Drowning Pool On Twenty Years Of ‘Sinner’
Bestselling nu-metal band Drowning Pool was formed in Dallas in 1996 by guitarist C.J. Pierce, drummer Mike Luce, and bassist Stevie Benton, originally as an instrumental trio. Three years later, with the addition of singer Dave Williams, the band solidified their signature blend of hard-hitting guitar riffs, searing drums, and moody lyricism. As a four-piece, the band found immediate success, and, after touring alongside the likes of Sevendust, Kittie, and (hed)pe, they signed to Wind-up Records. There, they entered the studio with producer Jay Baumgardner (Slipknot, Papa Roach, Godsmack) to work on their debut album. Focusing their song writing around relationships and religion, the band found inspiration from the album’s lively opener and title track, Sinner.
Craft Recordings celebrates the twenty fifth anniversary of Drowning Pool’s Platinum-selling debut, Sinner, with a limited-edition vinyl reissue and expanded digital release. The 2001 album, the band’s only record to feature their original frontman, Dave Williams, includes such favourites as Tear Away, Sinner, and their signature hit, Bodies. Arriving June 5 and available for pre-order now, this special anniversary edition of Sinner is pressed on Sea Ink Swirl vinyl, while fans can also find exclusive pressings via Revolver (Clear Smoke vinyl) and through the band’s official website (Purple Smoke vinyl). The expanded digital release will be available on streaming sites, featuring Bodies (Chris Vrenna’s XXX Tweaker Mix), The Man Without Fear (feat. Rob Zombie), and Break You (Demo). C.J. Pierce talks to Rob Lyon about the twenty anniversary of Sinner.
Congratulations on the twenty fifth anniversary of the debut album Sinner?
Yeah, man, thank you so much, man, I can’t believe it’s been twenty five years, wow.
Can you believe that twenty five years has literally whizzed by?
It has, man. You know, the stories are like, I can’t believe you’re still alive, man. So just that alone is good. We won there.
When you reflect on the milestone, what does it mean to you?
When I reflect on it, the record… it’s just awesome we still play it. That was an amazing time in my life. Our drummer Mike Luce and I moved here from Louisiana to Dallas, and we worked with Stevie, and once we got Dave Williams, things started taking off for us. Just being in the scene in the late 90s and early 2000s, and being part of an amazing movement that’s called Nu Metal. It’s just awesome that we’re here twenty five years later and people still enjoy it. I mean, I love playing shows. I love performing, and seeing all these new fans come out as well, so it’s… it’s just wild.
Can you believe, when you step back and look at it, the impact that this album had on the nu‑metal scene at the time?
Yeah, you know, again, we’re a jam band, we’re a rock band, dude. We get a case of beer and just start playing and have fun with it. Bodies came out very naturally for us, we were writing it with no preconceived notions. It’s just us writing songs, man and to see it grow and have the impact it’s had, and the fact that it’s kind of a staple song within other songs… there were so many great bands that came out at that time, dude. I’m a fan of music, I’m a fan of so many bands, but to have one that people can relate to… dude, every night we play, whether it’s ten people or then thousand or one hundred thousand people, everybody just goes nuts when we play it. It’s awesome that we all have that kind of connection, that rock and roll connection.
Are there any significant moments from when the album came out that still stand out as being important for you?
Yeah, man, there’s a whole bunch of them. I don’t even want to start with these stories. There’s one I told before, but I do like it. Everything kind of fell into place. We were on Ozzfest 2001, and we kind of got added at the last minute when there was a third stage. We started in Chicago — first day of the whole tour — and they hadn’t opened up the gates yet at 10 o’clock in the morning. All these fans were standing out there and here we are, brand‑new band just coming out, first show in a major tour. Bodies was on MTV when they did metal videos, it was a buzz track, wrestling started playing the song… and they open up the gate, and we start going into Bodies while all these fans were running up to us. It started this massive pit. We kicked it off like that, man. From then, it’s just been awesome show after awesome show. I play every show like it’s the last show, because our career’s been up and down, Dave passed away with cardiomyopathy at thirty years old, we’ve been through label changes, manager changes, some singers, but I’m proud of all the records we’ve done. I love playing music, and it’s just wild that this is still here twenty five years later.
Even a song like Bodies, you must have felt like you seriously won the lottery. That song just continues to build its own legacy and is just as important now as when it came out?
I love playing it. We wrote it. So yeah, it’s awesome to see that, man. The reaction we get every time with it, it’s just a fun song, dude. To see so many different parodies made of it, which is great. I’ve said this earlier too, there have been a few times I’ve been at other shows. I love going to shows, man. When I’m home, which is rare between touring, I’ll go see other local bands play. I’ve been out in the pit where another band is playing Bodies, and just had the pit experience of it. That intensity, playing it is one mindset, being in it is another. It’s awesome, man. It’s intense. Sometimes you just got to get it out, got to scream.
