TIM KING: 'There's Absolutely No Weirdness' Between SOIL And DROWNING POOL Over Sharing Lead Singer

SOIL bassist Tim King spoke to the "Everblack" podcast about the recent announcement that SOIL singer Ryan McCombs had rejoined DROWNING POOL.

McCombs originally hooked up with 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.

McCombs is planning to continue to front SOIL and perform with both bands moving forward.

Asked by "Everblack" how Ryan will split his time between the two groups, Tim said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Let me just first start by saying there's absolutely no weirdness about it whatsoever. When we found out about it… It literally came together really fast; it wasn't some conspiracy in the works or anything like that. Their latest singer, Jasen [Moreno], had run his course, and they wanted to separate. And they were literally gonna either become a three-piece or figure out what to do. And then they were, like, 'Well, what if we asked Ryan to come back?' Because, actually, Dave's [late DROWNING POOL vocalist Dave Williams] gone; their second singer [Jason 'Gong' Jones] they didn't get along with. Ryan and them had their issues, but they patched them up over the years; it's been 12 years. So Ryan came to me and Adam [Zadel, SOIL guitarist] and said, 'Hey, SOIL doesn't tour a ton, and DROWNING POOL doesn't tour a ton, but I still wanna stay on tour. I wanna tour a lot.'"

Tim continued: "I have my record label with my business partner. I have Pavement Entertainment. I have a management company. Adam owns his own office furniture installation company. Ryan — God bless his soul — is just a hundred percent musician. So, SOIL, we still do [tour], but we don't do it like we used to; it's not a constant 'go, go, go'-type thing. So, Ryan has bills to pay, things to do. And the thing is DROWNING POOL is basically doing the same thing as SOIL; they all have other interests that they do. So between the two bands, we basically equal one full-time touring band. So for Ryan, who just wants to go out there and work and sing and stay active, it seemed like an okay thing. He had already been in that band for two records. He's with us. Nobody was trying to steal anybody from anybody. So we were, like, 'Okay.' As long as we can keep our schedules in tow and keep a good line of communication between the two bands, and Ryan wants to stay active and stay on the road all the time, well, then power be. Let's do it.

"Initially, the first time Ryan left, there was a little tension and some bad blood between us and DROWNING POOL — I mean, that's no secret — but as you get older and you live and you learn… I mean, we patched up our problems with them years and years ago," King revealed.

"I just was in New Orleans on a vacation, and DROWNING POOL was in town playing, and I went to the show and hung out with the guys and had a few beers and talked and laughed over old times and stuff. So it's all good.

"If it was a different situation, like our guitar player Adam or something wanted to tour in two bands or whatever, then we'd tell him to do it too," Tim added. "SOIL doesn't work a ton, and DROWNING POOL doesn't work a ton, so it worked out to where he will be able to do both with very little conflict between the two bands. And if there is any — we're adults now. We've been going for 26 years. As Nikki Sixx once said, instead of throwing a bottle of Jack Daniel's at each other's heads, we sit down and talk about things now. [Laughs] We're mature adults. And we'll figure it out. It's all good. We talked to the DROWNING POOL guys about it. We talked to Ryan. We talked to everybody involved about it. And all good vibes. It's gonna be a decent thing. I'm not worried about it. And if something does happen, we'll talk about it and we'll figure it out. Who knows? It's life. Anything can happen. But for now, all the vibes are good. Everything's great. Nothing's gonna change with either band. And SOIL is gonna still do what SOIL does and keep on doing it. And Ryan's gonna be right there with us in tow."

McCombs, who has lived in Swindon, England since 2018, played his first shows back with DROWNING POOL last Friday (March 17) at Club L.A. in Destin, Florida and Saturday, March 18, headlining the inaugural Throwdown At The Campground festival in Fruitland Park, Florida.

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 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."