What's happening, this is C .J. Pierce from Drowning
Pool, and you're listening to My Weekly Mixtape,
right here with Brian Colburn. Get your sound.
Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach. to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
With this year's concert season heating up, I'm
excited to kick off a new style of My Weekly
Mixtape episode. And joining me for this inaugural
discussion is the incredible C .J. Pierce of
Jarning Pool. C .J., welcome to the show, my
friend. Hey, what's happening, Brian? Thanks
for having me. Since this is your first time
on My Weekly Mixtape, I'd like to start by asking
you my first -time guest question, which is...
What does the word mixtape mean to you? The word
mixtape? Yes, sir. I was making mixtapes back
in the day with my, you know, I still have my
cassette tapes, man. No, it's just, you know,
putting your favorite songs on it back in the
day, you know, especially with me, I went and
dated all of it, had albums and cassette tapes
came out. It was a new hot thing. But, you know,
your different favorite songs from your favorite
bands, you put them all together on one tape
or it's high school and you like some lady like,
hey, I made you this mixtape. Check out my jams.
There you go. Well, as I teased at the top of
the episode, tonight's discussion is something
I haven't done before. And I'm really excited
to see where this leads, because during the playlist
curation episodes of my weekly mixtape, guests
and I build mixtapes or playlists based on that
episode's band or theme. But tonight we're taking
a new spin on that. And while we're still talking
kind of playlists, there's a twist. And CJ, that
is if I were to give you carte blanche to build
your own set list for your ultimate concert featuring
any bands, any songs, any eras, zero limitation.
Right. That's what we're going to explore tonight.
But before we do that, as someone who's been
a part of putting together drowning pool set
lists night after night for the last several
decades. What would you say the art of building
the perfect concert set list is? For us, man,
you know, as of late, the last few years, especially
having Ryan McCombs back in the band, we've kind
of taken more of the Grateful Dead approach where
we have kind of a sort of a guideline list, if
you will. But we'll be on stage and somebody
will call out a different song. Or, you know,
it's like tonight, the vibe kind of feels like
this. So instead of doing this one song, we'll
do another one. We kind of huddle up and get
on stage and just keep it natural and organic
like that. You know, there's always some staples
in it, of course, that's in the set list. But
it's always somewhat of a little bit of a challenge,
but we work great together. We kind of put it
together as a band as a whole. And again, even
when we have the set list together, we'll go
on stage and we'll still sometimes we'll just
play something else or something we haven't played
in five years. Like, hey, let's just play this
one tonight. Really? All right, here we go. So
it keeps it fun for us, especially for fans.
We have a lot of fans, especially on stage. Sometimes
we'll travel to two or three different shows.
So you definitely get something a little different
every night. So it's not the same. You know,
we're not like Maritou. a click and all this
program stuff. We're pretty much four guys just
plugging and playing. Well, as someone who's
seen Drowning Pool several times over the years,
I know there's a lot of different eras of this
band. How do you at least attempt to strike a
balance between the contributions from Dave,
Jason Jones, Ryan, and Jason Moreno's 10 years
with the band? Yeah, it's pretty wild. Ryan's
been great with that. You know, we would definitely
play songs from different eras and different
singers. you know that's something you know everyone's
kind of had to step in since dave williams and
uh you know you know we pay you know respect
to dave williams doing a lot of songs at the
center record but uh ryan's been great doing
stuff you know we do some songs that we have
with jason gong jones and some stuff with um
jason moreno so the jasons so and again we mix
it up especially per tour or per night you know
we're always trying to bring something fresh
into the set list for if it was me i like to
play them all yeah i'll sit up stage all night
long seven hours and go for it but um We have
that time window. We got to fit it all in. There's
only so many songs, right? Yeah. Now, before
we get to your ultimate concert set list, I'd
like to remind listeners that if you like what
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There you can find ad -free episodes of the show,
gain early access to upcoming episodes, chime
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and so much more. Once again, patreon .com forward
slash myweeklymixtape. Now, CJ, even though you're
not crafting a drowning pool set list tonight,
the pressure's still kind of on because you're
now in the audience, and you're gonna... Explain
to the My Weekly Mixtape listeners the ultimate
C .J. Pierce concert. 12 songs, 12 different
artists. The sky's the limit. So the magical
moment hits. The lights cut out. You're in the
front row. The energy's through the roof. Who
is the first artist or band to take the stage?
And what song is opening up your ultimate concert?
Well, I'm going to go off of... There was Lollapalooza
back in like 92, 93, 94. And that left a big
impression on me, man. It was all these bands
playing. There's this band called Rage Against
the Machine I've never heard of. Tool goes on
second, right? So it's like, you know, it's this
new, you know, Alice in Chains were headlining.
I think Primus was up there at the time as well.
So for me, it's, you know, the first time I saw
Rage and they came out and they played Killing
in the Name of and it just, I was there with
my friends, my high school friends, and we just
went apeshit crazy nuts, man. It was awesome.
So that song, you know, still to this day, just
brings the energy to have some some like, you
know, the opening band right back in 94. Look
at him now, man. Just amazing. Still, you know,
bringing the hits. That song gets me going every
time, man. Oh, easily one of my favorite albums
of the 90s. And when it comes to heavier music.
It's definitely a top 10 for me. I don't think,
honestly, you could have rattled off any track
from the self -titled Rage Against, you could
have said bomb track, freedom, any song. And
I would be like, yes, I agree with that. Perfect.
Like what a way to open things up and to get
the crowd in the palm of your hand. Yeah. It's
hard to pick one from any of these artists, but
yeah, that one just, you know, the attitude in
that song is, you know, just that it just drilled
into you and just the energy, the riffs, man,
just everybody's jumping at every freaking song
out of Rage Against. All right, so the crowd
now has that opening number. Where do we go for
the second song of the night? So I went for this
song, second song of the night, again, following
with, again, some of my first experiences going
to concerts and just seeing these amazing bands.
