Drowning Pool 'Full Circle' album

After two years of supporting their album Full Circle, Drowning Pool has just been announced as part of the highly anticipated Crüe Fest 2 Tour which stars Mötley Crüe and features support from Godsmack, Theory of a Deadman, Drowning Pool and introduces Charm City Devils. Drowning Pool will take a break from the studio where they are recording their next studio album in Dallas.

On the heels of the band’s release of their first live album, “Loudest Common Denominator,” Drowning Pool’s third single “37 Stitches” breaks through to the Top 10 on both the Mediabase and BDS Active Rock Charts after climbing the active rock tracks for 28 weeks. This single follows two successive Top 15 hits, “Soldiers” and “Enemy.”

Drowning Pool -- Ryan McCombs (Lead Vocals), CJ Pierce (Guitars), Stevie Benton (Bass) and Mike Luce (Drums) -- has overcome its fair share of adversity: tragedy, internal struggles, leaving their major record label and multiple incidents of theft over the last few years.

Says Drowning Pool guitarist C.J. Pierce, “We have been through the ups and downs of this business, but stayed true to our goal of bringing kick ass rock music to our fans around the world. We’ve never given up when we felt down for the count. Now we have Crüe Fest 2 and we are grateful for the opportunity to reach a new audience. It’s pretty unbelievable where are right now.”

“37 Stitches” highlights the range and diversity of “Full Circle.” This powerful and heart wrenching song displays the passion that illustrates a side of the band that casual Drowning Pool fans might not know.

“Drowning Pool is one of the hardest working bands in hard rock music… ‘37 Stitches’ is a huge step forward for a band that will be putting out great music for years to come,” says Chris Ryan, Program Director at KEGL Radio in Dallas.

Eleven Seven Music President Nikki Sixx remarks, “Drowning Pool is one of the best survival stories in rock right now. For a band to be on its third album, with their third lead singer and finally reaching the Top 10 with their third single from an album released almost two years ago, is a remarkable feat. I’m excited that Drowning Pool will have the opportunity to play in front of hundreds of thousands of dedicated rock fans across America as part of Crüe Fest 2 tour this summer.”

Drowning Pool is currently in the studio in their hometown of Dallas, Texas writing material for their fourth album to be released on Eleven Seven Music.

Drowning Pool tour dates
Crüe Fest 2 Tour Dates

JULY
19 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
21 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
22 Tinley Park, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
27 Auburn, WA White River Amphitheatre
28 Portland, OR The Amphitheater at Clark County
30 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
31 San Bernardino, CA San Manuel Amphitheater

AUGUST
1 Las Vegas, NV The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
3 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre
4 Englewood, CO Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
5 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion
7 Spring, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
8 Dallas, TX Superpages.com Center
9 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
11 Maryland Heights, MO Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – St. Louis
12 Indianapolis, IN Verizon Wireless Music Center - Indianapolis
14 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
15 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
16 Pittsburgh, PA Post Gazette Pavilion
18 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
19 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center
21 Virginia Beach, VA Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater
22 Bristow, VA Nissan Pavilion
23 Raleigh, NC Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion
27 W. Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre
28 Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheatre
29 Atlanta, GA Lakewood Amphitheatre
30 Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

SEPTEMBER
1 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
3 Syracuse, NY New York State Fair
4 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion
5 Darien Lake, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center

Drowning Pool biography
For Drowning Pool, Full Circle, their third album, and first for Eleven Seven Music/ADA, represents a chance to start fresh, with a new lead singer in old friend Ryan McCombs, a new label and new management.

Marking one of the new album’s fateful coincidences is the fact the ex-SOiL vocalist made his live debut in Dallas with the band at Ozzfest in August, 2005, almost three years to the day since he joined Drowning Pool’s guitarist C.J. Pierce, bassist Stevie Benton and drummer Mike Luce on-stage in Indianapolis at Ozzfest 2002 to sing “Bodies” with the late Dave Williams, who would pass away from a rare heart disease just a day later, for his last performance.

