Mike: The EP, well man, that was a little while ago. We recorded that one in Chicago, Illinois with Jonnie K producing and it took us about two weeks to do.

Drummer Mike Luce of Drowning Pool

Q: Are you satisfied with the response you are getting from your album so far?

Mike: Yeah, I mean of course everybody likes to do bigger and better but it's not to bad, we're digging it. We're out here on the road trying to support the record and pass it on to people. There's still a few people that after Davie passed may or may not know that we're still around, still trying to kick it, so we're just out there to keep those guys aware that we're not going away.

Q: I've listen to the album and I think it's great. I've noticed a lot of emotion on the tracks, what were some of the inspirations behind the songs lyrically and musically?

Mike: There's so many different things. Religion is a big part. Songs about past experiences, loved ones that are either gone or failed relationships. I think the album can basically relate to anybody, just because it all comes from the same place. We're very fortunate to be able to write about our experiences and hopefully people
enjoy it. Influences come from just everything, some days you wake up and your pissed about something
and a good therapeutic way for me is just to play drums and just kinda get it out of my system so influences come from that; or some days you wake up and things are going not so bad so you want to write about the good side of things as well.

Q: Who writes most of the lyrics?

Mike: The lyrics on both records have pretty much been up to the singer we trust the singer to write them himself but just like with any instrument that is in the band we all look to one another to say hey we dig this or we don't dig that, we like what you did here, we don't like what you
did there or sometimes as the drummer somebody might ask me to maybe alter a little something that I might be doing. That's one thing about this band, nobody is {the}sole leader or dictator it's pretty much a group effort and everybody gets to pull their own weight. Just because I'm not the guitar player doesn't mean I didn't like what CJ played the first time as opposed to the second time we played it and the same goes for him. I'll play a certain beat to a new song we're trying to write and I'll play it one way but maybe in his head he heard it a different way and I want him to tell me that and we just let things happen.

Q: This is the first Album with your new lead singer Jason Jones, how is it working with him?

Mike: It was a little rushed and I wish we had more time and the reason I say that is because we're already eight to ten songs into writing the next record and we're still going out to tour again. We got so much of a head start,
a jump start over the last record but its nobody's fault
it took a while for us to figure out first of all we wanted
to continue and try to find another singer after Davie passed and it took a while to find one and once we found one it was hurry up get to the studio and make a record.

Q: When finally picking Jason as the lead singer, what was it that made you guys decide, "Hey this is the one we're looking for?"

Mike: He had the sound we were looking for. If the band was going to be Drowning Pool still it had to be something, with all respect due to Dave, wasn't a huge departure from what got us to where we were. Dave being the singer of the band had a certain style. He sang a bit with some aggression behind the vocals but then
he can also scream and get in there and get dirty.
So we wanted somebody that could kinda follow in his footsteps but still bring their own identity to it. We didn't want Dave carbon copies because that's too disrespectful, but at the same time we couldn't have come off and had some pretty boy singer step in and every note was a melodic angelic tone from the heavens above. It all has to work to be Drowning Pool so with that we went out looking for a singer like that. Jason just came about through a series of friends hooking us up through different people, getting some demos. We really thought he had a strong, powerful rock voice and that's really what led us to him.

Q: You guys are headlining this tour and you've had the privilege to share the stage with some pretty big bands in the past, how do you feel about your accomplishments and who inspired the band as a group?

Mike: As a group, we all pretty much grew up listening to the same stuff. A anything from the shameless long hair metal guys from the early 80's, obviously Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Judith Priest, those are the big hitters. Heavy metal or rock n roll or hard rock or what ever it's called as it evolves. It sprouted so many branches you have alternative rock, progressive rock, black metal there's so many different things. Metallica, Testament, Tool, Sevendust all of those things are our influences not just as fans but also as individuals. We all listen to the same stuff day in and day out but also you can go through anybody's CD collection and find the Beatles right next to Earth, Wind and Fire there's so many different things. I'm from New Orleans so I listen to Neville Brothers and Corrosion of Conformity. We all love the same stuff. Music is music, if you like it you like it. You could listen to Ludacris' "Chicken and Beer," if your into it, your into it. I mean I like Ludie, I think he's bad ass ya know what I mean? But as a group we just function better playing just high energy, just hard rock. It's something that we do and luckily we're able to do that.

Q: Do you prefer to play your shows in larger or more intimate venues?

Mike: Of course, when you're playing in front of fifty or 80 thousand people in Castle Donhan in Europe, I mean it's amazing. That's the kind of thing as a kid you grow up hoping and dreaming about. You never get to think that's gonna happen, so its amazing when it does happen. That's not to say that you don't get the same enjoyment playing in front of 500 people because the big differences are, aside from there being 10 thousand of more people, you could hang at the bar and have a drink. You're able to just chill and talk to people and get away with it a lot eaiser than you could, say walking around at a festival, because it's happened before. We don't hide on the bus, we like to get out, hang out and talk. Sometimes you just can't do it just because it might cause to much of a distraction or say the bus just gets surrounded by people, sometimes it just happens. Playing in front of 50 people playing in front of 50 thousand people, there's obviously differences but I love them just the same. Some of the best times we ever had you could put them right next to each other. We go to a place, I mean I could name so many clubs right now, In Washington, there's a place called the Big Easy, this place probably holds about a thousand people, but
every time we go there it's just a great place to play.

Q: It's cool to be able to kick back and hang out with your fans in the smaller venues.

Mike: Exactly, you get to hang out, you get to have a beer, do some shots with a few people and meet some people.

Q: When you're touring is it tough going out every night and keeping the energy level up?

