Written and Photographed by David Booth

It’s Lundi Gras 2012 in New Orleans. I am sitting just off the parade route at a cool dive bar on Magazine Street. The bar feels like it’s just always been there. It has a patina that comes with age and beautiful decay. There’s a small brass plate on the bar to the left of me that says “Lee Harvey Oswald sat here”. I just met the owner of the bar, who is an affable, entertaining guy with his hair tucked back into a flat cap. He’s sitting on the barstool behind the plaque with a Coors Light and we’re talking music. He’s talking about the artwork on a series of DOWN EP’s and how they all fit into one larger picture. I am going to keep my eye out.  It sounds like a great concept.  It’s an experience to talk about great music in New Orleans during the warm-up for the largest party on the planet. I asked a question that’s been rattling around in my head.

“Any idea what’s going on with COC? Is another album going to happen?”

It took me a while to ask the question. It just sounds completely different when you’re asking Pepper Keenan for the answer.

“I’m ready, man. But DOWN is just about to put out the first ep this spring. They just finished an album as a 3 piece that’s going to be out in a few weeks.”

That doesn’t sound like a soon, but it also doesn’t sound like a no. Fast forward 6 years and the new album, No Cross, No Crown, is set for release on January 12th, and is one of 2018’s most anticipated albums. I had the opportunity to see COC tear it up and talk to them about the band, the album, and staying relevant in a scene they have been missing from for over a dozen years.

 

The Band

Corrosion of Conformity started as a punk crossover band in Raleigh North Carolina in 1982. Their first two albums were at the leading edge of the merging of punk and metal, and by the mid 80’s, they, along with D.R.I, Stormtroopers of Death, and Suicidal Tendencies, were the most recognized bands in crossover, building a strong reputation with the albums Eye for an Eye, Animosity, and Techocracy. At the top of their genre, COC changed their sound. New Orleanian Pepper Keenan was recruited as a rhythm guitarist in the lead up to their new album. Blind was a tight, political metal album which sold well, and increased the bands audience.  After finding success in another musical area, COC retooled their sound yet again. After a personnel shakeup, Keenan assumed front man duties, and along with guitarist Woody Weatherman, Drummer Reed Mullin, and Bassist Mike Dean released an impressive and influential body of work in the over the next 12 years. Their best-known album, 1993’s Deliverance, with tracks Albatross and Clean My Wounds; 1996’s Wiseblood introduced the band to a new audience closer to the mainstream. The band even had a Top 30 hit with Drowning in a Daydream, which earned them a Grammy nomination. America’s Volume Dealer was released in 2000 with the single Congratulations Song. Reed left the band shortly after America’s Volume Dealer due to back issues, which left the band without one of their founding members and a component of their signature sound. It would be 5 years before the band followed up with the next chapter of the COC story.

2005 saw the release of the bands next effort, In the Arms of God, a Tokyo destroying Godzilla of an album. Its heavier, swampier, lower fidelity sound was a marked change from America’s Volume Dealer. Where AVD had a hook laden southern rock feel that leaned closer to their ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd tendencies, In the Arms of God was a pit-bull tearing through your speakers. Drummer Stanton Moore, from the bands Galactic, Street Sweeper Social Club and Stanton Moore Trio, filled Reed Mullin’s spot behind the drum kit. When having to fill the shoes of a guy like Mullin, bringing in a ringer like Moore, who sounded like he was possessed by John Bonham, was a much better idea than getting someone to mimic the signature sound and groove that the Mule did so well, and for so long. In the Arms of God was a substantial album with themes of fighting wars for ones gods, faith and loss, the ache or comfort of love, and withdrawal of something you crave but don’t have. Where the catchy songs of AVD were tunes you’d be singing to yourself before you even noticed you were doing it, In the Arms of God felt cathartic. It’s the kind of album that makes you nod along and channel the emotion of every howl and scream.

