Drowning Pool: CJ Pierce's tour tales: From sold-out shows to guitar lessons on the tour bus

Brian (00:00:00) - C.J. Pierce, welcome to Concerts That Made Us.

CJ (00:00:04) - Hey. What's happening? Thanks for having me.

Brian (00:00:05) - It's fantastic. Now, I'm so excited to get chatting with you now. You've had a very busy few months. You were on the Snafu tour with Saliva, Adleitas Way and Any Given Sin? How was it?

CJ (00:00:17) - Oh, man, it was amazing, dude. It was, you know, got had a whole string of sold out shows. You have amazing fans coming out for us, you know, and Drowning Pool, we haven't been able to do like a full tour that much in the last few years, just, you know, having slowed down with Covid and stuff. We give it a couple of little runs last year, but it was nice to finally do a full run, especially like you said, you know, saliva, Ali's way, any given sin, man, those guys are awesome. And each band brought their amazing sound and style, you know, to the table.

CJ (00:00:43) - So the show every night was awesome. It was fun. And not only play our show, but to get to be out there and hang out and watch other bands play every night. Because I'm a fan of music, you know?

Brian (00:00:51) - Yeah. Gotcha, gotcha. And, you know, was there any personal high points for the tour along the tour for you?

CJ (00:00:58) - Man. There was a lot of high points. I mean, again, going places we haven't been in a long time catching up with friends, you know, you normally would see, you know, on a regular basis that you hadn't seen in a good five years. And, and, you know, going through my hometown in New Orleans was a pretty high point. There's a lot of high school friends and some high school friends I hadn't seen since high school came out this time around. And, you know, catching up with my mom and my sister and, you know, family man. So it's, you know, that was great.

CJ (00:01:22) - You know, we came through and did the hometown show in Dallas. That was another high point. Again, a lot of great local bands here. And when I'm home and go out and support everybody. So it was really cool to see us have that, that love in return from when I started in our local bands and leave one out and like, get in trouble. So I'm just going to say all the local bands in Dallas, thank you for coming out, you know, friends and family for that. So high points, man of so many give you one more. Um, you know, every now and then you do the meet and greets. You know, we just get, you know, a handful of people on the bus can only fit so many people. And there was one night when, you know, we'll rock a dude, say, oh, rock a dude. Probably same age as the rest of us in the band. But you know, it's got a 15 year old son out there, and it just started playing guitar, and it's his first rock show ever.

CJ (00:02:04) - So they came up on the bus and we sang on his guitar and everything, so it was just good to see that excitement. I remember being 15 years old. I never met anybody in a band till I was like 28. But you always wanted to meet the bands and get to know them. And so it was good to meet, you know, it's father, son. And then after the show, it just happened, you know, after we're done playing, I was walking to the bus and they were heading out leaving. Um, so I just asked them if they had a second and, you know, brought him up with his son on the bus. And, you know, he's learning some stuff. So I have my guitar in the front. So I just gave him a couple of lessons, you know, some things to kind of, you know, you know, you know, fast paced, you know, a couple, you know, getting hung out with Dimebag and, you know, a whole bunch of times with so many great guitar players picking up, you know, the little things that they did, tricks that they did, the, the warm up and stuff like that.

CJ (00:02:49) - You know, Zach Wyatt's got his own style of doing things. So, you know, sit down with the kid and show him a couple of licks real quick. Show him how to play bodies and and send them on their way.

Brian (00:02:56) - Oh my God. You know, you're going to be inundated now with requests for personal guitar lessons.

CJ (00:03:02) - Oh man, I'm down for it. You know, there was a time period I was doing lessons for a little while. There was a summer or two. We wasn't touring a while back and, you know, teamed up with a friend of mine and teaching out of school. And I love doing it. Man. It was great having students and all. But, you know, I'm kind of in and out of the house again, so it's hard to have like that regular flow unless I did some stuff online. I guess I could do with that. I never really thought about getting into it with the online thing, but, you know, maybe so, man.

Brian (00:03:25) - Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't say no anyway. And you know, after so long in the business, how has your approach to touring and Gone on the road changed?

