Drowning Pool Interview

HEY GUYS THIS IS SHAUNA O'DONNELL AND I'M SITTING WITH C.J. PIERCE THE GUITARIST OF DROWNING POOL.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TALKING WITH ME.
Thanks for having me.

YOU GOT IT! CURRENTLY YOU ARE ON TOUR WITH GODSMACK AND FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, HOWEVER TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY OF THE TOUR. ARE YOU SAD THAT IT IS OVER ALREADY?
I'm definitely sad it's over; this has been a great tour. It's probably been one of the best. They just keep getting better and better and the Godsmack guys are awesome. Everyone in the band is cool and the crew is great. We have toured with them before and Five Finger Death Punch. We know everyone on the tour and everybody gets along, so it’s definitely one of those tours you want to stay on as long as you can, but they all have to come to an end at some point and you have to move on to the next one.

YOU HAVE TOURED WITH THESE TWO BANDS BEFORE. WAS THERE ANYTHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS TIME AROUND?
It is Godsmack’s show so they pull the shots. A lot of times the headlining bands will close off all these areas and have all these rules. They are just one of the bands that let’s you get away with murder and do what you want. It’s nice knowing that you don’t have to worry about pissing off the headliner. We are respectful anyway, but they are not the kind of band that is breathing down your throat. They look at the show as a whole, they give us as much stage as we want and let us do whatever we want on that stage. Other bands will limit you on sound and stage. It’s definitely been great.

WASN’T PRODUCTION WAY BIGGER THIS TIME TOO?
Their production was definitely the biggest I’ve ever seen it. They just keep bringing their A game and I definitely have to hand it to them whether you like them or you don’t. Sully is an amazing front man, he plays the drums, he plays guitar and he is 100% dedicated to his show and his band. It comes out on stage.

I TALKED WITH SULLY AND ZOLTAN ABOUT THE TOUR AND BOTH SAID THEIR STAGE PRODUCTION WAS BIGGER THIS TIME AROUND.
That’s funny talking to Zoltan and those guys before the tour started because Godsmack was going to come out with one set of things and then Five Finger wanted to bring out their whole rig. I’m sure you have seen the monstrosity of the drum set. So they brought up their game, so we thought we better bring up our game too. We brought the ramp and the steps that we have, so everybody kind of upped their game on this one. Originally there wasn’t going to be as much stuff on the stage, but it was cool because it was probably the first tour as a whole that we were in touch with production and everybody was on the same page. Everybody was cool with everybody else’s gear and stuff like that. We tried to make it happen so that we would all have our own show.

SPEAKING OF DRUM SETS, I WAS AT THE SEVENDUST SHOW THE OTHER NIGHT AND MORGAN’S SET IS INCREDIBLE.
He keeps adding stuff on to it. We had a show with them last week and I was messing with his drum techs saying it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

I SAW THAT MIKE IS PLANNING ON GIVING AWAY HIS DRUM SET TO A VERY LUCKY WINNER. THEY HAVE TO SEND IN A VIDEO OF THEMSELVES PLAYING DRUMS TO A DROWNING POOL SONG. IS HE THE ONE MAKING THE DECISION AS TO WHO WINS?
He’s going to be judging it as well as the guys from DW. It’s really going to be off of two things. I think they are going to look at the way people play, but if you send in something completely wacky, that tends to work as well. I think me and Stevie are going to jokingly get on Mike’s kit and film us playing and send it in to him. We just came up with that today. It’s really cool for him to do that, it’s about $8,500 worth of drums with the cymbals and the stands. It definitely adds up. His drum company DW got together with Mike and they are putting this on. Send in a video. Go to www.drowningpool.com, it has all the information on it.

SO MIKE’S GETTING A NEW DRUM SET THEN. YOU HAVE TOURED WITH SOME AMAZING BANDS IN THE PAST. WHAT BAND DID YOU HAVE THE BEST TIME TOURING WITH?
It’s hard to pick one; we are having a lot of fun with these guys. Sevendust has always been great and we have been touring on and off with them for years. We did a fly out show with Ten Years and our gear didn’t show up. They were playing before us and as soon as they got off stage we were like “Hey, can you leave your stuff up there? Is it alright if we use your gear because we don’t have any?” I want to say thanks to them for letting us play on all their stuff, otherwise we wouldn’t have a show. It’s always fun, I can’t think of the last time I had any issues or problems with anyone in a band. We play rock music, what do we have to complain about? You can drink on the job, that’s for sure.

