Reinvented and Desensitized

A few years ago, the members of Drowning Pool were having the time of their lives. Their debut album, Sinner, had gone platinum thanks in no small part to their infectious single “Bodies,” and they were getting paid to do what they loved — touring cross country, playing shows for masses of screaming fans every night. Then, midway through the tour, tragedy struck. Their frontman and good friend Dave Williams died in the tour bus of natural causes. After a while, the emotionally drained group began searching for a new frontman, as they knew Dave would have wanted them to, and ended up unanimously agreeing on Jason “Gong” Jones. Recently, “Gong” took time out of his busy schedule to fill us in on his experiences so far.

So, how do you go from spending a year-and-a-half homeless in LA to singing with Drowning Pool?
Good God, I don’t even know. Luck, I guess. I was playing with a guy named Sonny Mayo [Snot] and he mentioned it to me, so I sent the guys a demo. They flew me out to audition, and I never left.

Nice. What did you do to celebrate?
We went to a strip club, and I guess they wanted to see if I would be able to sing the next day, so they just poured Jäger down my throat. Finally, Stevie [Benton, bass] and I got into a wrestling match in the strip club and we ended up getting kicked out.

Sounds like fun.
Oh, it was.

What was it like in the studio with Drowning Pool?
We did a lot of experimenting with guitar tones and stuff and basically, CJ [Pierce, guitar] would come into rehearsal with the main riff and I’d come up with the lyrics. Everyone would just add their own parts. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

So, how does that writing process work for you?
I just improv everything. They’ll start playing something and I’ll just start singing over it. I tape everything we do and I’ll just go back over it and figure out what the hell I’m talking about. I guess it’s kind of therapeutic. You can learn a lot of shit about yourself that way.

What’s next for Drowning Pool, after you guys finish this tour?
Well, actually after this tour we’re taking a month off because I have to get my nose fixed. My nose has been broken about four times, so I have chronic sinus-itis or some shit like that [laughs]. So, they’re gonna fix my nose and then we’re gonna start another tour on October 2nd. We’re just gonna keep touring on this record until they won’t let us tour anymore and in the meantime, we’re working on another one and we’ll put that out as soon as we can.

What is your take on the current state of the music industry and how you either fit in or don’t care to?
I try to just write what I write and I think that all of us do. We’re not really concerned with all of it. Nowadays, everything is labeled; you’ve got emo and then you’ve got screamo and then you’ve got all of this shit and it’s like goddamn, we’re just a rock band. Fuck all that shit.

Any advice for young groups that are just starting out and hoping to make it in this business?
Don’t stop. Don’t give up. You should never let other people deter you from doing what you want to do.

Bookmark:

Comments down for maintenance.