In the Arms of God was considered by many to be some of the bands best work to date, but the period following its release was one of upheaval. Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, particularly New Orleans, the home of Pepper Keenan, his Magazine Street bar “Le Bon Temps Roule”, his side project DOWN and recent COC drummer Stanton Moore. The resulting time taken off the road to rebuild curbed and cancelled tours supporting the album. Shortly after this, Sanctuary records shut its doors, leaving the band without a label, access to its singer/guitarist/primary songwriter, or the drummer they’d recorded with ­- COC’s momentum fizzled. Keenan focused his energies on guitar duties in DOWN, and Corrosion of Conformity atrophied into hiatus. While the door was never closed on Keenan, he had other projects in front of him. DOWN Front man, Phil Anselmo, had split with Pantera, and DOWN had just released their third album, Over the Under, followed by a tour and a live album. On reuniting with COC, Pepper said “I quit a long time ago trying to figure all that shit out. You just have to roll with it. Things happen and things change and things evolve. People move different directions and do this and that. Record labels fall apart. Hurricanes happen, you know? It’s just timing. When we all had enough time to come back together and really do it for real and not bullshit, you know? Not just throw something together. To focus on it”.

The 2010 return of Reed Mullin marked a reformation of the original three-piece lineup, who released two albums and an EP, and hit the road. While the albums were well received critically, the looming specter of the Keenan fronted four-piece hung in the background, and was a frequent item of discussion online and at COC and DOWN shows. Speculation and rumors of Keenan returning to COC throughout this time were occasionally fed with impromptu one and two song reunions on YouTube when COC and DOWN ended up in the same festival.

Ten years after the release of In the Arms of God, the demand for the Deliverance lineup was not waning. Pepper had some breathing room and the interest was there, explaining “There were lots of people asking, fans and shit. We went to Europe to play some shows, to test the waters to see what was going on. To see if we could play together, get along, that kind of crap. It took on a life of its own, with no record company, no album, no management, nothing.”

The band was in an odd spot, but not a bad one. There was significant interest in Corrosion of Conformity shows, and the band was kept busy with two years of touring on ten- to twenty-year-old material. Keenan remembered it as “Very strange. I mean, not many bands can do that, I guess. I’ve never seen anyone quite do it like we did. We went to Europe. We went back four times, played festivals and all that kind of crap. The momentum was there, then (record label) Nuclear Blast heard we were messing around, doing shows. They gave us a phone call.”

German label Nuclear Blast Records is home to Slayer, Danzig, and countless extreme metal bands with unreadable logos that look like the result of a dog trying to scratch through a back door.  They offered COC a contract, and an album of new material was suddenly on the radar, but the band had their hands full. Taking time off the road to record was a challenge. They were busy touring material from the four Keenan era albums. The existing catalogue of songs didn’t sound like they had been around for decades. The material had held up well and the band was playing with a sense of unity that could be felt by the crowds who kept filling up COC shows. Pepper Keenan was still every bit the soulful unique voice he ever was. A voice that sounded like it was marinated in moonshine, smoked with Marlboros and dried through the window of a hot rod. He has always had one of the best and most intriguing voices in heavy music. Keenan can go from a haunting, mocking Ozzy tone to a laid back southern sound of Billy Gibbons channeling Ronnie Van Zandt, to a Hetfieldesque bark, to a scream that sounds like Roger Daltrey with a gun held to his head. After a dozen years away from the mic, he can still deliver on stage. None of the four members seemed to lose their touch. In fact, the separate work over a decade seemed to bring with it a more skillful and locked in guitar sound between Keenan and Weatherman, and a tighter band overall. The live shows reflected a band with chemistry, and one with lots of gas in the tank.

The next test was how that energy would translate into the studio. The four Deliverance-era members had last recorded in 2000. Their most recent work, 2005’s In the Arms of God showed some great writing, but it was in a different decade and with a different and extremely talented drummer. The Bands songwriting has consistently improved with each album, but a band’s previous history doesn’t always guarantee a great next album.  When you get to your tenth album, how do you keep a run like that going? The band knew it was going to be challenging, but Keenan remembers having a lot to work with. “We had a long wait in between, so we had a lot of ammunition to go in there with, you know? All that time and what the expectations were. We didn’t take it lightly. We just focused as hard as we could to make something that we’d be into. The last record we did was In the Arms of God, which was a big strong record, so we went off that as a catalyst to move forward, to expand, but not to be afraid to go backwards. That’s part of the deal.”