And again, the second band on that one, and I'll
get away from the structure here, is Tool. And
I can pick anything from Tool. I mean, it was
the first record when they did that tour. But
there's something about the pot. I still love
this song. I'm known for playing guitar, but
I play bass. I play a lot of different instruments.
And as of late, in between doing stuff with Drowning
Pool, my wife and I would go out and just do
a couple cover songs at the local bar here. So
we just started playing the pot recently. So
it's just a fun song to play. All the songs are
amazing. Anything from Tool is amazing. But that
one, just the technical art to that one. And
it's another song that just has this head groove
jam to it. It just gets me pumped up. Have you
seen them recently in the last several runs where
they do the no phone policy at the shows? Yeah,
I think that's great. I'm all for it. We saw
the 2019 tour and when the lights went out and
the arena was pitch dark, I elbowed my buddy
and said, when's the last time you've seen this?
And he said, at least two decades. And it was
such a moment for us. Yeah, I mean, they put
on such a great show. They put a lot of time
into the artistry, just the whole backdrop. And
it's the experience. So, I mean, you know, nobody
likes to be told what to do. And again, I come
from the generation that didn't even have these
phones at the time. And it's great to capture
all that. And the last song, they do say, go
ahead and videotape. But I think he did it in
the right way where, you know, it's like, look,
you came here, you bought the ticket, you know,
just enjoy the show. And then after that, you
get back on your phone, man. So, I mean, I'm,
you know, to each his own, but that's definitely
an art -type band, and you don't want to miss,
I don't want to miss any of it. So I've seen
them on every single tour. We did some shows
with them in the past. So, you know, I get another
one of those bands where you can just listen
to anything and nothing. That's cool. It's awesome.
Like, ACDC gave me another background, and it's
not a bad song. 100%. Now, when Drowning Pool
is out on the road, do you guys have a preference
when it comes to cell phones in the crowd? I
always ask people to pull them out, especially
when we play Tearaway. Brian actually... has
everybody pull out and put lights up on their
phone. Man, we just did, we just got off tour
with Godsmack and P .O .D. It was a lot of awesome
shows in Europe and sold out arena shows and
everybody pulls out their phone to put the light,
the lighter up instead of like you're filming
it or whatever. But when you see all of it, it's
pitch black when we start the song and just see
all the lights on from the phones. It's like
the old school lighter kind of effect, if you
will. So, hey, people keep in mind to have a
good time, man. Do whatever you want. Go watch
the show. Call your mom. I'm cool. You know what
I mean? Putting the cell phone light on is a
hell of a lot easier than back in the eighties
and nineties when you had the lighter, because
I mean, how many times did you burn your thumb?
I mean, come on. I'll put the letters up and
that's it. But so it works and it looks really
cool, man. And we got a lot of cool video and
shots from that. So I love that aspect of it.
You know, we try to, you know, it's a rock show,
man. We just all have to have a good time. Amen.
All right. So we have a one, two Lollapalooza
punch here. Where are we going for track three?
Track three. All right. Let me think here. I'm
looking through. Oh, man. I love so many freaking
bands. All right. So there's another band that
I absolutely love. And the first time I saw it,
it's Korn. I have a song from Korn. And Korn
has shown me, again, I'm all about the intensity
and the jam. And they have so many heavy songs.
And another band, I've seen them on every single
album tour. We play with them. But this song,
Alone I Break, that they have. There's something
about that song. It's just, it's off the beating
path for them. But it's heavy in its own, like.
it's got this mid -tempo like creepy vibe to
it but uh it's just intense without the music
being just in your face intense it just gets
me like that for some strange reason is it's
probably one of their slower songs um but just
something about that song man it just grabs me
it's just as hard as like everything else that
they have that's heavy going with something off
of untouchables is such an interesting pick it's
an underrated corn album if you ask me overall
And sadly, Alone I Break is just one of those
songs that the band, I don't want to say abandoned,
but in the beginning, they tried playing it a
couple of times live and then it kind of just
dropped off. I'm catching one of the dates at
MetLife Stadium in New Jersey this fall with
System of a Down. Yeah, nice. I would love to
see them brush this off, man. This is such, it
makes this set so dynamic. Right, it's just one
of those, it just, it puts you in that mind frame.
Like you are here, you slam and. you're having
a great time playing all the bangers, all the
jammers. And then it's like, just that song just
has this vibe. It's still heavy, but just has
that vibe to it. Almost like, what song is it
from Deftones that they play all the time? It's
just one of those songs that just sets, that
just kind of connects everybody to a different
vibe. You thinking like Digital Bath here? Yeah,
something like that, man. Like there's a few
songs at Deftones that just go off into like
this kind of mellow kind of part and they come
back because, you know, another band is super
heavy. Of course. All right. We've got Rage Against
the Machine. Tool. Korn, I'm catching a vibe
here. Where are we going for track four? All
right, track four. We're going to go straight
to heavy on this one, man. I've always been a
Slipknot fan. Nice. We were touring with them
once. I was in the pit. Because at that time,
early on, I was still going out there and getting
nuts. And I got totally trampled. Almost couldn't
play the show the next day. Oh, man. So everyone's
like, dude, you can't be out in the pit for Slipknot.
