Spotlight: Drowning Pool

Heavy metal band Drowning Pool spoke to an audience filled with U.S. veterans and the people of the media at what appeared to be very emotional and personal press conference on Friday, August 7th at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. The press conference opened with Drowning Pool’s music video from their single, “Soldiers.” The video included footage of hopeful troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but more importantly highlighted Drowning Pool’s campaign for supporting health care for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.


Alongside members of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and Billboard representatives, Drowning Pool announced their national concert tour, ‘This Is For the Soldiers,’ set to begin September 3rd in Texas. For every ticket sold, Drowning Pool will donate fifty cents to IAVA and fifty cents to the United Service Organization (USO). Executive Editor and Associate Publisher of Billboard Magazine Tamara Conniff stated that Drowning Pool is, “…putting their money where their mouth is…”


Aside from publicizing their nation wide tour, Drowning Pool emphasized their support for the Lane Evans Bill, H.R. 1354, which requires mandatory counseling for combat veterans and ensure a better transition for troops leaving the military.


 

Check out exclusive pictures from the press conference/interview:
DROWNING POOL PHOTO GALLERY

Video Highlights from the Conference:
WATCH NOW

They encourage supporters to go to their website, thisisforthesoldiers.org to sign a petition to Representative Bob Filner, Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, requesting him to take action on the Lane bill, which is presently pending in the House.

Many people at the conference appeared hopeful for the future of this campaign and the future of the band. With new management, label, album, and leader singer – Ryan McCombs, Drowning Pool appears to ready to start their tour with a new purpose.


Article by: Lorraine Biscocho


 
 *All songs on Artist Site.
Tracks from "Drowning Pool"
Drowning Pool
This month, Drowning Pool.
First off, congratulations on your album release today! Can you tell us more of the significance behind the album title, Full Circle?
C.J. Pierce: There are a lot of references. The main one being that we feel like a family again with Ryan being in the band.

Stevie Benton: The title kept on coming up. It first started when we got Ryan in the band. What finally made us decide on that title was the fifth year anniversary of 9/11, there we were playing ‘Bodies’ in Baghdad for the troops and it was really special for us because after September 2001 our song got banned off the radio with forever put a connection between our song and the nation’s tragedy which you can imagine was something that none of us were too pleased with. So it just felt like things have finally come around for us again, after having our song banned five years later the anniversary there we are because of that song, having the opportunity to play for the troops.
Can you tell me more about the writing and recording process of the album? How long did it take?
Ryan McCombs: For me, it’s awesome. It’s the first time in my career in music that it’s been this easy. Everybody just bounces the ideas off each other and it’s probably the healthiest situation I’ve been in. As far as the band goes, that’s reflected in the writing process, there are no toes to be stepped on, no ones got an ego when it comes to the writing table. So it was easy, probably the easiest catalog of songs I have ever had the privilege of being a part of.

C.J. Pierce: It is also for us like starting over again; we had a very fortunate tour. We wrote a couple of songs, did a couple tours. We did two USO tours before we recorded the record that gave the songs time to grow. A lot of bands get in there once they make the first record and just go in, record, make a record and get out there. They barely have the time to see how the fans react to songs, to pick which ones work, which parts of the songs work or not. So, that was a unique process which I hope we do in the next record which we write some songs just to toy and give it the live test.

How do you feel your sound has changed since Ryan came on board?

Mike Luce: Writing music is easy again with Ryan in the band. The three of us have been together and have written songs for quite awhile. Dave came in and just had that natural spark, like Ryan does as well. For the second record that was missing. It was really the case of pulling teeth with Jason. It took a while to get that record together and out and even still we felt rushed and that it was really only half complete. With this one, we had the time to road test the songs, as we like to call it. Even from the first day he [Ryan] stepped into the rehearsal room, we’ve been banging out songs. It’s back to being a family unit again. It’s killer. It’s cool.