drowning pool

Drowning Pool is a band hailing from Dallas, Texas that mixes Hard Rock and Groove Metal styles and that 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 14th, 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.

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. 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. Jones would later join the Alternative Metal band A.M. Conspiracy. Almost immediately, rumours started swirling concerning the new singer's identity, most of them pointing 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 20th, 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.

In spring of 2006, Drowning Pool announced that they had parted ways with Wind-Up Records. As of June 30th, 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.

Members

Current lineup

• Ryan McCombs - Lead vocals
• C.J. Pierce - guitars and vocals
• Stevie Benton - bass guitar and vocals
• Mike Luce - drums and vocals

Former members

• Dave Williams - vocals (1999 - 2002)
• Jason Jones - vocals (2004 - 2005)

Discography

Singles

• Drowning Pool (November 30, 1999)
• Pieces Of Nothing (EP) (2000)

Albums

Appearance of the song Bodies

• Bodies is mentioned by troops in Iraq as a favourite 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 ECW One Night Stand in 2005, as well as 2006, 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.
• WWE Superstar Triple H appeared in one of their features in which they sang their version of his entrance theme.
• "Bodies" is also frequently used as a pep song by the USMC.
• Drowning Pool made an appearance at WrestleMania X8, singing their version for Triple H's theme music. That is the only time he has ever used the theme song as an entrance theme.
• "Bodies" is the theme song for the post-9/11 video "Taliban: Bodies" produced by Grouchy Media.
• "Bodies" Was Remixed for the Triple X soundtrack

Trivia

• The woman on the cover of Desensitized is the model and adult film star Jesse Jane.
• 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 ECW One Night Stand in 2005, as well as 2006, 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".
• 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 24th, 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 single "Step Up" was featured on the main menu of the WrestleMania XX DVD.
• 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. But Dave Williams tragically died. So Nikki didn't know what to do with the song. He'd later give it to Saliva after he met Josey Scott.

External links

• Official Website
• Drowning Pool at All Music Guide
• Drowning Pool at MTV.com