CJ (00:03:36) - Oh man. Just massive changes. You know, it seems like with every record that we put out, you know, the business has changed massively. I mean, you know, we've been a unfortunately it's been like a three year cycle until this last record. And just because again, Covid and all that kind of stuff made it like a five year cycle. But um, yeah, it changes massively. You just, you know, being independent, I guess is kind of the road we going down. You know, just no disrespect to labels and stuff like that. But you know, we were fortunate to sign, you know with one. And at this point it's been four different labels. And you know the last time we got burnt again yet again, you know, you signed paperwork as a major label and they make all these promises and stuff and then they don't follow through, you know, management label if you will.

CJ (00:04:15) - So that's been a hard lesson to learn and finally accept after, you know, a good 20 plus years that, you know, if you want something done right, you got to do it yourself, man. I mean, it's just, you know, you rely on people to do that and you expect them to do it. You think they're doing it and they're not getting it done. You know, they still make all the money, but they're not you know, they're not picking up in the deal. You know, we write music, we put on a show, we're going to leave our families and we're doing, you know, you know, what we love to do. And then on the other side of the fence, you know, just nothing else getting done and.

Brian (00:04:46) - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian (00:04:47) - So they're doing all the work. They're sitting back.

CJ (00:04:50) - So. So now we're like that, man. Things have never been better. This year has been great for us, man. 2023 has been awesome.

CJ (00:04:55) - We have River comes back in the band. Um, you know, the second he walked in, it's like, you know, didn't skip a beat. Man. It's been a good, you know, 11, 12 years. And I mean, everybody is stronger than ever, man. We're getting along better than ever. You know, it's it's fun having fun again with, you know, your high school buddies. And with Ryan McCombs. It's been a really great tour, so good that we're making plans to hopefully do another leg of it next year. April, May. We definitely looking to do all the festivals and trying to get all that stuff booked now. And last but not least, you know, before the end of the year, we plan on getting in the studio recording some new songs.

Brian (00:05:27) - So nice.

CJ (00:05:28) - That's what I'm doing now. Back at the house, I'm actually in the studio now. I want to get off the phone with you. You know, I'm gonna get back to rocking and rolling, man.

Brian (00:05:34) - Nice, nice.

Brian (00:05:35) - You know, I don't have to go now. I can stick around and help if you want.

CJ (00:05:39) - To stick around. I just need the phone in the back and you can hear some of the new stuff that.

Brian (00:05:42) - Yeah, we got going.

CJ (00:05:43) - Yeah, I'm trying to get some stuff solid before the end of the year. You know, we have a lot of great ideas. It's just now starting to lay them down and make them come, come alive, you know.

Brian (00:05:52) - Yeah. Yeah.

Brian (00:05:53) - And you mentioned Ryan is back in the band. How did that come about? You know, I'm sure it was a shock to many, many fans.

CJ (00:05:59) - Yeah. You know, it's just it feels like the right place in right time for everyone involved. You know, we had a good ten years with, with Jason Marino, three awesome records that we put out. I just think coming, you know, on this last record again music business being what management music business being what it is.

CJ (00:06:15) - You know, I think you know he was let down for, you know, a third time in his career. Um, at the same time, you know, he's got a big family, had a lot of stuff going on at home. So, you know, at this point in his life, I think that's just, you know, the best place for him to be with everything involved. And that's the choice that, you know, he made coming into the beginning of 2023. You know, we started doing three piece stuff. We did a good seven, eight shows, just us three. And I thought, maybe this is the future of Drowning Pool. And and you know, all of us have been friends since high school and we all sing and write music together anyway, so it wasn't that big of a transition, if you will. The shows that we did as a three piece, nobody said anything like even asked any questions. They were just like Rock show, like nobody said anything.