As much as the band was moving forward, there was a lot of anticipation among fans for the new album. The previous albums were more than just a high watermark, the most recent of them being released over a dozen years ago. Sometimes the magic of a band is tied up in the time in one’s life it comes out. Many bands have tried to stay relevant over decades, and many bands have faded into obscurity a little bit more with each album. With expectations this high, it’s a lot to expect from a band that had spent most of the last eighteen years not playing as a four piece.

The Show

Detroit, January 5th. Black Label Society are headlining a show with Eyehategod opening and Corrosion of Conformity as the second act. It’s a great lineup in the perfect town to see COC. They recorded their live album, Live Volume, in Detroit in April of 2001. The guitarist from EHG is Jimmy Bower. Bower is both the drummer in Down with Keenan and was a one-time drummer in Corrosion of Conformity. In fact, Bower was behind the drum kit for the live album and was with the band between Mullin and Stanton Moore. Along with Jason Patterson and a few studio drummers, Bower made up the spinal tap-like progression of drummers between Reed’s departure and hiatus. COC hit the stage of the Filmore with the ominous sounds of Bottom Feeder before jumping right into The Luddite, from their new album. They do a great job tearing through their ten-song set. As great as the onstage performance is, one of the most interesting aspects of the night is watching the crowd around the COC merch table. Pepper is the first to make it out to the table, shaking hands, taking pictures, signing what fans put in front of him. Reed is about fifteen minutes behind. It’s rare for fans to have such access to a band without being charged fees for a VIP meet and greet, especially after a high energy set on a punishing tour, but this is not an unusual sight to see both Mullin and Keenan with big smiles and pens in hand. They are both disarmingly friendly, kind, and gracious to everyone. They are chatting and taking pictures with fans for the hour I’m there and were still going strong when I head back towards the truck for my first listen of No Cross No Crown.

The Album

I’m not a patient man. I’ve been known to take vacation days from work and chase courier trucks down the street if I’m waiting for something I’m excited about to arrive. I want to know how the album sounds. Now. The slowest way to rip a CD into MP3 format is to do it on a laptop in a parking lot in downtown Detroit. It is cold. Really cold. How cold? Tauntaun sleeping bag cold. Expecting the customs agents to be dressed like the Night’s Watch cold. Ex-wife cold. Only an idiot would sit in his truck and rip a CD in this weather. I am that idiot. I need to know if they pulled it off.

Quite simply, No Cross, No Crown is the album it needed to be, but better. This album is not a one trick pony by any means. It easily stands shoulder to shoulder with the other four Keenan fronted albums. It is a continuation of COC’s body of work without enough overlap to sound derivative and without so much distance between this and previous efforts to make it seem like the band lost their way. Reed’s drumming builds a suspense. It gives a feeling that the song is pulling at the reins, straining to take off. A Wolf named Crow has that same tight groove with a signature Mullin feel that makes Wiseblood the iconic song it is. Reed Mullin on this album just feels right. The band feels it too. Woody Weatherman, guitarist and the only person to have the distinction of being in every COC album, described having Mullin back behind the kit as easier, saying “You don’t have to give any instructions, everyone seems to know where it’s at. Working with Stanton and stuff – he’s awesome, but he’d never really played on that kind of music, (there) was a little direction with that.”

Speaking of the guitarists, Woody and Pepper sound better than ever together and both their songwriting and performance show it. Both seem to have upped their already impressive chops and complement each other playing as a pair as good as anyone out there.

A good bassist is sort of like oxygen, or sleep, or sex. It’s easy to take them for granted, but they are immediately and acutely felt in their absence. It’s easy to pick out a great voice or guitarist or a great drum line, but even the greatest bassists are easy to overlook. People don’t often listen for them. That’s what makes a good bassist hard to find and why bassist jokes are so damn funny. Want the first clue in finding an exceptional bassist?  When the song sounds huge and the whole band sounds tight, look to the right and thank the guy with the crazy hair making it all look easy. Corrosion of Conformity is a beast of a band, and Mike Dean is the spine of that beast.