“There’s never been a point when we thought about stopping,” says C.J., a New Orleans native who moved to Dallas in the mid-‘90s to form Drowning Pool with fellow Cajun Luce and Texas natives Benton and Williams when they were all still in high school. “Everything we’ve gone through has just brought us closer.”

“We wanted to keep playing with each other,” adds Mike, who knew Stevie from a brief stint in Dallas before he moved to New Orleans. “But we did wonder if it would still be Drowning Pool without Dave or whether we should keep the name in his memory.”

“We decided to keep the band going because if we didn’t it would put to rest everything we did with Dave,” says Stevie. “If someone in your family dies, you don’t change your name. You just keep going.”

And keep going they did. With McComb in tow, Drowning Pool road-tested the new material, which included powerful new songs like “Reborn,” paying tribute to Williams and the band’s legacy with lyrics penned by Ryan that reference past song titles and the promise, “This ain’t over/Till it’s over.” “Soldiers” is a nod to the very same Marines who’d listen to “Bodies” before flying missions over Iraq, while “No More” is a blood-curdling cry for mercy that was first heard on the soundtrack to Saw III. Songs like “Paralyzed” and “Shame” are filled with painful, yet cathartic, images of martyrdom, resurrection and rebirth.

“A lot of that has to do with having so many preachers in my family,” says McComb, a self-described Indiana hillbilly. “I was the type of kid who went to church every Sunday morning, youth group Sunday night and bible study every Tuesday and Thursday. I guess it comes out here and there.”

Produced by Ben Schigel [Chimaira, Walls of Jericho], with Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx and Beautiful Creatures’ DJ Ashba, Full Circle builds on the aggro hard-core approach of their platinum-plus 2001 debut, Sinner and its hit single, “Bodies.”

“These songs have been with us a long time, and they’re very personal,” says C.J. “We’ve played them on tour for almost two years before we went into the studio to record. They’re all road-tested, which is awesome.”

After a failed stint with lead vocalist Jason “Gong” Jones for the band’s second album, Desensitized, in 2004, Drowning Pool feel the addition of McCombs has made them whole again, a family. It was something the band’s fans had been clamoring for since Williams’ death.

“They knew this was going to happen before we had a clue,” says C.J. “We just didn’t have that family vibe with our old lead singer. And now we’ve got that again with Ryan. Maybe third time is the charm.”

Full Circle returns Drowning Pool to its prime, when “Bodies” was featured on several WWE pay-for-view events, EA Sports’ Arena Football game and used by Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon and Houston Astros Brad Lidge to accompany their walk from the bullpen. With the chorus, “Let the bodies hit the floor,” the tribute to their stage-diving fans in the mosh pit was widely misunderstood. The song was banned by several radio stations in the wake of Sept. 11, but, in another example of things coming full circle, the group was invited to Baghdad by the USO on the fifth anniversary of that tragic day last year to play the song for a group of grateful, enthusiastic troops stationed there. They also played gigs in South Korea and Kuwait.

“They were probably the most rewarding shows we’ve every performed,” says Indiana native McCombs, who had completely walked away from music before the three remaining members of Drowning Pool, along with his wife, convinced him to join the band once and for all.

“She just told me, ‘This is the music you’ve been waiting to play your whole life,’” nods Ryan, whose youngest son Mitchell David is named after Williams. “When I first thought about singing for Drowning Pool, I felt I was stepping on toes. It was Dave’s own parents who put it into perspective for me. ‘If anybody was going to do this, don’t you think he’d want you to?’ That was enough for me.”

And now they’ve all come Full Circle.

“I think this record will surprise some people,” insists Mike. “We’re going to overturn the conventional wisdom that all Drowning Pool does is wrestling themes or videogame music. Not to say the record won’t have those kinds of songs, but we’re breaking the mold. We’re starting to heal and explore different horizons musically and lyrically.”

Isn’t this where we came in?

Ryan McCombs: Lead vocals
C.J. Pierce: Guitars/vocals
Stevie Benton: Bass/vocals
Mike Luce: Drums/vocals

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Drowning Pool - Full Circle