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Nine Inch Nails fans who were lucky (or rich) enough to snap up tickets for the sold out North American spring club tour will be treated to an "off the cuff, bombastic" live show, according to NIN’s Trent Reznor.

Speaking to ChartAttack in Los Angeles last week about his new album, With Teeth, Reznor admitted the intimate venues were chosen partly because he didn’t know how much demand there was for NIN in 2005.

"We wanted to do it because it’s fun, I like playing those size shows," he explained. "But also we really weren’t sure how big a venue we could play. We were kind of seeing how tickets went for this and if it warranted coming back."

Since tickets for the tour — which features The Dresden Dolls and hits Toronto’s Kool Haus May 9 and 10 — sold out in mere minutes it’s pretty clear that demand remains high for Nine Inch Nails even after a lengthy absence. Reznor has already announced a larger North American tour after their summer European dates.

"I would imagine on the fall tour it will be more thought out, and probably the production will be up several notches, but that’s all hypothesis," he said.

With Teeth is the long-awaited follow-up to 1999’s double album, The Fragile. Produced by Reznor with Alan Moulder, it features guest drumming by Foo Fighter Dave Grohl and Jeremone Dillon. The first single, "The Hand That Feeds," has started spinning on alternative rock radio this week. The track is a heavy jolt of electronic menace that satisfies this finicky long-time NIN fan, but its immediate appeal had some listeners worried about a new mainstream direction. Reznor suggests they settle down.

"Well, there are no songs like that on The Fragile," he laughs. "’Hand That Feeds’ has an immediacy to it. The good part of it is, is that you can latch onto it. The bad part of it is that that’s what burns out the quickest. Someone leaked it on the internet and I made the mistake of being led to some fucking discussion boards of people bitching about what it sounds like. Fuck you. Out of the context of the album, it’s probably the most accessible thing I’ve done, so I understand your concerns. But the copy that got out was off a cassette and it sounded terrible. Having a smattering of stuff that goes from accessible to things that are more unusual, more interesting, I think that’s good. It wasn’t a calculated attempt to get on the radio."

With Teeth is scheduled for North American release May 3. "The Hands That Feeds" will be available as a U.K. single on April 18 and is now available to download in Canada.

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