C.J. PIERCE Says DROWNING POOL Has Three New Songs With Singer RYAN MCCOMBS 'Pretty Much Done'

In a new interview with Brutal Planet Magazine, founding DROWNING POOL guitarist C.J. Pierce confirmed that he and his longtime bandmates — drummer Mike Luce and bassist Stevie Benton — have collaborated with singer Ryan McCombs on their first new music together in more than a decade.

"We have new songs that we're working on — three that are pretty much done," he said. "I'd like to have one out for [our upcoming] tour [with SALIVA], but it's also one of those things, like, 'Here's that new song with Ryan again.' It's been years since we put a new one out, and we wanna make sure we pick the right one. We'll probably wind up playing all of 'em live anyway and see what the reaction is before we 'release it' release it."

Pierce also talked in more general terms about the DROWNING POOL songwriting process, saying: "It's always been us since day one — Mike, Stevie and myself. We've been writing together since day one. The thing is we had a couple of different singer switches here and there. But it's fun having Ryan back in it, 'cause we did a lot of great songs with him back then and we're back on it. We've never been closer and we've never been more solid.

"Writing with these guys, especially now with Mike, we're in a room and it's almost like you don't even have to think," he explained. "You just know he's gonna go here, I'm gonna go there, and it just falls into place.' And it's awesome to be in a place now where you have an idea or a feeling or a thought and you can just put it out there and the other guys know what to do to express that right out the gate. We do try a lot of different things — 'Let's try this part. Let's try that part' — but it seems like we just fall into where we wanna be and need to be for the song to highlight and make it elevate to the rock song that you hear when you come [and see us play]."

McCombs played his first shows back with DROWNING POOL on March 17 at Club L.A. in Destin, Florida and on March 18, headlining the inaugural Throwdown At The Campground festival in Fruitland Park, Florida.

The longtime SOIL frontman, who has lived in Swindon, England since 2018, originally joined DROWNING POOL in 2005 and appeared on two of the band's studio albums, "Full Circle" (2007) and "Drowning Pool" (2010),as well as a live album, 2009's "Loudest Common Denominator". He rejoined SOIL after exiting DROWNING POOL in 2011.

According to Metal Edge, McCombs will continue to front SOIL and will perform with both bands moving forward.

Said McCombs: "When I stepped away from music back in 2004, I only got back into the mix because it was with [DROWNING POOL members] C.J., Stephen and Mike, and because it was also a way for me to be a small part of keeping their music with Dave [late DROWNING POOL vocalist Dave Williams] alive. Just being back in the same room together after so many years, gearing up for these shows, was a quick reminder as to why I considered them to be my best friends in the business back in the day. As everyone living life can attest to, sometimes our days can get messy — but in the words of one Dave Williams, 'Everything happens for reasons, I just don't know…' Some of the greatest moments in my career came about as a member of DP and I'm really thankful for the opportunity to perform with them once again."

DROWNING POOL's first new record since 2016, "Strike A Nerve", came out last September via T-Boy/UMe. It marked the band's third album with singer Jasen Moreno, who joined DROWNING POOL in 2012.

DROWNING POOL addressed Moreno's departure in a social media post on March 16, writing: "We appreciate everyone asking about Jasen. We can't speak for him but we believe he was just ready to move on to other things in life. Maybe he will make a statement. Maybe he won't. Regardless, we wish him the best."