 | Drowning Pool: Off The Deep End
 | | Drowning Pool | You never even see it coming. Drowning Pool deliver a direct, no-nonsense wallop that hits its mark with devastating results. The songs on the Dallas quartet's debut album, Sinner, don't waste an ounce of aggression on fancy musical pretentiousness. What you see is what you get — menacing minor-chord guitar lines slicing through gut-rumbling rhythms and singer Dave Williams belting out his dark lyrics with the force of a tattooed freight train. Drowning Pool — Williams, bassist Stevie Benton, drummer Mike Luce and guitarist C.J. Pierce — rocketed to the top of this summer's hard-rock pantheon on the heels of the destructive single "Bodies" and a slot on Ozzfest 2001. Before they knew what hit them, they'd climbed from the third stage to a regular slot on the main stage as sales of Sinner inched toward 200,000 copies. Joe D'Angelo dipped into treacherous waters with Williams and found out why he's proud to be a sinner, why "Bodies" is the ultimate pit anthem and who was really responsible for the band's Ozzfest success. MTV: "Bodies" is shaping up to be the hard-rock song of the summer. The chorus, "Let the bodies hit the floor," is pretty morbid. What's the song about? Dave Williams: It's basically our perspective from the stage on what the crowd is doing. It's a mosh pit anthem. You have a bad week at work, you're not getting along with your folks, you're not getting along with your girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever. Things build up. Instead of reacting in a bad way, come to a show, get in the pit and get it out.It's awesome to see the floor just breathe. It looks like a swirling mass of flesh. I love that. It's very primal. That was my perspective, and I thought it would be cool to write a song about that. It has turned into a beast that we cannot even begin to tame. Every time that we play that song live, it's chaos. MTV: How did that song get written? Williams: We kind of stumbled across it. My guitar player, C.J., played the riff, and I said, "Let the bodies hit the floor." We just built it around that. Then I asked my bandmates, "When's the last time we heard a song that had counting in it? Well, we're not going to follow any rules, so why don't we do this?" I think the audience appreciates it because it's easy to sing along with. It's not over anyone's head. I'm not deep, not now anyway. So "One, two, three, four" just seemed like something you could throw your fist up to. It's always about [the fans] and what can we do to get them on fire? So far, they're on fire. MTV: Thanks to the single and your slot on Ozzfest, your debut album, Sinner, has really taken off. Are you surprised at how quickly things have happened for you? Williams: There's a lot of surprise. After the record was done, I felt we'd made a good record ... one where you could put it in and not fast-forward [through]. It's just one of those records you can put in and play it from start to finish. Ultimately, that's what we wanted. If it does great, good. If it does OK, that's still good. I never expected what has happened.
You just have to take everything with a grain of salt. Celebrate and be proud, but don't lose track of the big picture. Go do your show, get to places you've never been and entertain your audience. That's our whole driving force — the audience, the fans, that's what it's all about. It's fun, but don't let it run your whole way of thinking. MTV: It's obviously helped your career, but what's another perk of being on Ozzfest? Williams: Getting to meet all the bands that we love, getting to be friends with a lot of them and meeting all these fans. [We've played some cities] we've never played before and the crowd has the record and they love the songs. To me, that's the biggest reward, to get up and play music every day and meet those people. MTV: You opened the tour with the first slot on the third stage, but after a week you were bumped to the second stage. Then you got a slot once a week on the main stage. How did you get promoted so fast? Williams: I'm pretty sure it came from [tour producer] Sharon Osbourne. She's an amazing businesswoman and a nice lady. Nothing happens on Ozzfest without her approval. Ozzy's son, Jack, could've had something to do with it, too. I've talked to him a couple times, but that never came up in conversation. The first time I met him was at a Pantera show in L.A. He said, "I really like that song 'Bodies.' I can't wait to see you live." So yeah, I'm sure he had something to do with it. That family is so gifted. MTV: You have the word "Sinner" tattooed on your left arm. When did you get that done? Williams: I got that tattooed before we named the record. We were working on the song "Sinner," and our A&R guy said, "That would be a good name for the record." We all just looked at each other and said, "Wow, OK." It was just a natural progression that became the whole theme of the record. There are a lot of religious issues on the record and a lot of relationship issues. It just seemed like it would fit. MTV: Do you consider yourself a sinner? Williams: Absolutely. I don't know many people who aren't. Every person has a different set of rules, and everybody has broken one of those rules. People who swear — sinner. People who have sex out of marriage — sinner. Drinking, drugs, whatever — everybody's got their own set list. But everybody, at one time or another, has broken one of those rules. I'm just so over all that. I love my family, I love my band and friends, and I love my music. As far as I'm concerned, I'm a good person. Yeah, I swear. Yeah, I drink. So yeah, I'm a sinner. One of the main things about religious people's standpoint is not to judge. [But] that's the first thing they do when they see the tattoos or hear me swear or see me knockin' back a shot of whiskey. ... It's awesome, we've already won the war. ###
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