CJ (00:06:52) - All right. You know, somebody was missing. But we had a lot of great festivals that we did so far this year, a few more coming up, and most notably, we had, you know, show coming up with Pantera. That was May 6th. It was the first show back. Well, first show in the States because, you know, Pantera got together. They were doing a lot of, you know, festivals overseas and stuff like that. So, you know, the promoter there want to drown a pool and Pantera, you know, Texas metal bands on the show. And with that coming up, you know, Steve Event and our bass player, it's like had the idea, you know, Ryan still been active in playing with soil which you know they're doing amazing. They put out some new material as well. Um so yeah check out the soil stuff man. It's again, I've been we've been a fan of Ryan since day one, and that's another reason why he's rocking out with us and Drowning Pool.

CJ (00:07:35) - And so we hit him up and like, hey, man, you know, you want to do a couple of these festivals with us. You know, we have this Pantera show. We want to come on like a four piece, like, you know, like traditional Drowning Pool, you know, like Dave. And you know, you know, he came, came to the house, he came and said, right here in my studio stuff right here on this bed. Nice. And yeah, I'm right here. You know, this is all Ryan's like, you know, partial home when he's when he's here in the States. And we just like. Like I said, we just started writing music instantly, and it just we weren't in a rehearsal room and just started playing, like, we'd been rehearsing, like we never stopped playing, man. It was it just. It clicked and made sense. And, um, you know, again, having the best year for for Drowning Pool of 2023, man, you and me, we back on it.

Brian (00:08:16) - Good to hear, good to hear.

Brian (00:08:18) - Hopefully it continues now into 2024.

Brian (00:08:20) - And so definitely I.

Brian (00:08:22) - Suppose at this stage. So I usually like to dive into my guests history when it comes to music. Maybe give the listeners some insights that haven't had before. If you can, can you remember your earliest musical memory?

CJ (00:08:36) - You have their musical memories. Um, you know, my dad played in a band. He played bass and sang, and they were rehearsing in the living room. So I definitely, you know, remember them jamming, if you will. But, you know, I don't think I've mentioned this before, but, you know, the dad had stereo and had the the way the volume works now, and it's just levers that went up and down. And as a kid, you know, I don't know what I was doing. And I just hit it going and the stereo was blast and loud is going to be. And he had a ABBA dancing Queen eight track in there, and that's what came on loudest.

CJ (00:09:05) - But it was amazing because it was so loud. But it was also like, what is this? It's like, um, the Eurovision movie, man, just dancing to ABBA. So I started off just like that, and I can't lie.

Brian (00:09:17) - Right?

CJ (00:09:18) - My first like, memory of like, oh my God, what is this? Um, and then, you know, my dad did a lot of, like, Black Sabbath covers and Jimi Hendrix and LED Zeppelin. So that's really, to be honest, that's really where I got my early start of influence, you know, you know, Black Sabbath.

Brian (00:09:34) - Some I've noticed, as you know, the heaviest metal head guy is like 90% of them. Their earliest musical memory is something like ABBA or Darby G's. It's kind of strange, right?

Brian (00:09:45) - Yeah. The Bee Gees.

CJ (00:09:46) - And like, you know, with Stevie, I basically, you know, he's all he's. It's all about the Beatles. So like, he definitely had a big Beatles influence upbringing.

CJ (00:09:52) - But you know, coming around the age of like, you know, I was 11 when I got a guitar, 11, 12, 13 when I really started getting into metal. Like, you know, Testament was a big influence for me. Alex Skolnick besides the fact, you know, a lot of 70s, like you said, you know, you know, LED Zeppelin and bands like that, you know, all the classic rock was already there. But when I really started playing this, when metal came out, you know, Metallica was just, you know, blows up out of nowhere. So that's really, you know, Pantera, of course. And that's kind of been the foundation of our sound, you know, classic rock, metal. And then we just throw our own mix of stuff in it, you know, as we evolve.

Brian (00:10:28) - Yeah, yeah.

Brian (00:10:29) - And growing up, then your local music scene, what was it like and how how does it compare to today dating.

CJ (00:10:36) - Yeah, growing up in New Orleans and there was a lot of jazz and blues around.