We've got to put on a show as well. So that's
kind of when I slacked off on jumping out, going
crazy in the pit days, if you will. But yeah,
dude, Duality, I love all their songs, but that's
another one of those songs, like, if I'm getting
ready to go out and do something, I want to get
pumped up. Even sometimes before we go on stage,
man, we'll stick Duality on and just go nuts
to that song. So it's a jammer. Oh, it is. I've
had the chance to catch Slipknot many times over
the years, and I'm so glad to have this song
in the fold, because then I might catch some
slack. from rabid Slipknot fans here, as much
as I love the heaviness of the self -titled and
of Iowa, obviously. Volume three is such a sweet
spot for me musically in terms of heft and a
melodic side of the band. And I think it's such
a balance. And I just love the fact that this
was the song choice because it's got all the
heft that you expect from Slipknot. But there's
also this, I don't want to say. accessibility
to it, but it's something that, even if you're
not a rabid Slipknot fan, I feel like it's a
gateway drug that could really bring you into
the world of their music. Yeah, it's just one
of the, you know, another one of those just jamming
tunes that just grab and get you going, no matter
who you are. When that comes on, it's just like,
wait, you know, like, oh, shit, my parents, ah,
this is the only thing that, ah, you know, I've
been slamming. It's just great. Is this what
I think it is? Yes. I think I'm going to use
this whole set list before we go on stage every
night. This is, I like it. I like where we're
going. I mean, it's... Again, picking some of
my favorite tunes. I was going to say, I think
you should. And if Drowning Pool ever decides
to do a cover songs album, so far, I think this
would kick a lot of ass. Yeah, some of these
I have covered. I just played Killing the Name
Of with Leo Marocchioli over in Italy this past
couple weeks ago in the middle of a tour. We
had the one day off from tour with Godsmack,
and he was playing in the same town. So I went
out to a show and just jumped on stage and played
Killing the Name Of with him. Awesome. From what
I remember, I know I was pretty lit, but I had
a great time with it. Well, what do we have now
for track five coming out of Slipknot? Coming
out of Slipknot, you know, I grew up Pantera,
friends and family with Dom and Vinny and Rex
and Phil. But it was a hard choice to pick a
favorite one because, dude, I love all of them.
You know, we do cover Cowboys from Hell sometimes,
you know, to play Walk. I always stay up on my
chops on these songs. But, you know, I was thinking
long and hard about it. My first time when I
really heard the first impression that it had.
When I first listened to Cowboys from Hell and
when Domination came on, it's just so freaking
heavy. It's like the riff is like punching somebody
in the face. And then the freaking solo on that
thing. I mean, all dime solos are just genius.
But to sum up that Domination, man, that was
one of the songs that I was still learning how
to play guitar and getting to my chops. It was
one of those things that once I heard that, I'm
like, made you want to put it down. Be like,
all right, you got it, man. Kings of Metal. You
won. Without a doubt. But it's an influence,
man. I could definitely hear that. And I want
to bring up a memory of Drowning Pool that I
have. And I'm going to go all the way back to
2001 on the Ozzfest tour. I was at the Home Dell,
New Jersey show at the PNC Bank Arts Center,
which around here, when people mention 2001 Ozzfest,
it's infamous because it was the Papa Roach mud
throwing incident. Right. On that same day, I
caught former guest on the show. Brian Scott
of union underground, obviously drowning pool
was on that bill mud vein. It was like a who's
who of the new metal scene that year. And I don't
know if it was the entire band, but during union
underground set, I know Dave came out because
he was wearing a Texas flag wrapped around that.
I'm not sure if you did as well, but there was
definitely a drowning pool and union underground
collaboration of cowboys from hell. Can you kind
of talk about how all that came together? yeah
that whole tour man that whole time was great
i remember pnc specifically as well man that
place is awesome um yeah dave you know dave's
it's you know dave stage was a nickname like
he always jumped up one stage just about everybody
because he just loved to sing man he was all
about it and um yeah you're on the ground that's
that's why it's us the south texas you know we're
dallas and then down you know houston san antonio
area so um friends and family for life dude these
guys are still rocking out but yeah dave was
like that man we always want to Especially that
tour. It was so wild. We'd all jump on each other's
stage and play a song with each other. Same thing
with Elias and Nonpoint. We've done stuff with
them as well, the same kind of stuff. So it's
just awesome to have that band camaraderie, if
you will, with all these bands. It's still to
this day. I just saw them not that long ago.
You and Underground came through Dallas. Yeah,
I feel like the bands that came out of the early
2000s are very much a community. I really feel
like there's a lot of love and a lot of respect
between all the bands, especially coming from
even something very close to home for you in
Drowning Pool is the fact that Ryan is able to
balance his work with Soil as well as Drowning
Pool. Yeah, man, it's been a while, two years
for us, for all bands. And we're all friends
and family like that. Again, you know, there
was in between us for after Ryan was with us
for a year, you know, Soil did a tour and it
came through Dallas. And it was fun for me because
I wasn't playing that night. I just got to sit
back and drink and watch the show, you know.
And they did a kick -ass show. You know, I love
Ryan's voice and soil. They do their style of
thing and we do our style in the drowning pool.
But you're right. It's like a family and friend
vibe. You know, it's the same thing we just have
with Godsmack and P .O .D. I love that it's like
that, man. Everybody gets along from the crew
to the band to just the whole production. So
put on a rock show. Exactly. And we are at the
halfway point of your ultimate concert. What
is track six here? Track six. You know, not to
go back to the Lollapalooza thing, it's even
before that. There's a place, I grew up in New
Orleans, and it's a place called Tipitina's that
I saw a lot of bands in the 90s. That was kind
of like the place to play. And I went and saw
Primus with a friend of mine before they had
blown up. I mean, literally, the same thing with
Korn. I saw Korn there when there was like 50
people. You know, who is this band? Who is Primus?
I have to interrupt for one second because I
remember, and people don't believe this when
I tell them this story, but my buddy... went
to Maxwell's in Hoboken to catch Korn and Sugar
Ray on a dual bill in the early 90s because Sugar
Ray's first album, Lemonade and Brownies, was
much more in line with nu metal and the rap rock
sound that Korn was doing at the time. And the
bill made sense on paper. When I tell people
about that show now, they look at me, they go,
there's no way Sugar Ray and Korn toured together.
I said, oh yeah. Yeah, it's the older stuff.