When you reflect on it, was making the album a challenging album to make?
No, it was one of the easier ones, man. We had already… you know, Mike Luce, our drummer, Stevie and myself, we’ve been playing together again since high school, and once we got together as a unit in Dallas, we had gone through a couple different people and changes. We had already written a lot of stuff together before we brought Dave in to the mix, and once Dave got here, he elevated the music. Going into the studio, working with Jay Baumgardner, which is awesome, it was an easy process, man. It was a fun process. It was also the first time making a major live record, so it was a learning curve on that one, but as far as the songs and stuff, nothing really changed much. The label and everybody was just like, “Hey, that sounds great, keep it going, guys.” So there weren’t any issues at all, man. It was fun. We were out at the Rainbow every night getting hammered and going back in recording the next day.
Is there a huge buzz seeing the album pressed on vinyl for the first time?
Yeah, so great. We did one little run a few years back, I have to get those back, they ended up in a separate place. But yeah, for the twenty fifth anniversary, man, we got these. I got it right here — it’s got the smoky blue, the purple one right here. So I just got those in, and I had to mail these out to everybody. We have some pre‑orders, so tonight I’m gonna be signing them, Mike and Stevie will sign them tomorrow. I ordered 500 of them to make it special. The label has some as well, and Revolver also made a few for a special package. But it’s cool to have on vinyl, man. I’m getting my vinyl collection built back up. In my living room, I have a whole PA set up with a record player, everything analogue, old school. When I get a chance, I still like to listen to the record front to back.
Was that a tough choice picking colours?
No, man. We went through… there’s a lot of options these days. We did a smoky blue, we did a blue one when it came out, this is a small limited run, so the label wanted to do a blue one again. So between me, Mike and Stevie looking through everything, we figured we’d go with purple.
Going through the process for the expanded digital edition, how was that? Was it tough to work out what extra tracks to include?
No, it wasn’t that much. I wanted to put extra stuff on it. We still have a lot of stuff we did even before we were signed, and I have a whole bunch of things we haven’t gotten a chance to get to that I’d like to release, simply as a hats‑off to Dave. But with this, we did Break You, the last song we recorded, which was on the Scorpion King soundtrack but not available anymore, so I wanted to make that available again. Same thing, we worked with Rob Zombie, which is freaking awesome. We did Man Without Fear, which came out with the Daredevil movie, but again, it’s no longer available. And then with the XXX movie, Chris Renner did this freaking awesome version of Bodies, that’s when the car goes up the bridge. I wanted to have those available, so you can only get that with us online. I wanted to have it on the vinyl as well, but we decided to keep the vinyl traditional, so that’s the download bonus.
How did it come up working with Rob Zombie? That would have been an absolute career highlight.
Dude, he’s amazing, man. He’s such a talented dude. I love his music. It was the first guy we worked with after Dave passed away. We had started writing a few songs, and again, working with Wind‑Up at the time, they did a lot of soundtracks, and they knew that was coming up, and they brought up the idea of collabing with Rob. We toured off and on together, I’ve seen him throughout the years. He’s freaking amazing. It just came up naturally. I know he’s got new music out, and we have this out, so the timing couldn’t have been better. And he was cool with it, we called him and said, “Is this okay to put it out?” and he said, “If it’s cool, go for it.” So there it is, man. Hopefully I can do another one with him. We were just in the studio the other day, and I came up with this other riff… listening to the Sinner record, playing it in its entirety on tour, these tracks are inspiring to write new stuff. I haven’t just sat down and reflected on that time period, and while I have, I’ve been inspired to write a lot right now. There’s one track I feel like he could sing on, so maybe we can collab again at some point. That would be awesome.
Exciting that there’s new music on the horizon once all the celebrations have passed.
Yeah.
So the tour, you’re looking to play it start to end on a special run of dates?
Yeah, we’re going to start… we leave on the 11th, we start with Download Festival, and then from there we’re doing some club shows and festivals in June, and we’re going to play the record in its entirety. We have some shows in July, military stuff, and then we’re touring August, September, October. Right now it’s a bunch of weekend shows that are going to turn into a tour. But yeah, it’s an anniversary tour, we’re going to be playing every single track off the Sinner record, and maybe these bonus tracks. You got to come out and see.
Any plans to bring this down to Australia, whether it’s this year or next?
Absolutely. We’re already in talks about that, June or July. We would love to come in 2027 and do the same thing. So all that is in the works for sure.
Interview By Rob Lyon
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