Mike: Nah, it's not to hard. I'll tell you what, every where you go after you tour for a little while you start to meet some people along the way and when they tell you, "hey look man I know you've been out there for a few weeks, you sounded a little tired on the phone last night when I talked to you, but I tell you what, in a few days me and some of my friends are coming down and were going to have a good time." I mean, that's all you really need to get through it. You're only playing an hour to an hour and half every night or every other night. That's what it's all about, the fact that I could do this. You're either in to it or your not. If you're not cut out for it then you're not going to fool yourself and you're not going to fool anybody.

Q: You're a really great drummer, who has influenced your style?

Mike: Of course, every drummer is going to say Barnum so to not give respect to Barnum would be discrediting many of the drummers that are playing today. He was a little bit before my time but every drummer that I ever listened to has credited Barnum so you have to go back to where it all started. He's just the grandfather of rock n roll. Tommy Lee was a major influence when I was growing up. Kiss as a band was a big influence not so much Eric Singer, as a drummer. I was more an Ace Freely fan for one reason or another but the band itself I just love their music. Another really great drummer that has been an amazing inspiration of mine is a guy named Johnnie Tempesta. He's played with Testament and now plays for Helmet. He was with White Zombie for a while. He's one of the greatest drummers I've ever seen and then to become his friend; the guy's just one of the coolest guys I've ever met. I really try to power my self after that guy.

Q: Did you always know you wanted to be a musician?

Mike: I think I've always wanted to be this. Everybody as a kid remembers watching something whether it The Beetles and something clicked or I saw Kiss and something clicked. I've always gravitated to some sort of instrument and my mom and my dad were very musical growing up. My mom was a singer and my dad was in one or two bands. So that was definitely one of the things I think was inherited, but you never know if that's going to happen. You could grow up wanting to be a famous athlete, a famous movie star or a famous musician something like that. I wanted to be a drummer in a band. For me it paned out.

Q: What about the music continues to make it exciting and such a vital force in your lives?

Mike: It's just what you said. It becomes part of you, it becomes part of your life. You can be around it and do it so much that you have to have it. It becomes a necessity. It definitely is the excitement. I look to Stevie and CJ the guys in my band everyday. Just like with anything, you can start to take things for granted and you look to your friends to slap you in the face and kind of wake you up and pull you out of your dump. Even if all this was to go away I think we would all still be playing music together, the three of us. Music at this point has become just inherit. I don't think anyone of us could not do it in some fashion.

Q: What do you think of the scene now compared to what it was 5-7 years ago?

Mike: I think there needs to be more of straight across the board love of all types of rock bands. It doesn't need to be that five years ago if you were nu metal that was your peak. We were one of those bands, not to say that we were nu metal but we really got lumped into it. We always considered ourselves just a hard rock band, which is what we are trying to do on the second record. Now it seems like there's a big push for you to be the Suto high school punk band or the old school AC/ DC British founded four pieces. Its all rock n roll stuff, it doesn't have to be you have to listen to what's on the left or what's on the right, it should be across the board. Whether you dig metal, listen to metal, anything. I just wish there was more of an avenue for more rock instead of it just being 'hey you listen to this because this is what everybody else listens to, this is cool' that is just so, so sheepish to me. Listen to your own shit because you like it not because it's on the TV again and you're told that this is the hot fresh new shit. Who told him that it's the hot fresh new shit? I don't mean to be a hypocrite cause at one point I was thanking my lucky stars that we were poppin' fresh or oven fresh or whatever the buzz clip of the was. It was awesome, it was amazing. That just helped us getting here but music follows trends. We blew up, timing was right. Drowning Pool came along at a time when quote un quote nu metal was in so we got lumped into that category. Of course at the time we were riding that high, so we were into it. If somebody says oh nu metal well nu metal is dead, so does that necessarily mean that Drowning Pool or another band is dead, I don't think so. Maybe the category, that name but not the band. Maybe it was a good thing that it did close, were still playing, but were not rolling around with that "nu metal" monika anymore so that's good. By us touring definitely means that there's still a means of people to see other bands.

Q: Where do you think Drowning Pool will be in say five years from now?

Mike: Five years? I would love to be on my fifth record with Drowning Pool. I hope so.

Q: How helpful do you think online publications such as Florida Entertainment Scene are in helping promote bands such as Drowning Pool?

Mike: I think it's very important. Any chance that I can get to talk to somebody about anything. Like you were saying music becomes inherited and it becomes your lively hood you need to reach out to anybody that you can by any means necessary and for the chance to talk to you and you putting it up and letting somebody have the opportunity to check out what I have to say. I mean
that's awesome. I can't ask for much more than that. That's priceless.

Q: I know you're busy so I won't keep you much longer so my last question is What do you want people to know or understand from your band and your music?

ML: What I want them to know and understand is that first of all nobody in this band are devil worshipers. It couldn't be further from the truth. We're all southern gentlemen from the south. We have families and girlfriends. We have holidays {like} Christmas and Thanksgiving just like everybody else. We'redown to earth people, I would hope. So that's one thing I would like them to know and the second thing is that we kept the name Drowning Pool to remember Dave and to keep Dave Williams alive in this band. We didn't want to change the name. Not that Dave would ever be forgotten by any true fan of Dave's to begin with. If we didn't keep the name it would be like not finishing a book and putting it up on the shelf and starting to read another one. It didn't seem right to us so we kept the name. We're still here just give us a second chance, come check us out. You'll find that at the core, at the root of it, it's still Drowning Pool.

Q: Well, thank you Mike for taking the time to talk to me.

Mike: It was my pleasure and thank you.

Drowning Pool is from Dallas, TX and tour on a regular basis. Visit DrowningPool.com, for more information or
to sample music visit Drowning Pool at myspace.com.