Drowning Pool
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the band. For the Ross Macdonald novel, see The Drowning Pool.
| Drowning Pool | |
|---|---|
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| Origin | Dallas, Texas |
| Country | United States |
| Years active | 1997 – Present |
| Genres | Heavy Metal Alternative Metal Groove Metal Hard Rock |
| Labels | Sanctuary Records |
| Members | Ryan McCombs C.J. Pierce Stevie Benton Mike Luce |
Drowning Pool is a band hailing from Dallas, Texas that mixes hard rock and groove metal styles.
Contents |
[edit] History
Drowning Pool rose to prominence while playing along with Ozzy Osbourne during Ozzfest. Their 2001 debut album, Sinner, was certified platinum within six months and the video for its first single "Bodies" was frequently aired on various music video channels. After the September 11th attacks "Bodies" was infrequently heard on many radio stations as there were concerns regarding its appropriateness in light of the 9/11 victims who had jumped from the towers. On August 14, 2002 the body of lead singer, Dave Williams, was found inside his tour bus, dead from apparent heart failure, though a drug overdose was suspected. Toxicology reports after his death indicated that he suffered from a form of heart disease.
When asked if the band has any unreleased new material, Benton commented that "There are none. All the unreleased songs are out in some either soundtracks or compilations. We didn't get a chance to record some songs before Dave's death".
After Williams' death, the band decided to carry on and began searching for a new singer. Kelly Schaefer of Neurotica tried out but failed. Ben Schiegel of Sw1tched said he was turned down, but the band denied that report. The band asked Machine Head vocalist Robert Flynn if he wanted to join, but he politely declined, not being a fan of Drowning Pool to begin with. The band also looked to Brandon Narrell of ADVENT to be Williams' replacement, especially since Narrell looks and sounds almost like Williams, but he turned them down as well as DamagePlan (who later got Pat Lachman) to stay with his band. Ryan McCombs was also pursued by the band, but he was with his band SOiL at the time.Rob Zombie contributed vocals to their song "The Man Without Fear", from the Daredevil soundtrack, but he was never in line to be their new vocalist.
In 2003, the band found a new singer in Jason 'Gong' Jones who took place of Dave Williams in the wake of his untimely death. They released the album Desensitized in 2004.
Jason's departure from Drowning Pool was publicly announced on June 14, 2005, due to irreconcilable differences. Reasons for Jones departures were not known, but have been speculated from women troubles to money to ego. Jones would later join the Alternative Metal band A.M. Conspiracy. Almost immediately, rumours started swirling concerning the new singer's identity, ranging from Narrell to Pat Lachman of DampagePlan to Phil Anselmo of Pantera, but the biggest buzz of the rumors was to former SOiL singer Ryan McCombs. Drowning Pool announced that the singer would be formally announced August 25 at the Ozzfest date in Dallas, Texas, where Drowning Pool will do a one off performance on the main stage. On July 20, website SMNNews received word from close sources that McCombs was indeed the new singer, and that fact was confirmed by McCombs and Drowning Pool alike the next week. According to their manager, McCombs was one of, if not THE guy, that the band wanted to be the lead singer.
In spring of 2006, Drowning Pool announced that they had parted ways with Wind-Up Records. As of June 30, Wind-Up's website has been updated to confirm this. Rumour has it that they are in talks with Roadrunner Records. At a concert in Northern Virginia at JAXX Concert Hall and Night Club, the band stated that they will hopefully release their new CD in late 2006 or early 2007.
In October 2006, a new song called No More was announced to be released on the Saw III soundtrack. It's their first track (besides the 3rd version of Rise Up) with Ryan McCombs on vocals. According to their MySpace page, as of October 23, they are currently in the studio recording their 3rd album.
On November 24, it was announced that the band has signed a new deal with Sanctuary Records.
At the 12/9 show in Dallas, Drowning Pool has performed their new songs, one of which is called "Texas Metal Showdown".