The opening instrumental track gives one a sense of anticipation, with a slow, steady heart like drum beat. It’s like the feeling you get in your chest watching a horror movie in the calm before the first victim, while you’re waiting for the unstoppable monster to show up. It does. It’s called The Luddite. Keenan doesn’t sound as good as he did on past albums — he sounds better. He howls. He sounds primal. The chorus hits, he changes gears, and goes from howling to singing. He’s spot on. If they put this track early because they wanted to prove a point, it worked. They’re back and they’re not screwing around.

I could go through the album track by track, but the best way to sum it up is that I can see about half the tracks being my favorite song on the album depending on what I listened to last. Right this minute it’s between Little Man, which has a Skynyrd classic southern rock sound, and Old Disaster, which is just good old-fashioned Rock and Roll swagger. The Queen cover, Son and Daughter, from Queen’s self titled album, was also a nice surprise. COC writes great songs, but they do a great job putting a spikey skull shaped stamp on classic tunes when they do them, as evidenced on various Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath, and CCR songs released over the years.

Corrosion of Conformity does what all bands hope to do but succeed where the overwhelming majority fail. As time passes, the four of them become better musicians. Their writing improves. They get better. This is their tenth album and they haven’t made an album that would be considered bad. They just released their first album in twelve years with Pepper Keenan, and at an average age of over fifty, drop an album where the conversation isn’t whether this album is as good as their past work or not, but whether it’s better. One of the reasons might be the way they approached the production of this album. As Keenan describes it “We tracked the record. No Cross, No Crown was kind of a stream of consciousness record. We just sort of went off the cuff and recorded each song as (if) it was a demo. We pretty much struck drums on every song and started again. We came in from the ground up on each song fourteen different times, so it was a whole different way of doing it. It wasn’t like we demoed this shit and came in and did drums in three days. We came in and took each song on its own from the beginning to end and that was an interesting way to do it.”

There is a difference between commercial success and relevance. There are some huge bands that have consistently sold out stadium shows despite not having a current album that stands out as exceptional, or even just slows the bands steady decline in relevance.  There seems to be a four to six album sweet spot for most bands. Some groups work out of the rut. Bands with a long career without an album they couldn’t live past or couldn’t live down are a short list. ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden, a few others. A quality album that is both a critical success and that fans see of equal importance to earlier work is a significant accomplishment. Keenan attributes the bands continued relevance to following their own path. “I think a lot of bands follow trends. Take AC/DC for instance, you know? They didn’t give a shit. They were just consistent and wrote great records. And a band like Led Zeppelin. They got kind of a little nervous during the punk rock era, but not much, but those kinds of things matter. We’ve already expanded ourselves so broadly in different directions that we’re allowed to do that without freaking anybody out”.

The Surprise

COC and Black Label were scheduled to play Toronto on January 9th, but Zakk Wylde was sidelined from January 8th for at least four shows due to severe illness. When the headliner pulls out of a show, it’s not a frequent occurrence to see the supporting bands continue on, but on a little bit more than 24 hours notice, The Opera House was booked for a Tuesday night guerilla gig. With the help of two local support bands and Eyehategod, the show went on, and did so to a crowded house in a near 1000-person capacity venue. The band thanked the crowd for coming on such short notice multiple times during the set, and the audience was given a blazing, stadium worthy, 80-minute performance.

The 90’s were a sea change for rock music and was the last enduring revolution of rock. It’s also a lost generation. More influential voices seem to be gone than still here. Corrosion of Conformity has spent many years standing on the line between underground and mainstream. They’re the band whose talent and catalogue should have positioned them where Alice in Chains and Soundgarden ended up, but didn’t have the timing, or support to get there. A Keenan fronted COC is a band whose voice has been missing from music for entirely too long. Corrosion of Conformity’s return would be important under any circumstances, but the short list of voices left remaining among their peers, and a shorter list of those bands still producing relevant material, make their reunion and album that much more significant.