|
 Drowning
Pool's American Dream turns to Nightmare.
Contributing Writers:
Dominic Pierce
Toogood
Eric Miclette/
Sept/Oct 02
Drowning Pool were
living out every kid's fantasy. They had an album that had sold in excess
of 1.2 Million copies to date - they were back playing Ozzfest, now
on the main stage and they were breathing life into the 80's metal they
loved so much.a major breakthrough not only seemed imminent but a very
natural progression. Still they took nothing for granted, even when
splashing out on new quad bikes, the band remembered how hard they had
worked to get where they were and how the fans had lifted them ever
higher with every hard nose kick-ass live show they performed. That
was until August 14th. Until Dave Williams' untimely death.. Step back
several weeks to July 1st. Drowning Pool are just about to set off on
the Ozzfest tour and life is very, very good. We are due to talk with
Dave Williams but he is mysteriously nowhere to be found. So we grab
the drummer, Mike Luce, who takes a break from final rehearsals to talk
to us about how they hired Dave, his and the band's religious beliefs
and how life could just not get any better. Some of Mike's comments,
sadly, prove all too prophetic.
BallBuster:
So where's Dave? You lost your lead singer?
Mike: I don't know where the hell he's at. I'm actually in the rehearsal
room and they just called me and told me that they couldn't track him
down.
BB: Where are you guys right now.
Mike: We're in Nashville actually. It's kind of a middle point between
Dallas and the first show, so we all met here for rehearsal.
BB: How's it going?
Mike: It's going really good. We have some new material we're working
on for the next album and we're basically getting everything together
and ready to see what it'll look like and sound like for Ozzfest. It's
going good.
BB: So we saw you last year at OzzFest on the second stage. Now you're
on the main stage. Can you tell us how much of a rollercoaster ride
it's been for you guys over the last year and what the major differences
are in your lives now as opposed to five years ago?
 Mike:
Yeah, it's definitely been a crazy ride. It's been amazing. It's something
we've wanted to happen for a long time. The first difference that I've
experienced is that Stevie (Benton) and I and a couple of the band and
crew bought some dirt bikes something I've been wanting ever since I
was a kid. Yeah, I was never able to get one until now. My Dad died
when I was young and my mom struggled to take care of my sister and
I. My brothers grew up with them, but you know, as soon as my Dad passed
on, we got rid of them just to keep everybody cool. What was cool was,
I didn't have the greatest credit in the world, but you know, now that
I have an accountant I was able to go in and just call up the accountant
and he said, "ok, let's make this happen." I really didn't have to do
a damn thing I thought it was the greatest thing in the world.
BB: What kind of bike did you guys pick up?
Mike: A couple of KTM 200s. They're very nice dirt bikes. They're sweet.
BB: So, with all this touring, do you ever have time to actually ride
it?
Mike: A little bit, yeah. We haven't had too much time yet, but it looks
like we're going to have a trailer on the back of our tour bus, so we're
going ride them then. We've got them here actually with us in Nashville
we're going to take them on the road.
BB: So can we expect you coming on stage riding the bikes?
Mike: I don't know if Sharon (Osbourne) will be too happy about that.
BB: So beyond the motorcycles, what else has really changed in your
life and the band's life?
Mike: Everything has kind of changed as far as just personal relationships
and so forth. You don't see your family as much, but it's mostly all
changed for the better. This is something we've always wanted as long
as we can remember. We're still homeless, though, which is kind of weird.
None of us have a home yet, so I guess maybe that will be the next purchase
down the road. Everything has been good we haven't changed much as people
at all. We all had credit problems before we were just your typical
guys working paycheck to paycheck we fell behind with a lot of stuff.
This has allowed us to take care of that; get that cleaned up and hopefully,
we'll move on and become functioning members of society.
BB: You're going to actually conform?
Mike: Conform?! Nahh.no, no, no that's not going to happen. I mean it
allows us to, you know, experience what it is everybody else in the
world is getting to do, you know, with purchases or what have you. It
also gives you that freedom that I don't have to watch the clock, I
don't have to wear a suit and a tie. That's cool as far as that goes
as well. I don't have to do electrical work anymore so I don't have
to crawl under people's houses and take orders from them because they
want a cable run a certain way. It's good this is the greatest job in
the world!