CJ (00:10:40) - Also a big influence funk music, jazz and blues. I love that, you know, Mardi Gras time every year we're down there and just amazing songs in that era. That's which also turned me on, like I said, 70s funk. And, you know, Chili Peppers was definitely in a Chili Peppers phase. So it's like listening to that and also listening to, you know, like a metallic or whatever, that's a faith. And more is a good, I think, version of rendition of which kind of goes on in my head because they mix a lot of styles like that as well. Again, one of my favorite bands, but again, coming up in New Orleans on a jazz and blues and then, you know, towards the end of my, you know, teenage years there before I moved to Dallas, you know, it was a big death metal scene. I played in a band called Flash Parade back then for a little while, actually saw some of my buddies. Ray penis.

CJ (00:11:22) - Uh, Ray Perez, excuse me. That's still rocks out and plays in them. And I lived in Houston, so that was cool to catch up with him on this tour as well. So yeah, big death metal influence on top of the jazz and blues and a classic rock. So I guess I'm just a blender mix.

Brian (00:11:39) - You know.

CJ (00:11:41) - Whatever, whatever pops out in the head that day, you know?

Brian (00:11:43) - Yeah, yeah.

CJ (00:11:45) - A wild range. So hopefully that's good in the long run. But there's definitely a wild variety of music that listened to and been influenced by.

Brian (00:11:52) - Yeah, yeah, definitely. Definitely. And it's called concerts that matter. So I have to ask, as a concert goer, what concerts the eating have made you.

CJ (00:12:02) - Uh, maybe. I mean, it was definitely, you know, you know, I'll start with the first one I ever went to. It was Ratt with some band nobody ever heard of called Bon Jovi opening up for them at the time. Right.

CJ (00:12:12) - Who? Yeah. Who was? Who's this? So that was pretty, you know, pretty blown away by that. You know, seeing rat in a light show and just how loud it was back then. I don't think they had any DB limiters. Um, there's a lot of bands of saw back then. Early saw maiden and saw kiss as I is all the all the, you know, early 80s metal that was happening. I call it every freaking show, man. And the ones that have kind of blew me away now to, you know, it's all perfect circle in a while and I'm going to go see tool when it come to Dallas in February. And I just love how they take the artistry with the visual mix, with the music and the light show. It's just insane. And on top of the super talented musicians and songs that they have. So that's I've seen tool on every, every single tour of every one of the records several times, and that's one of the consistent as well, consistent bands.

CJ (00:12:57) - We got to play a couple of shows with tool over back in 2001, 2002, some festivals over there. Um, it was, you know, just another big influence, man. That's that's one of the ones that that have made me shows like that. I love the big festivals, you know. You know, it was fun doing Ozzfest 2001, you know, and then we did part of it in 2002. And unfortunately, you know, that's when Dave passed away from cardiomyopathy of the left ventricle. It's a heart disease, um, that my brother in law had that he passed away at 30 as well. Man, I don't know if that's the number for it or whatever, but that's that's something, you know, that's a condition that some people have. Um, but here we are now, man. We still go back on. It's still rocking out. You know, the whole reason why we got Ryan in the band, you know, was was probably because of Dave. Mean, Dave was a fan of soil.

CJ (00:13:41) - And right when the record came out, I said, Maybe I'll try out this new band solo. My God. So, you know, we met Ryan and actually did some shows together. Um, you know, so it makes sense for him to be back in the band with us.

Brian (00:13:53) - Yeah, exactly, exactly.

CJ (00:13:55) - She's been a big, full circle of stuff. Yes. One question. I'll give you 20 other answer.

Brian (00:13:58) - So no, it's.

Brian (00:13:59) - Good, it's good. Keep it coming. And if you think of all the gigs, this will be hard. Now, if you think of all the gigs you've played over your career, is there one that sticks out that you kind of revisit in your head? Is the perfect one?

CJ (00:14:12) - The ones that I played, yeah, that's been several man. You know, there was one. You know, we're talking about this not that long ago. It was just played in South Carolina. But we did the House of Blues there early on with Dave.