So he was always cool, man. You know, I hung
out with him a while ago. But again, I don't
know what he's up to now, but I'll get peached
again. Family and friends vibe. But yeah, dude,
that just Primus, you know, just a whole nother
sound at nuts. And there's that song, especially,
you know, Jerry's race with our, just that riff
on that. I mean, that slamming it's heavy as
can be, but it's still got the funk groove to
it. And of course, that's Claypool with his,
with his wacky tone, man, just makes it fun,
fun music. But dude, sick town to guys. When
I talk about, favorite bass players on the planet.
My brain goes to Les Claypool. It goes to Billy
Sheehan. It goes to Flea. But the magic and energy
that Les brings to his performances, whether
it's Primus, the Flying Frog Brigade, Oysterhead,
or even his solo stuff, it's instantly recognizable.
You know when you hear his bass, the tone, the
sound, and then obviously his voice. It's just,
it's so unique. The only way to describe it is
it's less. It's less. It's less. It's unique
and original. It's amazing art, music art, if
you will, the way he plays, man. Couldn't agree
more. And when I tell people, like, oh, you know
Primus, and they go, no, I don't really know
a lot of Primus. As soon as I put on Jerry Was
a Race Chord Driver and you hear the opening
bass line, they're like, oh, I know that song.
Yeah. Dude, sick line, too. Sick bass line. Back
when we got the phone, I'm going to pick up the
bass and rock out on it just because I have it
in a minute. Grab it and just start jamming now.
Grab it and start jamming now, right? I know
I have this bad habit like that. Right before
I left for just I went to grab a couple things
from the guitar center and I bought a guitar.
I got a Gretsch and then same thing when I just
got back home because I got two small guitars
for the kids. Just going to buy some straps.
But I had this fat ass bass, bro. So I had this
Epiphone acoustic bass. So I got that. Nice.
There's all the same bass as well. We just play
everything up in the house, man. My house is
like, looks like guitar center, really. The home
studio and then the garage is the studio. But
all things music, man. That's my life. Exactly.
All right. Well, we're officially starting the
second half of your ultimate concert here. So
let's say we had an intermission, if you will.
Where would we go for the second half of the
night? So I'm sticking with, again, all the songs
that influenced me and just have these jamming
vibes and jamming riffs in it. Another band that's
going to be going out again, if they're not already
out, a band called Snot. um yes and uh dude that
whole that first that record jesus um it was
why it's a great story so you know we're still
local band early 90s um late 90s whatever and
we had a van we toured in and it was dave williams
man he had this cassette tape and it's not cassette
tape it's like you gotta get ready to do road
trip to go play in oklahoma and uh it's like
you gotta use you guys get in the van and he
pops the tape in and he plays stupid from it's
not and it's like just that jamming riff on it
man we're just all in a van jamming on the way
to go play a show you know Local band heroes
going to Oklahoma. Yeah, that's awesome. But
I'll never forget that, just that vibe and that
energy that they bring to the table and hearing
it the first time because Dave had the cassette.
I've seen footage of Snotts' recent shows with
Andy Knapp on vocals, and obviously nobody is
ever going to replace Lynn Strait. and nobody
expects anybody to. But I was kind of blown away
by the energy and passion he's bringing to these
performances, and Snot sounds completely reinvigorated
on this run. I can't wait for them to get to
the East Coast. Yeah. I want to see a set myself,
man, because this is another band I didn't get
to see, but big influence and great songs. Maybe
a Snot and Drowning Pool tour would be pretty
killer. Yeah. I'm going to make some calls when
I get on the phone with you. That sounds awesome.
As long as it can be like, you know, promoted
by my weekly mixtape. Oh, yeah, man. I'll wear
the shirt and everything. There you go. All right.
Track eight. Where are we going from Snot? Track
eight. This is a song that I kind of rediscovered
not that long ago. You know, every now and then
when we do short runs, like a two -week run,
a weekend run, we'll just still just take the
van out. I like driving the van. I still like
keeping it old school. I mean, you know, we did
big tours. We're very fortunate to be in the
tour bus. I'm grateful and thankful that we're
there. But I still like driving, man. I still.
And it gives me, like, playing shows and driving
to the next venue. I stay up at night and I listen
to whole catalogs of bands. It's, like, my time
to really get to listen and re -listen. Because,
like, pretty much all day, instead of playing
a show, I'm just doing my own thing. So in that
process, man, this band came out. I forgot. It's
Jimmy's Chicken Shack. Yes. And a song called
High. And I forgot, you know, again, it popped
up on just out of nowhere a few months ago. And
it's just such, again, another jamming riff that
I think, you know, it's early. new metal -ish
style before that became the name and the style,
if you will. I think that's kind of early inception.
But that song, man, it just has some kind of
another one of those just slamming songs that
just get you bouncing. And I was listening to
it. It's another thing, you know, it came on.
I was like, I haven't heard it in forever. I
played like three or four times in a row. You
can play your favorite songs or whatever again,
man. So I'm just going down the highway at three
o 'clock in the morning. Everybody's trying to
sleep, but I'm just jamming. I'm not going to
lie, dude. I'm so glad you brought up Jimmy's
Chicken Shack because they're based out of Maryland.
So being from New Jersey. This was kind of like
a second home for them. So we got to kind of
see the rise of Jimmy's Chicken Shack through
the 90s. And they're so underrated. I feel like
so many people should know who this group is.
