Trent Reznor stopped touring because it became like performing "a poorly written play" every night.
The musician called time on performing live with his Nine Inch Nails project in 2009, because he had trouble relating to his performance.
He told Q magazine: "The reality of touring is what starts as something really fun and authentic, by the nature of how long it has to last to make enough money, usually goes on anywhere from 20 to 80 per cent longer than you wish it would.
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It starts to feel like you're performing a play every night. It's kind of a poorly written play that you've written and cast yourself in and you can't get out of it."
Trent, 46, reiterated that he will still record tracks as Nine Inch Nails, but isn't sure if he will return to touring.
He added: "That's it, for a while at least. It started to feel like not who I really was and I couldn't keep that up, but I never said I wasn't going to make any more music as Nine Inch Nails."
Thanks for the report to ContactMusic.com.