CJ (00:14:22) - And it was one of those moments I've had. You know, it's a rarity in several maybe some musicians can wipe it that at all. But you just you're just like in the zone. You're in the song and you're just like, totally. You just feel like you just, you know, synced up and you go to this almost like quiet place, but you're in loud stage. And his fans and it's like, I don't know, one of those zen, peaceful moments, if you will. There's been several moments like that. Everything great. But, you know, I'm not going to lie, man. You know, it's always hard to pick that until this year, I'd have to say playing with Pantera on May 6th, it was one of like the biggest highlights, you know, you know Pantera now obviously, you know, Charlie's doing an amazing job. And so it's like, wow, man. All the props to them. And I think they're doing it the right way. You know go see the show if you haven't seen it.

CJ (00:15:07) - So that was a big one for us. You know, um, any kind of big festival shows because you get to catch up with all the other bands that you've toured with, you know, throughout the years. It's always those are always fun. So catching up with other bands.

Brian (00:15:18) - So yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian (00:15:20) - And not to get too negative now, but to flip it around. Is there a gig experience you've had that was maybe the worst and how did you overcome it?

CJ (00:15:28) - There's there's been several. We just have one that was pretty bad on on this tour and it's bad because of this reason. Um, you know, I'm not trying to call it the club. Maybe I won't even say the club, but there was one place that we pulled into and they literally their PA, for whatever reason, stopped work. And then they have power issues. Um, you know, other stuff was going out in the club and we were trying to make it happen, trying to make it happen.

CJ (00:15:50) - And it just we couldn't they couldn't get the PR going like there's nothing we could do. We're at the mercy of the club. So, you know, we sat outside, we talked to the fans because everybody's there. Some people take, you know, three hour trips. You know, one, you know, a couple told me, oh man, we finally got the night out. It's been like a year, you know, somebody's watching the kids. We came to see the show and it didn't happen. So now they got dropped three hours back home. And I'm like, man. So that that's when that happens, which is a rarity. You know, it's definitely not the band's fault we came to play. I'm on tour. I'm here to play. So if there's any reason why the show doesn't happen, it's not because of us and us not wanting to play, trust me. So yeah, that that does this. You know, that's only happened maybe 2 or 3 times in our career.

CJ (00:16:26) - The most recent one being, you know, the one in South Carolina would, you know, but, you know, we got to hang out with all the fans. Like you can play the music in the background. At least it was more like a, you know, an improv two, you know, VIP party. And we're just bullshitting. So. So, you know.

Brian (00:16:40) - That's that would be pretty cool.

CJ (00:16:43) - Yeah. At least you hung out and have some drinks there. But at least we can do.

Brian (00:16:46) - Exactly, exactly when something like that happens. Is this your hands then? If you try to put on a show the next night or your next available night, or is it kind of out of your hands?

CJ (00:16:58) - Oh, they try to like, do like a makeup show type thing or like. Future. We are trying to do something, a makeup show with them getting like, you know, the proper stuff that they need for us to put on a show. You know, we definitely try to make something up if we miss it.

CJ (00:17:10) - But we, you know, it's rarely when we've ever missed anything like that. And it's been at the mercy of some other situation, not us. You know, we've always shown up and ready to play. And if even if we had, you know, it's only been once or twice, we're like, we had to have somebody fill in for one member or another like that, where we still made the show happen and we just, you know, it was always like, we have an awesome crew guy, Andrew Wife, and that knows how to play every instrument. So he's with us. And if somebody, God forbid, couldn't do a show, which is a rarity, we still do the show and he'll fill in. So it's we all, you know, show must go on, man. That's how we that's how we feel.

Brian (00:17:42) - Exactly. That's it, that's it. And when it comes to Showtime, then your pre-show portion ritual, how do you seek yourself up these days and how do you wind down afterwards?

CJ (00:17:53) - Yeah.

CJ (00:17:53) - A good hour before the show, man. We, you know, each one of us takes turns just playing in the band, that is. And we just put on some loud music. It changes from night to night. So I can't really tell you exactly what bands. And I can say a lot of Coke was playing in the background on, on this particular one. A lot of Black Label Society, of course. Um, to get you pumped up. You know, it's a variety of stuff, man. I listen to. It's one of my favorite bands that really get me pumped up. Um, but again, everybody picks something else, man. You know.

Brian (00:18:20) - Whatever to.

Brian (00:18:21) - Think about.