YOU HAVE THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD. I SAW YOU HAVE CONTINUING DATES AFTER GODSMACK ENDS. ARE THOSE ONE-OFFS?
Yeah, we’re doing a headlining one-off. We are going to leave this weekend and fly to Alaska and play a show out there. We are going to do the Shiprocked Cruise next weekend, which is really cool. Sevendust, Vince Neil, Cinderella and Tesla will be on that one. Those guys are great. We played with Tesla, they are so cool and they were so nice to us. I’m looking forward to seeing them again. We are going to do this thing in Dallas, which we try to do every year called Toys for Tots. If you bring a toy you get in the show for free. I’m glad we get to do that. Last year we got like $6,000 worth of toys for unfortunate kids.

THAT’S SO COOL. IS THIS YOUR FIRST CRUISE?
This is my first cruise ever. I’ve been on many boats, but never a cruise ship. I’m looking forward to it.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST ON THIS CRUISE?
It’s going to go into the Bahamas, so honestly I’m looking forward to getting up early, going snorkeling and scuba diving. I’m really into that. We will drink and listen to rock music, it sounds like fun.

IT SOUNDS LIKE FUN TO ME TOO. AFTER THIS YOU WILL PROBABLY TAKE A BREAK FOR THE HOLIDAYS. WILL YOU GO RIGHT BACK OUT ON THE ROAD FOR 2011?
It usually slows down at the end of the year in December and January. We usually try to take off in January because we’ve had numerous buses stuck in snow and snowed out shows. So it’s like why are we touring in Canada in January? It doesn’t make any sense. We usually stay at home, write more music and stay ahead of the game on that. There are a lot of different bands and a lot of different options coming up. I was talking today with management about it. We are going to nail it down here pretty soon, but we don’t actually have a set tour. We will be touring on this record all next year.

YOUR FOURTH ALBUM HAS BEEN OUT FOR ABOUT SIX MONTHS NOW. I’M CURIOUS AS TO WHY THIS ONE IS SELF TITLED.
For many reasons actually, we had more working titles on this one than we ever had before. We did our first record with Dave Williams who unfortunately passed away from a heart condition. We did Desensitized with Jason and that didn’t work out obviously. We then got Ryan and did Full Circle and toured with him. When we did Drowning Pool it was the first time we had solid management, a solid label and Ryan had been in the band for five years, so we knew each other really well. We didn’t have all these other distractions, we just sat there and worked on the music together, so it really kind of feels like I finally made my first record without all these other headaches and crap that comes with it. This is what we are and what it’s going to sound like. It’s kind of weird four records into it that we are self titling the CD. It’s kind of traditional for most bands to do it on their first one, but it really feels like our first record.

I LOVE THE SONG “FEEL LIKE I DO.” I WOULD IMAGINE THAT BESIDES “37 STITCHES” THAT IS THE SONG THAT REALLY GETS THE CROWD GOING.
Yeah, it’s great. Right out of the gate it came out swinging for us. You never know how the fans are going to take it from song to song. It’s the same thing with “37Stitches” it started hitting and we weren’t even on tour when it got released. We were actually going to record the next record and then 37 took off so we went back out on the road. It’s fun especially with that song too and knowing that the fans like that style of music from us as well kind of opened the door for us to go from the heavy to the lighter stuff. You will definitely get stuff like that from us on the next record. It’s nice to be able to play something like “37 Stitches.” On the new record we have “Turn So Cold,” “Alcohol Blind” or songs like that where we bust out the acoustic for the first time and it seems to work for us.

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED DOING A LIVE ALBUM OR AN ACOUSTIC?
We did a live album about a year and a half ago. I want to do another one. We did a show here recently, we taped it and it sounded really, really good. We put one out called The Lowest Common Denominator, it was a show we did at the House of Blues in San Diego. I’d love to do that again and I’d love to do an acoustic record at some point now that we have done enough of our heavier songs acoustic and it seems to work for us. It doesn’t work for everyone, but I think Sevendust did an amazing job with it.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOU ARE MOST WELL KNOWN FOR, WHEN I SAY DROWNING POOL, WHAT DO YOU THINK POPS INTO PEOPLE’S HEADS FIRST?
They say “Who? Who are you?” is what pops in their head and then you say “Let the bodies hit the floor.” It’s “37 Stitches” now. Jokingly we were going to change the name of the band to Let the Bodies Hit the Floor because people knew us from that and still do. I’m thankful for that song; it still gets a lot of play on it. People know us for 37 now; it’s a whole other fan base that has joined on, which is great. I’m working on something new that’s on the next record that is very much in that zone. I don’t ever want to copy myself or do a 37 Part 2, but it is my writing style. I love playing that song every night and I look forward to playing something else like that, so I have something in the works for the next record that has the same vibe.