BB: So what's the music scene like in Dallas? Is it basically underground?
Is there a circuit that bands go on?
Mike: Yeah. There's definitely a circuit there. The rock scene in New
Orleans was way more underground than, say, Dallas. In Dallas they cater
more to original bands which is the main reason it attracted myself
and CJ (Pierce, guitarist) there. New Orleans didn't have that. There's
an underground scene in New Orleans, but you kind of have to already
know somebody or if you have some ties in it, you're ok, but CJ and
I didn't know anybody so we couldn't get hooked up with the right people.
In order to get it happening down there, you have to play cover songs
and they might let you start to sneak in some originals here and there.
But in Dallas, there are a few showcase venues where they totally cater
to original bands. They would have a three or four bands billed..Fridays,
Saturdays and Sundays. There's definitely a scene there. If you have
it going on and there's a buzz about you, it can definitely happen.
That's what happened to us there.
BB: Right, so you guys got discovered there, basically.
Mike: Oh yeah, big time, Dallas definitely did it for us.
BB: So is that where it you basically got picked up by Wind Up (Records)?
You had a representative down there?
Mike: What happened was we started getting radio play in Dallas from
a station called 97.1 (The Eagle). We had done a demo and they showcased
us on one of their local shows: Dallas home grown bands. Here's a band
called Drowning Pool, here's one of their songs. And they included our
song (Tear Away) on the compilation that they (the radio station) put
out and it started becoming one of the top requested songs and they
started spinning it. When we got added to the rotation, people started
to take notice and we were invited up to New York. We just instantly
clicked with them (Wind Up) more than anybody else just because of the
things they had to say and their work ethics and they matched what we
thought we wanted our work ethic to be which was to be on the road and
totally earn it by coming up through the ranks and being road dogs.
Doing it the old school way. You put out an album; you tour for 18 months.
You know, not just crap out a couple of videos and let somebody put
a band together that looks nice and pretty well 'cause obviously we
don't!
BB: Awe you guys are beautiful!
Mike: Oh yeah! Aren't we?! We totally wanted to do it that way, and
they presented us the option of pursuing it through just being out on
the road. They were going to put us out on the road with anybody and
everybody and that's what we wanted to do. But yeah, Dallas was the
stomping ground. The kickoff point - that's where it all got going.
BB: That's cool! It's funny, you were saying that things just happen
for you.
Mike: It's not to say that we haven't been playing our asses off but
at the same time we're completely appreciative. We're not looking a
gift horse in the mouth so to speak. We get out there and try to bust
our asses and we try to work hard and stay out on the road, earn everything
we get. But yeah, there have been some opportunities for whatever reason.
You know, I'm a drummer, I completely believe in timing. Timing just
worked for us sometimes things kind of get presented to us and they
make sense and we kind of go with it. Like we said earlier, we don't
really question it or try to dissect how it is that it came to be, we
just go with what feels right and try to make it even better. Things
work out for us that way..most of the time.
BB: That brings us to your album Sinner the album. We wanted to ask
about some of the songs on there that are about religion, you know,
organized religion and that it's not really a good thing. And you seem
to be a pretty soulful guy.
Mike: Yeah, I mean, you know. I'm definitely spiritual. The big question
about religion that everyone likes to ask is why are we naysayers and
so forth. It's not necessarily naysaying, it's Dave's point of view,
which comes across lyrically. We kind of got slapped with that label
a little bit (as anti religion poster boys) just because of that fact
that, you know, our brothers over at the label are Creed. Creed was
always perceived as very spiritual and they had a message to relay.
You dig into the lyrics, I mean, he's questioning existence and himself
and mankind just as much as anybody else is and I don't think we necessarily
ever intended to be the anti religion band. I think we went with a more
cut and dry approach and it kind of came about that way. None of us
are against anything that makes anybody happy. I mean, if that's what
you're into, that's what you're into. At the same time, we weren't into
it. I used to have a boss that asked me straight up, what was I going
to do when I die because, surely, I was going to hell. And I was like,
dude, how Christian is that! You've known me all of maybe a week and
you're throwing stones at me? I took it personally because the reason
I grew up without religion in my life was, like we were talking earlier,
about my Dad passing away early, so as I was growing up my Mom worked
three jobs to keep me and my sister in school, in school clothes and
everything else. She didn't come home Sundays, or take off Sundays so
we could all go to church. I grew up without church in my life. Not
because we didn't want to go there, but because she couldn't afford
the opportunity to miss work and take us to be educated in religion.
