatement.” He also lauded The Return in general, said that it was “incredibly flattering” to take part in the episode, and that he thinks back on the summer it aired as “a really magical time.”

Read the rest of the interview for more on Reznor and Twin Peaks or recognize five years since “Gotta Light?” in another way, like, say, staring blankly at a wall for a while while pondering the depths of human evil.

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