Drowning pool first made it's mad debut to the rock world through it's appearances at Ozzfest, where fans were quick to pick up on the energy created by these four lads. Their debut album made significant progress in the charts of countless metal radio stations and were at the top of their game. Then disaster struck. One afternoon at the Ozzfest there was the discovery that lead singer Dave Williams was found dead in his tour bus. It seemed to many that this fantastic band may perhaps not be able to deal with this loss, as bands have split up over less. But Drowning Pool are not your usual bunch of give-up-skys, and it was not their nature to let something that they had put so much into fall to the wayside. Besides, Dave Williams would never want his dear friends to give up either.
When it was clear that they were going to keep it going, they set out to auditioning singers, and their search landed them Mr. Jason "Gong" Jones, a veteran singer/songwriter who has the stuff to do DP right.
The rest is history, and Drowning Pool is back with DESENSITIZED, a powerful and stark answer to their debut album that worked so well for them.
When I found out that they were to open for Damage Plan at the Roseland Theatre, I immediately sought to talk to this new singer who was already beginning to make his place in my "preferred" list of fave bands. Join me now in a dark little corner of the Roseland Grill as Gong shares his story with me.
BOB: Hello Gong. It is good to see you here singing for Drowning Pool this time around. I guess the first thing on my mind is how you are in a position where you are an established singer taking over the duties of their last singer, who is gone now. Were you ever scared or nervous about being under the scrutinous eye of Drowning Pool fans everywhere?
GONG: No, not at all. I mean, you know, Dave is gone and he aint coming back, which sucks but somebody has got to do it and it might as well be me.
BOB: Well how were you chosen to play? Have you worked with the guys before?
GONG: No, I had never met the guys before the audition. Well, I had met Mike before for five minutes in passing, but I just auditioned like everybody else did. I have good references. I just showed up on time and auditioned, and they never really sent me home.
BOB: Well I think they picked the right guy because you really mesh well with the band, which is cool because at one time I wondered what would become of the band. Now they are back better than ever. You mentioned that you have played in numerous bands before this.
GONG: Yeah, I have been doing this shit since I was like eleven years old. I have been doing it for quite a long time. I was in bands with Dino from Fear Factory, Sunny from Snot, and a bunch of different people. Man, Snot was such a great fucking band.
BOB: I remember Snot- they played here a long time ago. Awesome band.
Now, was this album pretty much done when they called you in, or did you help write the songs too?
GONG: Oh, I wrote all of the lyrics, or at least 99 percent of them. I mean I wouldn't go into a situation where I was just some hired studio musician. I need to be a part of it. And the guys didn't want any part of that scene either, so it worked out well.
BOB: So they distinctly wanted a singer/songwriter?
GONG: Yes, totally. They would give me a basic idea, like a subject or something, and that was basically it. I would then write the lyrics with those ideas in mind.
BOB: That is an important aspect of the Drowning Pool music. It is lyrically dark by nature and it takes careful planning to pull it off as well as they do. I can see this version of the band really taking off.
GONG: Hopefully it will. That is definitely what we are trying to do. After this tour we are going to Canada, and then we go to Europe. This is great because I have never been to Europe, so I am pretty excited about that. And then we come back and I am not sure what is next.
BOB: Did you shoot any videos for this record?
GONG: Yeah, we did the Step Up video which was of course wonderful. I got to be in the hot tub with the girl on the cover of the record, Jesse Jane, and three other girls. Of course I could've cared less about the other three girls because Jesse is so beautiful.
BOB: (glancing at the cover of Desensitized) Yes, that would be all one would need.
GONG: I just actually talked to her on the phone. She is my buddy and I talk to her every chance I get.
BOB: I like the cover theme, like it is some sort of cereal box.
GONG: It turned out like some sort of Wheaties thing. Originally it was supposed to turn out like a magazine, do you know what I mean, but it turned out like a damn Wheaties box. Because it had shit on it like "Ten Easy Ways To Kill Your Neighbor" and shit like that, but they took all of that off.
BOB: What do you think of the current state of music?
GONG: It sucks. I think there are too many of these fucking whiny-assed bitch-babe wannabe punk pop bands that are driving me crazy. I can't stand it. Then you've got grown men who are like thirty something that are whining about their parents onstage, which I don't get. It's like, dude, shut the fuck up. If you don't like your parents then move out of the fucking house. You are thirty years old! I mean there is some good stuff going on, like Hatebreed and Damage Plan and things like that. It's a good hardcore scene, but as far as the music I want to hear personally there is just not much of it. I am so sick of all this whineyness. I mean with all of this burning of CD's that is going on it is impossible to make a fortune anymore, but you won't hear me bitching about it at all. I love doing what I am doing. Man, like if I turn the radio on now I can't even separate one band from the next because it all sounds the same.
BOB: Oh, totally. Especially in the hardcore metal world, where every singer does that Cookie Monster vocal crap and it sounds like shit besides being very non-original. Hell, for all we know it is the same dude singing on all of them!
GONG: Really, that is one rich bastard! On all of those records, wow!
BOB: Well thank you Gong, for taking time to introduce yourself to me and all the fans who will be reading this. I congratulate you on bringing this new breath to a great band, and I wish you much luck with all you do.
GONG: Well thank you brother. I appreciate it.