I grew up without it. So, when somebody slams me for not going to church,
I took it personally because they were basically slamming my Mother
for not raising me properly in the eyes of God and I just think that's
a bunch of bullsh*t. She did everything she possibly could to take care
of me and my sister and my family and nobody knows our history and for
some body to just come out and slam you and judge you for something
that you saw face value - that's f*cked up to me. So don't tell me what
I'm doing is wrong in my life, just like I'm not going to tell you what
you're doing with yours is wrong. So, after the album came out we kind
of got flagged with the title of being an anti-religion band. It's not
necessarily that - it's a real taboo kind of a subject and if somebody
touches it and doesn't necessarily agree with you know, that popular
opinion, then yeah all of a sudden you become this poster band up for
ridicule.
BB: Right.well ridicule or the opposite - praise worthy. It depends
which side of the coin you're on.
Mike: Exactly, we're not anti anything. We're very pro YOU, you know.
BB: Pro you, I like that.
Mike: Right! I mean, whatever works for you, works for you.
BB: Cool, you know moving on, I was looking at your bio on drowning
pool.com and it says the message you're trying to get across to people
is self - perseverance which is really to me about survival, and the
second thing is self - esteem, which to me is about inner survival.
How do you see your music tying these two things together and do you
see that as the message you're trying to get across?
Mike: I'd say that's definitely a part of the message. You know one
thing we've always said within the band was our big message was, we're
not trying to deliver a specific message. We're not going to try to
use smoking mirrors or make us seem like somebody we're not. We can't
play outside of our means. We've tried it.we've tried to be cool and
what have you. It just doesn't work, so the best way for us to get along
is to just be who we are and to try to better ourselves like that. Whether
it's just personal, whether it's within the band, whether it's musically.
I mean.ultimately if you surround yourself with better people, and you
try to make yourself a better person, then ultimately you're going to
influence someone else in a positive way. It definitely holds true with
the music, with the band, with our personal lives. I mean we just try
to stay with that. I don't know.it starts to get kind of complicated
and a little touchy sometimes, especially on the message board. You
can get on that sometimes and things can be taken quite literally. An
example of that is Bodies..thinking about September 11. When the events
of that day went down, they yanked us from the radio. Everyone was asking
us how we felt about it. We were completely supportive! I mean why wouldn't
we be? We're American citizens. We weren't caring about our chart position
that week, you know. There are things that are much bigger than everybody
at a time in the world when something like that is going on. So, yeah,
sometimes things can quite literally be taken too seriously and we try
to be as serious as we can, but at the same time, none of us are rocket
scientists - we know what we know and that's it.
BB: What do you think your band was influenced by throughout your career?
Mike: We all definitely were kids of the 80s. We grew up on the metal
bands, Motley Crue, of course, Ozzy. You know all these bands, Iron
Maiden, Judas Priest, Van Halen. These are bands that not only did we
aspire to be musically, but these are bands that had fun and delivered
a good time to the crowd. When that whole Pearl Jam era came out, you
know, this whole self - depressed, staring at my shoes while in front
of 20,000 screaming people. I have it so bad - oh pity me! Bullsh*t!
I mean this is the greatest job in the world. We love where we're at.
We don't want to lose this. That's why we're going to try to work hard
to keep it. But that was the kind of stuff we grew up on. Kiss, Motley
Crue and people like that went out there and may not have written the
most complicated music in the world, but they had fun, and ultimately
the crowd had fun and everybody had a good time. You walked away feeling
good about it, having a good time, and sharing a couple of beers with
your friends. It was just a party atmosphere. Like a big festival or
something. So uh.I mean who wants to pay $30 and hear somebody whine
about how bad they have it when in fact, they're sitting on a couple
of cool mil and they're bitching about it. We were never into that.
