Texan nü-metal/hard rock band Drowning Pool‘s career hasn’t exactly gone the way they had planned. With their 2001 debut album “Sinner” exploding onto the scene, the band racked up their first platinum record in August of that year. Its breakout anthem “Bodies” remains a popular choice in the nü-metal pantheon, snagging a platinum-certification itself in early 2019.
However, just as the band were gaining considerable momentum, their vocalist Dave Williams passed away from an undiagnosed heart condition while on tour in 2002. While the band would eventually go on to regroup, doing stints with vocalists Jason “Gong” Jones, Ryan McCombs and Jasen Moreno, the success the group tasted with Williams never again returned.
Guitarist/vocalist C.J. Piece is well aware of the hardships the band have endured during their decades together and recently took the time to lament them. Talking with Brudne Brzmienie about the shifts in the music industry towards streaming and the the changes it has presented in the overall experiences that modern music offers, Pierce stated:
“…It’s a love-hate relationship with it. I mean, it’s awesome to have the means to get everything out, and everybody can see everything. It’s all tangible. You can get to anybody’s music no matter how big or how small you are; if you look, you can find everything. So I love that. But I did love the idea of the album, a literal record is tangible, a CD is tangible, something they can hand you, something you can sign and you have it and get in that moment where you put it in and you’re listening to your favorite band.
I love those moments, ’cause now you can just flip through 20,000 artists and 20 songs in 20 minutes. I don’t know if you could soak in the full art and idea of a song ’cause you’re not sitting there concentrating as much as, like, ‘Oh, I like this part. I like that.’ It’s just a whole another world, man, to see.”
“It’s never been a fair game, and I play music because I’m passionate about it. I think if anybody’s watching this conversation, they know that. But there’s [a need for musicians to make] money. We all have to pay bills and [pay for] electricity and whatever. But it’s just wild to me. We have [sold], like, seven million records total maybe, with all our records, including the [debut] ‘Sinner‘ record, and I’m in a rental car and a rental house, ’cause the music business has not been fair to us in any way, shape or form, man.
It’s been wild. But I can’t walk around with that kind of frustration and hate, ’cause it’s gonna take away from just me, who I am, writing a song, although some songs may have reflected that in the past, deeper tracks. I mean, it’s an ever-evolving thing, so it’s never a dull moment. So I’m always curious to see what happens next. So it’s just life. So I’m enjoying the ride.”
Drowning Pool reunited with their former vocalist Ryan McCombs in 2023 and have since been staging a comeback, most recently issuing the track “Madness“. Plans are also in motion for a 25th anniversary edition of “Sinner“ as well.