So to have this brought out tonight is such a
refreshing thing to hear. Yeah, man. That's another
one of those groups that are just amazing. Some
fall between the cracks. Just don't get that
recognition like you're saying, man. But that's
one of them. That's sick. I'd say a double dose
of underrated bands between snot and Jimmy's
chicken shack to start side B. So where do we
go from here? From here, we're going to go to
a mainstream thing because, um, you know, again,
just going with the intensity and just a minor
show. And, um, you know, it's another band. I
mean, we all know it's Metallica and, you know,
they're another, you know, another Kings and
metal and, you know, back, back when I first
heard. master puppets it's like a you know it's
a friend of mine and he he was just you know
it's high school's lunchtime and he's got the
cassette thing and he's jamming out i'm like
what is that it's like it's a band called metallica
you got to check this out so let me borrow the
cassette tape and just it opens up with battery
and just you know pretty acoustic guitar and
you're thinking oh man this is some cool stuff
and then just on your face just all triplets
you know galloping riffs i'm like holy shit what
just happened to my life so um it was one of
those life and changing moments that uh you know
you just never forget so That's one of the songs,
you know, there's again, millions of, dude, so
many great Metallica songs and, and, and probably
like, like all of his artists feel better songs
since then. But, um, that was like my first impression,
first thing I ever heard from him. But yeah,
man, I, you know, to hear that live, it's freaking
sick. That's one of my favorites. Metallica is
a top band for me. I've seen them so many times.
When you talk about bands that just. know how
to open an album with authority. I mean, let's
just look at the five first albums, because anytime
you go past the Black Album, people love to run
their mouths. But Hit the Lights from Kill Em
All, Fight Fire with Fire from Ride the Lightning.
You just mentioned Battery from Master of Puppets,
Blackened from Injustice for All, and Enter Sandman
from the Black Album. Home run after home run
after home run. Yeah, everyone knows. And then
I'll jump even into the later albums. I'll just
say it. Frantic is the best song on St. Anger.
Right. We were talking about that the other day.
We were actually listening to it, just going
over, you know, again, when we have some time.
And I love this with our band, like some dressing
room time, which is rare to have some time. We'll
get on a subject like that and just put a whole
record on and just listen to it. So because right
now we are back in writing mode. We're going
to record it, try to get the rest of the songs
done for a new album with Brian. So that's what
I've been doing since I got home in the next
couple of weeks, just write mode and listen into
songs, get influence and do our own thing, man.
So Metallica is definitely always an influence
for all of us, man. Of course, of course. So
where are we going out of battery? So I'm going
to go with this one because this is another song
that, dude, this band, another underrated band,
big time. Head P .E., man. They have a lot of
great songs, but Renegade, there's something
about that song. Again, another song that just
gets me pumped, man. That's like, I love that
song when they play it live. Funny story, so
again, my lady and I were getting ready. This
was years ago when we first started seeing each
other. And she puts on Renegade because... you
know, since they were getting ready to play here
in Dallas like the next week and and, you know,
we're still getting to know each other. It's
just like, would you go see this band called
Head P .E. with me? I'm like, you love Head P
.E.? I love Head P .E. It's like, I know Head
P .E. We play with Head P .E. So that's like,
you know, that's how we like when you get ready
to go out. That's the jam I put on in the car
when I take off the house. No matter what show
I'm going to, we listen to Renegade first. And
I do. I love Head P .E., man. They're definitely
one of my top bands. Oh, they're incredible.
I can't picture a Head P .E. show without the
one -two punch of Bartender and Renegade closing
out a set. And now, if I'm not mistaken, you're
going to get a little bit of extra time with
Head P .E. this fall because you're going out
with them and Spineshank over in the U .K., correct?
Yeah, we finally, I was just talking to Jared
the other day about that. We just, all that stuff's
obviously solidifying out now. But we did a little
bit of touring together with Saliva. No, it wasn't
Saliva. I'm sorry. It was El Nino. and a few
other bands a couple years ago. And again, they
were on tour with us for a little bit. And I
just love those dudes, man. They let me come
out and play a couple songs on their set. I guess
it's this adrenaline thing. I don't know, man.
But I made my way out to their set and played
Renegade with them. But yeah, man, they just
kill it, dude. I love it. It's a band. The cool
thing about touring is it's like I get to be
at a free head PE show if they're on tour with
us every night. I get to watch them play every
night on top of me playing my set. So yeah, I'm
excited as hell to be touring with them again,
dude. They put on a killer show. So much energy.
Fantastic. Well, we're getting close to the end
of the set here. We're nearing the finale. We
got two songs left. We could call one the set
closer and then track 12, the encore. Where do
we go for track 11? I'm going to go to these,
again, recently influenced, but we've been friends
for 25 plus years, man. And I'm going with P
.O .D. South Town because that song is jamming.
I love all those dudes. Sonny's great. marcus
is great freaking trade like all those dudes
and the drummers act they have now man powerhouse
so great dudes great friends but their their
set has a vibe to it but something about south
town man whenever that song comes on dude i'm
just like stomping on the floor just anything
that's around me it's gonna just get hit man
i'm in the south towns so great dudes um they
put on dude they have hits for days too man i
think another band that's probably a little bit
under underrated as well Oh, God, yeah. Even
their greatest hits album, when you look at it,
you're like, every single one of these songs
was an absolute smash. But you don't think about
P .O .D. as one of those big chart -topping bands,
but that whole run between Southtown and Alive
and that entire, those two album cycles, they
were kind of on top of the world for a while
there. Yeah, they got tons of hits in them. I'm
hoping to do some more stuff with them. That
was great to do that run with them and catch
up and just, again, get to watch their show every
night for free. Because I'm playing with them.
See, so not only are you in a band, you're also
a fan. And that's where the love of this comes
in. That's where the community of music comes
into play here. Yeah, that's what it's all about,
man. I love being at a rock show. And like I'm
saying, whenever we have a day off on tour, I'll
go find somebody playing somewhere. Ryan always
makes fun of me that my band guys are like, dude,
we did six shows in a row, day off. It doesn't
matter how many, whatever. It's a day off. I'm
going to go find a club. There's somebody playing
somewhere, man. I just love being at the show.
So I have to ask, before we reveal the last song,
there's a definite vibe to your ultimate concert.