CJ (00:18:22) - Some of this song, whatever it is. So we do that, man. We sing along and, you know, that's kind of like the warm up. And then we always have a show shot before we go on stage, man. Just, just just keeping the tradition alive.

Brian (00:18:33) - Nice, nice.

Brian (00:18:34) - Afterwards. Then how do you wind down? How do you get rid of the energy?

CJ (00:18:39) - Um. It doesn't it doesn't happen. I'm wound up every single night, all night long. So. Especially well on this tour in particular. Once it did one down, we left and go to the next town. I'm still just naturally amped up, man. After I play. I don't know what it is. I'm just so amped up after a show. And you know, I just grabbed the guitar and started working on, you know, sending music and stuff like that. So a lot of late night, you know, 4 or 5 or 6:00 in the morning inspired riffs after the shows. And what I'm going to do now is, like I said, I'm at home, I'm going to put it all together, you know, make some kind of, you know.

Brian (00:19:13) - Nice, nice. And, you know, after this long in the business, how do you stay motivated and inspired to keep going?

CJ (00:19:23) - You know, it's a love for music.

CJ (00:19:24) - You definitely get hit with a lot of bad things. Personal life, like I said, business wise has been the worst one to overcome. I know a lot of people have, you know, say succumb to that, but it's a beatdown on that side of the fence. It really is. It's definitely not. I'm not, you know, crying or complaining or anything out. But it's definitely not in the musician's favor in any way, shape or form. Um, but, you know, I love music, I love performing, I love writing songs. You know, it's it's the passion in life, you know, besides, obviously family. Um, and that's what keeps me going, man. You know, every time I come with a new idea, a new riff, you know, life, it's been. It's inspiring. And that's how I express it through music. And this year, like I was saying, it's been a great year for us, especially touring these last seven, eight weeks.

CJ (00:20:04) - You know, seeing fans you haven't seen before. Making new fans, you know, having some kind of crazy adventure in every city has been very inspiring. So I have a lot to write about and talk about. Um, and that's what I love about it, man. And then lay it down. Lay down on tape on plastic, lay down on plastic. These days, my guess has always been plastic.

Brian (00:20:23) - Yeah, yeah. When you think about and before we dive into the the last couple of questions, then when you think of the future, how would you like the band to evolve, say five years time? What would drowning people look like?

CJ (00:20:37) - But it's hopefully look a little younger, a little bit more in shape.

Brian (00:20:42) - Right.

CJ (00:20:44) - It doesn't matter what we look like. No, you know, it just, you know, we have been evolving, you know, with each record and the new songs you write, it's just been, you know, it's been easy and easier, especially working together.

CJ (00:20:53) - Mike and Stevie and myself, we've been working together since we were friends in high school. It's been easier with communication as far as like song ideas. Again, we all bring stuff to the table and it's it's awesome to hear, like, you know, I'll see where you're going with this. Let me add to that. You know, vice versa. And we bounce a lot of ideas off each other, especially lyrics and, and musical, you know, lyrical content. It's just been easier. And the longer we've done it to work together, I guess if you say so. I'm looking forward to like, you know, see what kind of music we come up. I know we're already got a head start on what's happening next, and in the future we have some acoustic shows coming up. We never really did the full acoustic thing, the style yet. I'd love to do that. We've always talked about it over the years, but I think, you know that some of that might come out, um, you know, definitely have acoustic versions and there's a lot of stuff that we recorded in the past that, you know, with Ryan here now that he feels like there's a handful of, like I say, deep tracks on the records we did that he he has some new ideas for it that that bring him to a new light.

CJ (00:21:49) - So we may, you know, update some things like that just again for fun and if it makes the sense for music. But um, yeah, I'm always love to see on Push the Limits and see how far out we can, you know, take the styles that we were all influenced by. Like I was saying earlier, the one thing I do, like I've always loved about LED Zeppelin is, you know, the first two records, you can hear their foundation, but with Zeppelin three, man, that's changed everything for they really expanded their musical style and taste and and the songwriting. So I'm looking forward, you know, long answer here the next five years to see how far we push. Push our.

Brian (00:22:21) - Limits. Yeah.