YOU’RE WORKING ON THE NEXT RECORD?
I’m always writing music. The whole time we were in the studio there was a couple of things I came up with while we were there. I just make it a habit. It’s not everyday, I’ll go a week or two, not come up with anything and then have two days off like we did in Vegas and write a bunch of new stuff. Whenever it hits you, you’ve got to jump on it whenever you are feeling inspired.

THERE ARE TIMES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT THAT I HAVE TO GET UP TO WRITE SOMETHING DOWN.
I do that with lyrics now, I never used to do that. I’ll get up in the middle of the night, grab my phone and write stuff down.

IN THE VIDEO FOR “TURN SO COLD” THOSE WERE REAL BLOCKS OF ICE SURROUNDING YOU. I WATCHED THE BEHIND THE SCENES AND YOU SAID IT WAS COLD IN THERE. I SAW SOME OF THE CREW IN JACKETS AND BEANIES YET YOU GUYS WERE NOT DRESSED VERY WARM.
It was 10 degrees in there. It is where they store bags of ice. On our last record we did a video in a warehouse in the middle of summer. It was 100 degrees outside in Texas. We are all wearing leather jackets and we have these big lights behind us. It was so freakin hot and then we do this next video in a freezer. They wanted to get steam coming off of us, so we had to go outside, warm up, come in and freeze to try to get that smoke vibe going. I’m really happy with that video; it was really fun to do.

DROWNING POOL CONTINUES TO GROW WITH EACH PASSING YEAR AND YOU GUYS JUST KEEP GETTING BETTER. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE SECRET TO YOUR LONGEVITY HAS BEEN?
I know we love playing music together and we have definitely been through a lot of things. First and foremost, it’s the love for music. I love performing, writing and everything about it. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I think we are just gluttons for punishment. There is never a dull moment, it’s always fun.

IT COULD BE THAT YOU GUYS WRITE REALLY GOOD SONGS.
I appreciate that, we try.

WHO ARE YOU ENDORSED BY?
I play on BC Rich, I actually have a new guitar coming out this year.

A SIGNATURE?
Yes, I’m doing a black and gold classy one. Hopefully I will see the prototype in the next month or so. It’s exciting, but it has taken a long time to get to this point. They’ve been great. I’ve been throwing these ideas at them and they are making it happen.

CONGRATULATIONS ON THAT!
Thank you

AT WHAT POINT IN YOUR CAREER DID YOU REALLY START NOTICING THE INCREASING NUMBER OF FANS, AND WHAT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO SAY TO THOSE WHO HAVE STUCK WITH YOU FOR SO LONG?
I’d like to say thank you to all our fans that stuck with us. I know the hardest person to change would be our lead singer because he is the voice of the band, but if you know our band we all write together. The reason I love playing rock shows is because I get to hang out with other people that love music. The fan base has been up and down like the music business. It started two weeks after we started Ozzfest in 2001 and it was like almost overnight. “Bodies” was everywhere, on wrestling, it was a buzz clip on MTV and it was like you woke up one day and everyone knew who your band was. It’s cool because it seems like Ryan has really been accepted by our fans that have been around a long time. I think he has a great voice for it. I think he does all of the old stuff great and he obviously does awesome on the new stuff. We definitely want to continue to go. I want to have six semis, screens, fire and all that stuff. We are going to definitely work to write better songs, get a better stage show and constantly improve ourselves.

RYAN HAS BEEN IN THE BAND FOR FIVE YEARS NOW; I THINK PEOPLE KNOW HE IS HERE TO STAY.
Yeah, with what we’ve been through with him and he’s still here, I’d say yeah he’s here to stay. Singers are fun to watch.

YES THEY ARE, DO YOU SEE A LOT OF PEOPLE WITH DROWNING POOL TATTOOS?
I actually do and that is the ultimate compliment. They will have that on their skin forever. There are bands that I love that get me through stuff. I have a Pantera tattoo and it is part of my life. Their songs are a part of my life everyday so I know what that means to the fans. It’s always a compliment and we are always thankful. When I’m doing my signature on your skin, please let me know when you are getting it tattooed because one time I did a really bad signature and this dude had it tattooed exactly how I wrote it. I’m more conscious to do it really nice now so that the tattoo looks good.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE INTERVIEW. WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD OR SAY?
I want to thank all our fans for sticking it out with us and if you haven’t seen our show please come out. If you haven’t heard the new record, go listen to it and check it out.

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Tags:  Drowning Pool, C.J. Pierce , C.J. Pierce, interviews

Shauna O'Donnell    November 03, 2010