[edit] Members
[edit] Current lineup
- Ryan McCombs - Lead vocals
- C.J. Pierce - guitars and vocals
- Stevie Benton - bass guitar and vocals
- Mike Luce - drums and vocals
[edit] Former members
- Dave Williams - vocals (1999 - 2002)
- Jason Jones - vocals (2004 - 2005)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Singles
- Bodies (2001)
- Tear Away (2002)
- Sinner (2002)
- Step Up (2004)
- Love and War (2004)
- Killin' Me (2005)
[edit] Albums
[edit] Appearance of the song Bodies
Bodies is a very popular mosh pit thriller-like metal song. These are some of the times it is used:
- Bodies is mentioned by troops in Iraq as a favorite song in the documentary Soundtrack to War
- Drowning Pool's song "Bodies" was the official theme song of The Alliance and three World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Pay-per-views: SummerSlam 2001, the WWE-produced One Night Stand in 2005, as well as 2006, the new ECW pay-per-view December to Dismember, and is the opening theme for WWE-produced ECW show.
- The tagline for both of those events was "Let The Bodies Hit The Floor"- the same line Dave Williams constantly whispered and screamed in the song "Bodies".
- "Bodies" would also be used in the movie The One and was played throughout the land.
- "Bodies" has also been repeatedly used in various Stickdeath clips.
- "Bodies" is also frequently used as a pep song by the USMC.
- "Bodies" is the theme song for the post-9/11 video "Taliban: Bodies" produced by Grouchy Media.
[edit] Trivia
- Drowning Pool has gone on several USO tours in the Europe and the Middle East, including Iraq.
- The woman on the cover of Desensitized is the model and adult film star Jesse Jane.
- Other Drowning Pool songs were used as theme songs for various WWE events: "Sinner" for Vengeance 2001, "Tear Away" for WrestleMania X8, and "Step Up" for WrestleMania XX.
- Their song "Follow" would be featured in the soundtrack of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 soundtrack album.
- Still relating to WWE, their song "Rise Up" is the current WWE Friday Night SmackDown!'s show theme. It is found on the album WWE ThemeAddict: The Music, Vol. 6. A new version of the song with McCombs on vocals, called "Rise Up 2006", was debuted on the March 24, 2006 edition and was featured as a bonus downloadable track for the WWE Wreckless Intent album.
- The song "Sinner" is easily the second popular song from the album "Sinner" - the first being the ever popular "Bodies" theme. Sinner would serve as the theme song for WWE event Vengeance 2001. It would also be the main theme song for Jet Li's movie The One.
- "Sinner" was explained by Dave Williams not to be a religious song nor a song that heavily discriminated religion, but one that demonstrates how hypocritical society is and how even the righteous are flawed with imperfections.
- Their single "Step Up" was featured in the end credits for 2004 film The Punisher. The video for the song can be found in the special features section of the DVD.
- Music from the album Sinner was featured in the 2001 Dragon Ball Z movie, Cooler's Revenge, along with music from various other hard rock bands.
- Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon uses Bodies as his entrance music.
- Houston Astros closer Brad Lidge uses "The Game" as his entrance music.
- Drowning Pool themselves have admittedly said they are Heavy Metal, although there's a Hard Rock influence at times.
- On the Criminal Minds episode "The Popular Kids" the song "Hate" was used during the scene where they bust the Lords of Destruction.
- Their song "Reminded" was used in the Dragonball Z TV Special: Bardock the Father of Goku.
- The song 'Rest In Pieces', written by Nikki Sixx, was actually written for Drowning Pool to do as he was going to produce their 2nd album. Dave Williams had later died, so Nikki would later give it to Saliva after he met Josey Scott.
- They also had one of the top songs on Hard Rock list on aolmusic.com on 11/12/06
- Their single, "Tear Away" is also on the Charlotte's Web soundtrack.
[edit] External links
| Drowning Pool |
| Ryan McCombs | C.J. Pierce | Stevie Benton | Mike Luce |
| Former Members: Dave Williams | Jason Jones |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: Sinner | Desensitized |
| Singles: Drowning Pool | Peices Of Nothing | Bodies | Tear Away | Step Up |