Brian (00:22:22) - You and but and two things. How long do we have to wait to hear new music and how long do we have to wait to see you guys in Europe?

CJ (00:22:31) - So we're working on Europe right now, man. There's been a massive miscommunication again with, with with management and label and booking everything in the last good six years or so.

CJ (00:22:40) - We're definitely making the calls and working really hard. I'm hoping to be there in summertime. That's the big hope. And the fingers crossed, one way or the other, we're going to be over there some sort of way. But it was a few weeks or a few months. But, you know, Ryan lives over there now. He lives outside of London. And, you know, he's been there for a good five years. And him being there even before he started seeing us again, they're like, Where's Rand Paul? They're not playing. And we're like, well, we're not playing. So we finally connected those dots to get over there to play. So we're looking forward to it, man. We're going to hit every place that we can. If I'm over there playing, I want to play in every city. I want to play in every country. So hopefully next year I'm trying to get music out by the beginning of the year. I'm, you know, longer. I'm like, get to work, son.

CJ (00:23:20) - It's right here.

Brian (00:23:22) - Ryan can repair the fever. You can sleep on his floor in a in London. So you.

CJ (00:23:27) - Know what? We're all going to sleep at his place, man. But now he's always welcome me. Man is always walking me in a home studio. I'm glad I have it set up. You know, it's a house. House for music, man. Oh, I didn't get to show you this last time, man. No, my house is like, why wait till the last question and I'll walk out there and I'll give you a little. I mean, this is the, you know, part of what I got going on with the other parts, almost like Guitar Center out here. And it's just nice to have the home studio. I'm very fortunate to be in a place in my life where I have everything set up that I need all the essentials and can record a record in the house. We still go work with Sean McGee, um, in Vegas to get, you know, The Thick of It, but I still get stuff done here at the house, which is great.

Brian (00:24:02) - Yeah. Just walk in ready to go?

CJ (00:24:05) - Yeah, it's coming here. Just, you know, you know, it's like people's home office get the day started. But for me, it's just, you know, I get my music, I get to do music from, like, that's my day. Mostly all night, really. During the day, you see, like vampires. I'm not.

Brian (00:24:16) - Gonna lie.

Brian (00:24:19) - Not too bad. And we'll dive into the last couple. So. So your your dream tour lineup with Drowning Pool. What bands would you like to go on tour with?

CJ (00:24:29) - The Dream man, so many I could start naming. I know I won't name them all. Um, you know, it would be nice to do a full tour at Metallica. Of course a full tour adventurer. Absolutely. That they're so lucky to get to do that together. Now, you know, there's a lot of bands that we came up with. Any bands that we played with on Ozzfest 2001, go through that whole list? Um, you know, system pop rock might be mixing 2001, 2002 together.

CJ (00:24:52) - You know, you know, this non-point guy forever can go down a list, you know, mud veins. Freaking awesome. Rob Zombie I'm going to just name every band. So every rock band there is, let's just do that. You know, every all of us. All of us tour, you know, probably be a whole week of shows and then we'll just move to the next town, just be like a whole week in this town. That would probably just sum it up like that. That'd be great. Yeah.

Brian (00:25:16) - Week, actually.

Brian (00:25:19) - And if you could see any performer from history in concert for one night only, who would it be?

CJ (00:25:24) - Yeah, would definitely be, you know, the Jimi Hendrix. I never got to see him live, you know, obviously video and all that. But just to have that, you know, the Jimi Hendrix experience to see that because I know that just felt. It didn't matter. Like what guitar he had or what amp. He was just one of those, you know, musicians.

CJ (00:25:41) - And I'm not just trying to pull that like, I mean, obviously he's famous because he was so good, but the way he took, you know, blues, jazz and, you know, that kind of funk style and just blended it, you know, it was kind of like the first time innovative and, you know, the pedal work. And, you know, I've always been a fan of the effects that he used to to further express that feeling. So it would have been nice to see that live. And I haven't seen LED Zeppelin live. I almost had a chance to see him when they did one of the reunion shows, and he fell through years, years ago. So but yeah, you know, I'd say Jimi Hendrix.