Would there be any genres of music that people
would be shocked to learn that you're also a
fan of? I'm a huge Fleetwood Mac fan. We played
a lot of songs just around the house. Again,
I got a couple of kids and we all played music
together. Family, Partridge family over here.
But, you know, I love a lot of 60s, 70s stuff.
I've always been a Led Zeppelin fan. Who's not
a Led Zeppelin fan? Yeah, it's still rock and
roll themed, if you will. But, you know, I grew
up in New Orleans with jazz and blues. So I still
love that. I definitely get into, we get into
these tricks like Amy Winehouse is amazing. Like,
and I love Motown and my uncle is really big
into, you know, jazz and Motown stuff. So we'll
get, we'll go off into that zone at the house.
People probably don't obviously know that. That's
why we're discussing it. But yeah, I get into
all that, man. I mean, my heart's in metal and
rock and roll and the intensity, but I listen
to everything, dude. And I'm open to all styles
and music. And even the newer stuff, there's
not a lot of newer bands on here, but the new
stuff that's out now too, man, they're still
killing it, bringing the metal. All right. Well,
we are down to your last song of the night. This
is the encore. This is the closer. What are we
going to close things out with? I'm going to
close it out again because I haven't seen this
recently. And it's amazing all the love and respect
to Sully from Godsmack because they still bring,
I mean, their show is amazing. They bring the
full rock show. um it takes you on a journey
the lights are amazing the screen was amazing
the whole introductory coming into it like it's
only put a lot of thought and time into this
set up if you haven't seen it recently and they
they end you know they ended without standalone
and just everybody's singing along you know i'm
at the end of the night i'm watching the show
every night i kind of walk out with the crowd
we don't hang out talk to people at the merch
and we're just all singing it so it's just thrilling
to have man it's a good closer song just because
i've got to see it every night it's it's you
know again it's just standard kick -ass rock
song from sally and the boys So I have to ask,
did you guys like nickname this tour the Scorpion
King Tour? Because if you look at that soundtrack,
it kicks off with I Stand Alone. Then it's P
.O .D.'s Tweaker remix of Set It Off and then
Break You by Drowning Pool. Yeah, that's wild.
You know, I think of it like that. Again, all
of us being together coming from that era and
touring together again. I would love to play
Break You, throw that in the set list because
we haven't ever actually played it. But we have
an anniversary tour coming up next year. And
we want to do a lot of fun stuff. Oh, but didn't
just leak that out of the bag. Just scratch what
I just said. You didn't hear that. I was going
to say, well, I'm going to dig into that a little
bit because I still have some more questions
for you. But first, there you have it, folks.
C .J. Pierce's ultimate concert set list, which,
as a reminder, kicked off with Rage Against the
Machines, Killing in the Name, Tools, The Pot,
Korn's Alone I Break, Slipknot's Duality, Pantera's
Domination. Primus' Jerry Was a Race Car Driver,
Snot's Stupid, Jimmy Chicken Shack's High, Metallica's
Battery, Head P .E.'s Renegade, P .O .D.'s Southtown,
and Godsmack's I Stand Alone. And remember, you
could hear a playlist featuring all of these
songs over on the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com. So now we have to talk some Drowning Pool
here, man. So I guess the best place to start
would be right here in the present and the band's
latest single, Madness. And along with that track,
there's also the one that you guys released towards
the end of 2024, which is Revolution, The Final
Amen. Let's hear a clip of that as well. You
mentioned earlier that you guys are kind of in
the recording process for the next Drowning Pool
album. Where do these songs kind of fit into
that mold? You know, we're going boss of all
jamming, man. The excitement of having Ryan back.
I think that comes through in the music. That's,
you know, where Revolution, you know, started.
You know, he came here the first time he came
back. It was like two years ago. And I have like
a gazebo set up in the backyard. I just sat out
there. actually with an acoustic thinking we're
going to just sit out and jam. I just started
rocking out hard on it. It doesn't matter what
instruments you have. I love get on acoustic
and rocking hard anyway. It's not, the acoustic
doesn't have to just be for, you know, soft breeze
songs. Hey, there's an MTV unplugged for a reason.
Maybe a drowning pool unplugged set would kick
some ass. I would love to do that, man. We did
an acoustic set last year in Poland. We did eight
shows for the troops and we did a 17 song acoustic
set, but it was jamming, man. I actually had
a little distortion on the acoustic anyway. You
know, it was supposed to be an acoustic set,
but, I don't know, some songs come across heavier
on the acoustic when you're banging on it. At
least for me, they sounded like that. I would
love to do that. I'd love to do an acoustic record
and some kind of acoustic tour. But yeah, that's
all good things, man. I'm going to put that,
we're going to write that down and I'll try to
make that happen as well. But yeah, we have a
lot of material. You know, every time we get
together, there's been a lot of stuff on the
plate. It just hasn't, we haven't had time to
finish putting them together, if you will. So
we have a lot of songs that are pretty much like
90 % done. Just the final touches before we go
record them. No, it's been great, dude. It's
like we didn't skip a beat with Ryan. He's been
easy to write with. All of us, you know, on fire
again to have Ryan back in the band after 12,
13 years. And he'll be here in two more weeks.
