Drowning Pool guitarist C.J. Pierce says that his band’s music gets the U.S. troops pumped up in Iraq

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 4, 2008

By Steve Newton

One of the main goals of any rock band is to stick together, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Drowning Pool is a case in point. The Texas metal act has released three albums so far, each one sporting a different singer.

2001’s platinum-selling Sinners had Dave Williams at the mike, but he was found dead of natural causes inside the band’s tour bus in the summer of 2002. Jason Jones was recruited for the 2004 disc, Desensitized, but exited a year later due to “irreconcilable differences”. Then former SOiL vocalist Ryan McCombs came on board for Full Circle, which was released last August.

At press time he was still in the lineup, and Drowning Pool guitarist C.J. Pierce is really hoping that the third time’s the charm.

“We’re definitely looking forward to makin’ a few more records with Ryan,” says Pierce from his home in Dallas. “We’re having fun again, and that’s what it’s all about. He definitely has his own unique sound, a rock voice that doesn’t blend in with the run-of-the-mill.”

Although Drowning Pool’s vocalists have changed with each album, Pierce’s intense guitar sound has remained a steady, ear-busting force. He delivers the kind of raging six-string racket that has made the quartet a favourite among gung-ho American servicemen on the frontlines in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Besides an exhilarating cover of Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” (“Steve Stevens is the shit!” Pierce says), Full Circle features combat-ready tracks like “Enemy” and “Soldiers”, which follow in the seething tradition of “Bodies”, the 2001 video-single that garnered controversy in the wake of 9/11.

“That song’s been interpreted in a lot of different ways,” Pierce notes. “For us, it’s just about bein’ in the [mosh] pit at a rock show and havin’ a good time. The comments that I’ve gotten from troops is that it pumps them up and gets them in the right mind frame to stay on their toes and come home safely, and that’s a big compliment. It’s not a warmongering, ‘Let’s kill everybody!’ type of thing.”

Pierce and his bandmates have numerous friends and relatives in the U.S. military who have been sent to Iraq from the army base at Fort Hood, Texas, and Drowning Pool has played its part by performing for troops in Baghdad. He figures that the longer the war drags on, the more desperately that kind of support is needed.

“It’s a pretty crazy situation,” he admits. “So at the end of the day we’re just about supporting them when they go, and definitely when they come back home. But we’re not a political band, and we’re not in favour of war by any means.”

So how does Pierce react to the notion that his country was led to war in Iraq under false pretences, by its own God-fearing president? Like many Americans in Dubya’s home state and beyond, he’s conflicted.

“There’s right and wrong reasons for everything,” relates the 35-year-old rocker, whose band plays the Plaza Club on Wednesday (June 11). “Bein’ over there, I saw a lot of good things happen firsthand, but at the same time there’s always those underlying reasons that we don’t see, which usually comes down to money. But the truth comes out in the wash—I’m a firm believer in that.”

To hear the full audio of my 2008 interview with Drowning Pool’s C.J. Pierce subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 650 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with rockers since 1982.