Brian (00:26:16) - And here was meeting and you'd say, ABBA.

Brian (00:26:18) - Have a.

CJ (00:26:19) - Well, I can still go see ABBA. They put out a new record not that long ago and no, did not download it and listen to the whole thing.

Brian (00:26:27) - Right? Sadly, yeah.

Brian (00:26:29) - Has to be.

Brian (00:26:29) - Done.

Brian (00:26:31) - And if you had to spend 24 hours locked in a room with any musician from history, who would you pick?

CJ (00:26:38) - All right. That would be. You know, that would probably be Adam Jones. Uh oh. Don't die on me. Adam Jones, some tool man. He has a. You know, I love his writing style and the fact that you can take one idea and make it change so many different ways through, you know, a good 11 minutes and come back around to the top, I think is awesome. Like, you know, we would write maybe 2 or 3 songs and like you said, 48 hours would go by. Um, it was 24 or 48. How many hours now? It's it's been a week in.

Brian (00:27:07) - There with that guy.

CJ (00:27:09) - Got one of us. You know, he's just that's his. That's one of his model and toss you know he's a big fan you know. And I got the Dimebag over here of course.

Brian (00:27:17) - Beautiful beautiful.

CJ (00:27:19) - And my favorite beef. So write a lot on this guy right here. That's my uh.

Brian (00:27:23) - Oh my mockingbird.

CJ (00:27:26) - That's just one of.

Brian (00:27:27) - The many that we tour.

CJ (00:27:29) - Around with to found the right sound.

Brian (00:27:31) - Yeah, yeah. Oh, it's.

Brian (00:27:32) - A beauty, it's a beauty. And the final one. So what song would appear on the soundtrack to your life?

CJ (00:27:40) - Well, if it was after I'm dead, then we'd be like the body to the floor, of course.

Brian (00:27:46) - Perfect answer.

Brian (00:27:50) - You already got.

CJ (00:27:50) - The rec room right for your.

Brian (00:27:52) - Office. Yeah, yeah.

Brian (00:27:56) - Oh, C.J., it's been an absolute pleasure. And hopefully we'll cross paths again in the future.

CJ (00:28:02) - Hopefully so. Man. Yeah. I'll show you the inherited inheritance wall, as we call it, because it's all I have to give to the kids right now. Daddy loves.

Brian (00:28:11) - It, but. Yeah.

CJ (00:28:13) - Check it out, man.

Brian (00:28:15) - Holy crap.

Brian (00:28:18) - All. My God.

Brian (00:28:20) - Yeah.

CJ (00:28:21) - Just show you that whole thing, man.

CJ (00:28:22) - And set up.

Brian (00:28:24) - Just went.

CJ (00:28:24) - Through Halloween.

Brian (00:28:26) - So what's up, baby girl?

CJ (00:28:30) - Excited. All right.

Brian (00:28:31) - Our doors, our doors. Guitars are off limits. Are do you play them?

Brian (00:28:35) - Oh, no.

CJ (00:28:36) - No, I play on each one of them, man. They're all ready to go. I have to restring a couple. And then the neck had busted on this one. I need to fix it. But this is my first acoustic ever. Oh, still right on that one. Um, this is the first guitar I ever got. Electric guitar when I was 12.

Brian (00:28:53) - Oh, man.

CJ (00:28:54) - And then I wrote a lot of stuff on the Strat. I actually wrote the beginning riffs of bodies on that one, and I finished it on this guitar next to it, track it on that in the studio. So yeah, I got a whole history wall, man. It's probably go through the wall and talk about stuff. This is my signature bottle from Rich, my first one.

Brian (00:29:09) - Oh man, I love it.

Brian (00:29:11) - So I went with the.

CJ (00:29:12) - Black and gold and I have that, you know, a tattoo I have on the back of the neck. Yeah, man. But I'm all, you know, I'm all about these mockingbirds have been in rocking those two lately.

Brian (00:29:22) - Beautiful. Beautiful. Thanks for showing us.

CJ (00:29:25) - Yeah, man. Thanks for having me on the show, man. Appreciate it.