And we're going to just get in a room and just
start knocking these out. And it's going to stay
after. And then two weeks after that, we're going
to go record. So it's been great, dude. We just,
you know, we play what we feel. We write what
we feel, man. And right now, you know, like the
set list, everything's been really intense and
just awesome. We've been touring pretty strong
the last two years. And just that feeling, you
know, the vibe from the fans, you know, get off
stage. especially at the playing bodies and um
there's been a lot of times on tour like i'm
still jacked up so get the guitar and write some
kind of cool riff so now i'm at the point where
i can just sit here and i'm gonna turn this on
after we get done and uh put them together man
make it happen well you said something earlier
that i'm now gonna harp on because it wouldn't
be very newslike of me if i didn't but next year
2026 marks the 30th anniversary of drowning pool
don't take me too much it's 25 you guys formed
in 96 right We formed in 96, but it's a, well,
it's a 30, you're right. It's 30 year anniversary
of the band, but the center record came out in
2001. So yes, of course. Are you right? Yeah.
My knees hurt when you said that. What year is
this? Where did the time go, man? I must've been
drinking a lot in the middle of my life. It's
blacked out for 10 years. Okay. So then we'll
go with 25. We'll go with the 25th anniversary
of sitter. Yeah. Does the band have anything
in the works to mark the occasion? We have a
lot of stuff in the works and a lot of things
that we're working towards now. Things that,
you know, we're still putting together a lot
of amazing ideas um we want to do everything
and anything first and foremost on to hats off
to dave williams who is just a part of the making
of the center record and uh you know kind of
the foundation of our sound that you know with
bodies so we have a lot of stuff and um i have
a lot of you know i went to storage went had
some time off cleaned out some stuff and i have
a lot of music and cassette tapes and stuff we
did that we didn't finish like record like we
have a lot of songs with dave that just were
not recorded professionally if you will so We've
been talking about maybe getting some of those
songs to have put them out there. Because you
can get his voice off the cassette tape now with
all this cool, fun technology. Still his voice,
not this AI stuff. But we have songs, a few of
them that we would like to finish. There's songs
that we haven't played live. I don't think we
played the game. Break You is another one that
we did. So all things Dave Williams, man. We
want to make this show all about that. And again,
it's just fun. I haven't gone through everything
yet, but I found a lot of video. And a lot of
music that we just never got around to putting
out yet. You know, we were in super writing mode
before we even did center record. Any chance
that there's maybe a 25th anniversary, maybe
deluxe release of center? Yeah, definitely, man.
That's definitely going to be that with all this
stuff on it, just kind of narrow down to what
we want to put on it. I want to put everything
out, especially the video. I'll have so much
video backed in. There's like the high eight
cameras came out and we did a lot of stuff locally
before, right before we got signed, we did some
door and actually we'd had PE. We've got to open
up for them here locally. Same thing with Seven
Dust and with Kitty. Love Kitty. Love that band.
So I have a lot of stuff, as long as they're
cool with it, just to get it out there. Just
us, Raw, all that stuff, kind of pre -Center
Days, if you will, on the local scene. We did
the big local show with Chaz here in town. So,
yeah, there's a lot of stuff that we have to
put out there. Some soundboards from some live
shows from that touring cycle. Um, yeah, yeah,
there's definitely video that I have that we
haven't released and Mike and Stevie as well.
So I want to get all that out, have a big package
with that. But the fun, the exciting stuff is
just as a handful of songs that I think we can
probably either just clean off, keep it how it
is on a cassette tape, or we can, us three, Mike,
Stevie, myself can like redo the music and put
the vocal on top to kind of polish it up. But
I'm cool either way. It's just, it's just fun.
We did some covers, a handful of cover songs
too. Um, we did Day Tripper from the Beatles
and I have that on as well recorded that nobody's
ever heard. That was fun just hearing Dave do
it. Oh, wow. A lot of material, yeah. There's
a lot of stuff to pick through. I got to hear
that, man. Yeah, it was heavy, man. I had like
the low octave on it. I forgot we even did it
until I heard the tape. So, and there's also
like earlier versions of like Bodies in Terror
Way that are a little different. I think some
of that might be out there, some of the old Emerald
versions. But if not, I still have those. Just
stuff for like the hardcore fans, man. And anything.
We have stuff that's still signed from Dave Williams
in storage. A handful of things that I like to...
But it's going to sit in storage and collect
dust, man. I like to get that out to the hardcore
fans. So we have a bunch of posters that are
still signed and some of the older CDs and stuff
too, man. Now, I'm not sure if this is a Mandela
effect thing for me going on here, but I do want
to ask you, I remember before bodies really exploded
back in my radio days, hearing versions of Tearaway
and Bodies and maybe even Sinner. But they weren't
the finished versions on the final album. Did
you guys record other versions of these songs
prior to the major label debut? Bodies and Tear
Away for sure. But Center, we finished that up
actually with Jay Baumgartner there at NRG Studios.
So that was the one that was finished. We had
the riff from before. I don't know if we had
put something out because there was something
similar to that riff. I'm trying to remember
now. I'm picking my own brain here. But the song
itself wasn't done until we were there. There
was four songs that we completed in the pre -production.
That was one of them. Ironically, our shortest
song as well. But a fun song to play, man. And
that's another song. That's another thing I do
at the house. I have alternate versions. I have
10 other versions of the bodies. A lot of people
do covers of it and have fun with it because
I wrote the song. So I have a mandolin version.
I have this Justin Timberlake kind of dance version.
Just sitting around my house having fun. i don't
know how many other musicians do this or not
but i still sit here at my house and play my
songs because i like them so so i just have uh
alternate versions of that and it's the same
thing with center lately i have this like kind
of um ridge against machines kind of funky version
of center that i keep doing in fact i messed
ryan up one show i was doing it on the bus right
before he went on stage and he was getting into
the groove with me so he had this head groove
and that's just a different delivery and sway
it's like oh shit he's fucking up so he had to
like we're like get ready to go on stage like
he had to listen to it real quick to get his
head back into the game he's like don't ever
do that to me again um i get on a reggae kick
every now and then i like 37 stitches i have
like i can pretty much reggae any one of our
songs like reggae metal because it's another
thing i'm a big fan of but i was on a kick It
was the last summer or something. I was just
on a beachy kick, man. Every song, I was throwing
reggae vibe to them. Well, if you ever tour with
Skindred, I would want to see that for sure.
I would do a reggae Drowning Pool set right now
with Skindred. I would pick my guitar up and
do it on the fly, man. That would be incredible.
