DROWNING POOL's 'Goal And Plan' Is To Release New Full-Length Album Before End Of The Year

In a new interview with Matthew Thomas of Super Cool Radio, DROWNING POOL guitarist C.J. Pierce once again spoke about the band's plans to release a full-length album following the arrival of three new singles over the course of the last year and a half — "The Wrong One", which was released in February 2026, "Madness", which came out in April 2025, and "Revolution (The Final Amen)", which arrived in September 2024. "Revolution (The Final Amen)" was the first piece of music Pierce, drummer Mike Luce and bassist Stevie Benton completed with singer Ryan McCombs in 13 years. Pierce said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The goal and plan is to get a record out, full-length, at the end of the year. We pushed it off again, just because of the timing to get in the studio and record, because there's been so many shows. And then also the 25-year anniversary of the 'Sinner' record's [DROWNING POOL's debut album] coming [up]. We're gonna have some special limited-edition vinyls that I just ordered. I didn't know plastic was so expensive these days, but it is. But hey, it's gonna be out there. We haven't had it before. So that's coming out. So we're gonna be playing the 'Sinner' record in its entirety, which I'm looking forward to. I love that record. So it's gonna be awesome, summer going into the fall, and then we'll hopefully get the new record out by the end of the year, and keep on trucking along, man, into 2027."

Elaborating on what fans can expect to hear on the upcoming DROWNING POOL album, Pierce said: "Mike and Stevie and myself, we've been friends since high school, and we've been on that rollercoaster life together for a long time, man. And that comes through in the music.

"I don't wanna get too far into the new songs because there's a lot of stuff on the plate, and at the end we put the compilation of what all flows together for the record," he explained. "But there's a lot of deep stuff on there. There's a lot of jammers on there. You can hear the excitement of having Ryan back in the band as well. So, a lot of cool stuff on the table. We're all itching to get it done and get it out there. It's just the timing of it. We have a little bit of time off now. We have a show in InFERNo [festival]— it's right outside of Reno — on the 28th of March, and we have a little time in April, but then starting from May on, man, we're gonna be pretty busy. So I'm trying to get the stuff down now sooner than later, so it's ready to go at the end of the year."

Earlier this month, Pierce was asked by Cassius Morris how many songs DROWNING POOL has written so far for the upcoming LP and when the album might see the light of day. Pierce said: "Everything's still a fluid kind of schedule. There's plenty enough songs right now to do a whole record, of course, and just kind of honing in on the stuff that's already been done and stuff that has been done and finished and recorded already. For me, there's a few songs I've just gotta get down some guitar solos [on]. I like to take my time with that and write for the song instead of, like, 'Here comes the solo' and just this 'look at me, look at me'. Everything needs to fit and flow with it. Sometimes it happens instantly."

C.J. continued: "That's the thing with us, with DROWNING POOL as well, we're not this machine where you're just putting out songs and records. This is my life. This is what I feel. This is my art. So before we put it out and it's finished, all four of us, we have to like every part of every song because you're gonna be playing it for the rest of your life. So, we don't just throw stuff out there. And some things come fast, some things take a little bit longer. But we have plenty of material."

C.J. also talked about DROWNING POOL's touring plans for 2026 and how it might affect the release of the band's new album. He said: "June 5th will be the 25-year anniversary of [DROWNING POOL's debut] 'Sinner' record and 'Bodies', so we're gonna be doing the record in its entirety on tours coming up. And then towards the end of the year, before the end of the year, we would like to put out the new record. We're gonna have singles and releases in between still up until that happens. And then next year, it'll be a full run, another tour, with some of the new stuff included, of course, playing the 'Sinner' record."

Pierce went on to say that he is "excited" about the prospect of performing "Sinner" from beginning to end on the upcoming tour. "I love that record," he said. "I love all of our records. I know it's the most well-known one, but we play a lot of songs off of it anyway. Every setlist, every tour, we kind of [play] different [songs from 'Sinner'] here and there. But to play the whole record in its entirety, man, it's been bringing me back to that time period when we first got together in mid-'90s, late '90s, and just the flashbacks of when you first wrote that riff. It just brings you back to that moment every night when you play it."

"Sinner" was certified platinum within six weeks of its release in 2001, while the CD's first single, "Bodies", was one of the most frequently aired videos on MTV by a new band.

After the release of "Sinner", DROWNING POOL reached out to an ever-greater audience with dynamic performances at Wrestlemania XVIII and Ozzfest during the summers of 2001 and 2002. Unfortunately, their streak of success was not to last. Shortly after rousing the crowd at Ozzfest in Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 3, 2002, vocalist Dave "Stage" Williams was found dead of natural causes on the tour bus.

McCombs played his first shows back with DROWNING POOL in March 2023 at Club L.A. in Destin, Florida and at the inaugural Throwdown At The Campground festival in Fruitland Park, Florida.

The longtime SOIL frontman, who has lived in Swindon, England since 2018, originally joined DROWNING POOL in 2005 and appeared on two of the band's studio albums, "Full Circle" (2007) and "Drowning Pool" (2010),as well as a live album, 2009's "Loudest Common Denominator". He rejoined SOIL after exiting DROWNING POOL in 2011.

McCombs is continuing to front SOIL and will carry on recording and performing with both bands.

Photo courtesy of O'Donnell Media Group