DROWNING POOL Guitarist Calls New Singer 'Super Great Guy'

According to The Pulse Of Radio, DROWNING POOL guitarist C.J. Pierce admitted in a new interview with Billboard that he went through a "little bout of depression" after the band's last singer, Ryan McCombs, left the group in 2011. Pierce called McCombs' departure after six years "frustrating . . . like 'Here we go again,'" but added, "Now I look back, and things happen for a reason. It led us on this path and now we've got our favorite musician we've ever worked with, hands down. So we had to go through all the rest of it to get to this point."

DROWNING POOL's new singer — their third since the death of original frontman Dave Williams in 2002 — is fellow Dallas resident Jasen Moreno, and Pierce told The Pulse Of Radio a little about him. "Super great guy to work with, man," he said. "He's been by far the most respectful guy we've worked with since, you know, Dave's passing, and it's been nothing but awesome. We've written more songs with him in this past year than I think we've ever written in our whole career. He's a singer/songwriter as well. It's just fun to work with somebody else who's as passionate about it as you are, you know what I mean?"

Pierce told Billboard the band has known Moreno since the late '90s, saying, "He's been that guy on the scene; he was always great but never got his shot."

Moreno makes his debut with the group on its fifth studio album, "Resilience", which is due out on April 9. The first single is "Saturday Night".

Pierce said the record "has the staple DROWNING POOL sound . . . It's definitely more of a heavy record than we've done before, though."

DROWNING POOL is currently on the road with FLYLEAF, who are also introducing a new singer named Kristen May. The tour stops in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Friday (March 8).

Photo credit: David Jackson Photography