Interview by Kris Peters
Drowning Pool's multi-platinum debut album, Sinner, celebrates its 25th anniversary with a special reissue via Craft Recordings, marking its release date on June 5.
First unleashed in 2001, Sinner remains a towering monument of the nu metal era. It quickly rocketed the Dallas-based heavy metal band into global stardom, debuting at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 and achieving RIAA Platinum status within its first six weeks.
At the absolute centre of the album's cultural impact is the explosive hit single, Bodies. Instantly recognizable by its blunt, repetitive, and devastating opening riff, the track became an omnipresent cultural staple. It has soundtracked countless action sports videos, movie trailers, professional wrestling promos, and festival mosh pits and has been a life mantra for countless fans around the world.
Alongside Bodies, standout tracks like Tear Away and the aggressive title track Sinner gave the record its thematic weight, exploring internal conflict and religious pressures. Sinner was also the first, and only, Drowning Pool album to feature original vocalist Dave Williams before his tragic passing in 2002 and remains the benchmark for debut albums across all genres.
With the Anniversary issue out this Friday, and Drowning Pool preparing to hit the road where they will be playing Sinner in full, guitarist and founding member CJ Pierce has donated some of his time to chat with his Australian family about the album and plenty more. One of the topics of discussion was Williams and the emotions that invariably arise when Sinner is mentioned.
"Dave Williams was such a great human being, and he was excited to play rock music," CJ reminisced. "And just the stuff you don't think about, man, because life is just going, going, going. So it's been a time of self-reflection. And then us going over all the songs on the entire record. I'm excited to play this live, and I've been re-inspired by it, all three of us. And we just started writing all this new stuff.
We walked into the studio with all these ideas we've been working on all year long, and all of a sudden, it's just like, it just started pouring out of us, man. So, I'm super excited about this song because we've been really inspired by the first record, and we're here doing it. The other thing that's exciting is we haven't been able to play the record in its entirety in so long. So the hardcore fans that have been with us get to see that again. And then there's a whole new generation of teenagers to 20-year-olds that are coming out that are finding nu metal again. So, for us to be able to play this record for them, for them to see it after so much time is super exciting. So, I'm all jacked up about it, man. I can't wait."
In the full interview, CJ ran through his memories of making Sinner, their hopes for how it would be received and the weight of a massive commercial success. He reluctantly picked his personal favourite song from Sinner, running us through stories on a number of the songs and how they came into being.
We discussed the limited edition vinyl release of the album as well as the three bonus tracks on the digital release, including Rob Zombie's The Man Without Fear. Drowning Pool's upcoming tour was mentioned, as was the possibility of an Australian tour early next year. CJ spoke of his fondness for Australia and the relationships he has built here, before moving on to new material and what we can expect and more.
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