BB: That turns into the Ozzfest thing, really,
Mike. You have the older generation rockers and new bands.
BB: You started off on the second stage. It's the new and old (bands)
coming together.
Mike: I think that's great. It's awesome. Ozzy has been reinventing
himself since Day 1, and if he can still be doing it, he's an inspiration
for the rest of us bands to try to stick around, especially now. With
every passing 5-10 years, the music business gets so crazy with all
the media's, between music television and computer downloads.everything.
There's just so much music now to be experienced by any different person
that it's harder for you to stick around. That's just a testimony in
itself. Ozzy's still here, still doing it, still kicking ass even more
so now than ever - that's just inspiration for people like us. He was
one of our idols back then and still is now. It's an honor to be on
tour with this guy again.
BB: You obviously get on well with the Ozbournes. You give credit to
them on your album, Sinner. How familiar can you get with the Prince
of Darkness and his family?
Mike: That's pretty funny! We've actually been good friends with those
guys since they took a chance on us. Nobody had ever heard of us. They
committed to us being on the tour before we were even finished with
the album. We were putting the finishing touches to it, around last
February or March, we were still in the mixing stages of the album and
they said ok, we're going to put you guys on tour. We couldn't believe
it at first. We were like; we'll believe it when we see it! They just
stuck their necks out for us and largely in part to do with it were
Sharon and Jack. We're good friends with those guys. Ozzy is a little
harder to .
MAG: To understand?!
Mike: To hang out with..you can only imagine! Those people are great
- they're amazing!
BB: One of the things we were talking about. The name Drowning Pool,
we know how you got it - the band name.and congratulations to Stevie
(Benton, who lost his virginity whilst watching the movie Drowning Pool)
by the way! Is there any other interesting rock and roll virginity -
losing stories you want to share?
 Mike:
I can tell you the weirdest story and I think this will stick around
forever. Just to tell you how far people will go sometimes. This was
last year and it was on Ozzfest. We were playing South Carolina and
we had just finished playing the set and some fans called me over to
the fenced off area.and I'm hanging out. Bear with me on this one because
it's going to get a little crazy. Anyway, they pulled this big ziplock
bag out.kind of yellow and blue and green freezer bag full of this white
powdery substance and it's filled.big time. I'm like, "man you need
to put that away.I don't think you can just pull a bag out here and
just go crazy!" They're like no, no, no, no, no, no - these are the
ashes of my husband who died last week from an overdose". I'm like whoa!
My hand was through the fence because they asked if I could sign something.I
kind of recoiled and jumped back. They're like no, no, no it's okay.
He's a really big fan. He wanted to be here. He had tickets, but he
died last week unfortunately. We were wondering if you could take his
ashes and spread it out over the crowd while you're playing. I'm sitting
there thinking this isn't exactly the most sanitary thing. I'm sure
10,000 people don't want their heads dusted by some dude's ashes, right!?
But, I don't want to be disrespectful to the people in front of me.
I'm from New Orleans but I'm not a practitioner of voodoo or anything!
So I'm sitting there and by this time, they're reaching their hands
into ziplock bag to scoop this guy out and they put him into a cellophane
packet and put it in my hand! I'm committed at this point! I'm passed
the point of no return! This guy is sitting in my hand; a part of him
is anyway. And they're like, just take him with you and pass him over
the crowd. I'm like, ok, I have an idea. We're already done.we're finished.
We won't be on stage. They said, well you keep him and he'll travel
with you to the next show. And I swear to God! I was too scared of me
losing a hand or Dave losing his voice. I kept this guy in my pocket.put
him on the bus and kept him on the bus for two days in a candle holder
until we got to D.C. and dispersed him over the crowd while we were
playing! That was pretty crazy. That's one of the stories. The same
day this kid came up to us and wanted us to sign the 666 page out of
the bible and I was just like, man, this is getting freaky! This is
crazy! I'm like if I go back to the bus and there's like an abandoned
baby with a note on the steps, I'm getting out of here. I can't do this!
BB: That's how you get backstage at Ozzfest is it?! Be presented in
a casket?!
Mike: Come up with some wild story and just luckily have a dearly departed
loved ones' ashes in your pocket and you scare the band members into
letting you back there!