So we talked about your personal ultimate concert
tonight, but I want to put a spin on that in
the Drowning Pool universe. So if you had a chance
to create a top five personal drowning pool set
list. Oh man. You don't have to worry about the
hits and the fan favorites. This is purely your
set list to pick. And you could pick five songs
from across drowning pools catalog. Which five
would you pick? Jesus, man. That's that's, I
wasn't prepared for that. I know. I got to throw
out the hard questions every now and then. It's
a hard one. Cause I do love them all. I mean,
there's not one that I don't like. I'm trying
to think of ones, you know, I know there's a
few that I would like to play here. Let me just
go here. Hell to Pay off of Hallelujah is one
of them. I love that song. I would love to play
that one. You know, we did Let the Sin Begin
a few times. That's a fun song to play. King
Zero, definitely off the self -titled record.
King Zero is like, you know, we almost get to
play it and then, you know, it almost makes us
that list, but it hasn't. Full Circle too. I
love that song off the Full Circle record. It
just opens up all jamming. Is that five? That
would be four. You got one more. Shit, man, this
is hard. Dude, this is so hard. You know, this
life off of Desensitized, too, man, that one
really hits home for me. And I still sit around
the house and just another song that, you know,
I sit and play and just do it because I just
like the song, man. I'm going to throw out one.
If you guys are ever taking requests, I don't
know if it's been in the set list for a while,
but it's one that I've always been a huge fan
of actually from desensitized and it's numb.
That song to me is such a freaking jam. I've
always wondered why that. kind of hasn't stuck
through the years but obviously there's only
so much time you have on stage right thanks for
saying that uh there's a bill xavier that that's
the own bc rich guitarist um that's another one
of the song he says a lot numb is one of his
favorite ones and i love that song you know that's
come up a few times for other people it's i guess
that's a good deep track but uh it's just that
head groove to it man like the song is playing
in my head right now as we speak in fact i'm
gonna you know i'll push that one for the next
tour i'm gonna push it because uh yeah you know
again it's hard to pick Again, we love them all,
man. And there's only so much time you can play.
But we do mix it up. And I'm going to bring those
up for sure. I'll bring them up. Or we do a special
when we play in Jersey. There you go. Perfect.
Now, you mentioned a big tour for next year.
How much am I allowed to pick at that? How much
could you spill? You can tell me what your dream
setup would be. I mean, there's a few other bands
having their anniversaries. But for us, it's
a big deal. 25 -year anniversary for Center.
And, you know, I just want to do it right by
Dave. So this year we're doing a lot of stuff
overseas. We kind of, you know, taking a break
in the States. We hit it pretty hard last year.
So we'll start out in the States and do a run.
I mean, for me, I'd like to have a lot of the
bands that were aforementioned in my set list
or bands, you know, around that era, 2001, 2002,
Auspice, would be great to join forces and just
have like a big new metal thing with bands with
anniversary records. That's what I would like
to do. And not saying that that's what's happening.
But Hugo, what would you like to see? Oh, dude,
that 2001 OzFest to me was such a monumental
show. When you look back at the new metal era
and you think about all the bands, what the Osbournes
were able to put together on that day, when you
look back at that lineup from start to finish.
Yeah, it's a great lineup, man. So why not just
run that back, man? Yeah, let's just do it. Let's
have a 2001 redo, man. I would play that. You
know, when we started the tour, we were going
on first at the time. Yes. and bodies took off
and and you know it was up sharon is the one
that kind of moved us up in the set list which
you know we all dave and i went to every single
band that did you know we had superseded and
said hey like you know that's sharon it's not
us because you know we felt i appreciated her
doing that and the song did take off and i guess
it made sense with the whole of the time to play
later in the day but yeah it was just awesome
to be there man we're just thankful to be on
the tour and i gladly opened up the show like
i'm not too big for my britches like i'll go
on first i'll go on last man We're easy. I'm
still going to get on stage and play my songs
and have a great time doing it. So, but yes,
that lineup, I would love that to do that as
like a tour. So let's call Danny Wimmer. Let's
make this happen. All right. All right. I'll
get involved, dude. I'll help out anything you
need. You just say the word. Yeah. Let's get
in touch with all these bands. Let's do this.
That would be a dream show really for us and
the bands. And I'm sure for all the fans as well,
man. I completely agree. Now, I'm sure you've
gotten this many times over the years, but I'd
like to close with my own personal drowning pool
story, if that's OK with you, because this is
a story that involves the band. But none of you
were there 20 years ago. I got to marry the love
of my life and my cousin put together the best
bachelor party that I could have ever asked for.
And he rented out an entire. italian restaurant
and shut it down and he had the square table
or the you know rectangular table and everything
was set up to be like i don't want to call it
mafia style but you know it was a well done put
together italian restaurant nice and then we
went and did the other festivities for the evening
but the part that sticks with everybody on that
bus because my cousin rented a party bus And
before we left, they said, oh, dude, there's
a CD player on the bus. Now, being the nerd I
am, I'm always burning CDs. So I went to my car,
grabbed my quote unquote hype up mix and brought
it out. Right on. And the first song on that
was Bodies. And the one thing that if you ask
anybody that attended my bachelor party from
my father to my father -in -law to all my friends,
and there's sadly some people who are no longer
with us that night, was Bodies on the party bus.
And that's all you have to say. So between that,
I want to thank you and the band for one of the
most fondest memories of my life with a lot of
people I love dearly. That music was a soundtrack
to it. I also want to thank you for the 25, I'll
stop at 25 years of incredible drowning pool
music. And most importantly, I want to thank
you for being a part of my weekly mixtape tonight.
Yeah, man. Thank you for having me, dude. This
is awesome. I can't wait to catch more of your
shows. And to all those listening, remember,
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next time, enjoy the tunes.