BB: Can we ask you what Dave says at the end of the song Sermon. It's
like you have music/voices that are heard backwards?
Mike: Right, right - I mean that's like what we were talking about earlier.
We're fans of the 80s and back in the day there used to be that whole
undertone..oh, if you play that song backwards, you'll hear this message!
So I guess I could tell you what it says. It really doesn't say anything.
It recites a lyric from the same song, from Sermon. We just play it
backwards at the end of the song. It's just a homage. A tribute back
to the old school.
BB: That's exactly what we were going to ask. It seems like a homage
back to some earlier rock and roll.
Mike: That's it. It was completely done on a whim and we took a line
that Davie (Williams) sang and just ran it in reverse at the tail end
of the song. Just kind of a.here you go. No hidden meaning; you don't
have to play the song backwards to hear it. We'll just play it right
out here for you. BB: Just a couple more things.You were a trio and
you were looking for a frontman basically. What drew Dave in? Mike:
Stevie (Benton) was with a singer and we had another guitar player at
the time. We stayed and we all jammed for a while and everything was
working out. But then the singer and the guitar player split and we
were like maybe eight months to a year without a singer and we had only
seen Dave around the scene but we knew that Dave was.you know like David
Lee Roth.give me the microphone, I'm going to jump around and be a madman
on stage.
BB: So you saw him in other bands before?
Mike: Oh yeah! He was all over the place in Dallas. He was probably
in three or four bands the first year that I moved there, you know.
Upon meeting him, when our singer split and we needed somebody, we approached
Dave. At first, he was with somebody else. He said no and our original
singer actually came back, but we knew it wasn't going to happen. It
was just weird timing. He tried to come back and Dave started coming
around. Eventually, we had to have a big confrontation with everybody
and say ok.look, we no longer want you. You already split on us once,
we want this guy (Dave). Dave just came in and gave us spark! You know.
It's kind of one of those things we were talking about before. Things
just present themselves. You don't really know why or how -
granted, if all three of us hadn't been at the right place at the right
time.this wouldn't have happened, but for some reason we were. I have
to kind of believe it was supposed to happen.it was meant to happen.
I lived/grew up in New Orleans all my life that's all I've ever known
and was practically never outside of that city. For two years of high
school, I come to a small town in Texas and that's how I met Stevie.
The day immediately following graduation I moved back to New Orleans
and there I stayed until 1997. Stevie calls me up pretty much out of
the blue, saying he wanted me to come up to play drums. I said I would
do it, if CJ (Pierce) could come too. We got up there and things just
started working. I have to think that the only reason why I ever lived
in Texas was to meet Stevie and for this to kind of happen.
BB: And you have to believe in fate if you're carrying dead people around
in your pocket!
Mike: I didn't really want to do that.but I had too much respect for
the guy. I just wasn't going to throw him out on the ground right there.
BB: When you say some bands are in it for the fame, others for the money.
You guys say it's always for the fans.
Mike: Actually, kind of selfishly, we're in it for us. I mean, there's
nothing better I can think of doing than just playing my drums. Selfishly,
I want to play my drums for the rest of my life! But if it weren't for
the people that bought the albums or come out to see us live, there's
no way that would have happened. We're definitely doing it for them
too!
BB: You hear other bands say that to fans we're just here for you.we're
not here for the fame, not here for the money and I'm wondering are
the fans going to grow disillusioned with that or are you going to continue
that mode of thinking?
Mike: No, we're definitely going to stay with that. There's no way we
couldn't! We saw Motley Crue on stage. They weren't up there just going
through the motions. They were having a good time and ultimately, that
transcends to the crowd. A crowd can definitely tell if you're faking
it, or just putting it on just for the fact and ok, well this was cool
at one time, but times change. I think basically, we're just spoiled
jackasses that got really lucky! People see that if we can get out there
and do it - that's like the American dream and who am I to say that
you know, Billy, out there in the third row can't be a drummer for a
band. I mean.sh*t I did it!
BB: So in five years will we be going to Poolfest!?!
Mike: Five years? That would be something, yeah! That would be something
to be seen.
This interview is dedicated to the memory of Dave Williams, 1972-2002.
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