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Corrosion of Conformity

 
Artist: Corrosion of Conformity
 
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Corrosion of Conformity

Group Members:

Woody Weatherman, Reed Mullin, Pepper Keenan, Mike Dean, Phil Swisher, Karl Agell, Simon Bob, Eric Eycke

Similar Artists:

Pantera, Fu Manchu, Machine Head, Clutch, Stormtroopers of Death, Nuclear Assault, Anthrax, Katharsis, Soulfly, Electric Wizard, Hammerfall, Nothingface, Korn, Eyehategod, Buzzov-en, Fear Factory, D.R.I., Morbid Saint, Melvins, Honor Role, Entombed, Crowbar, Trouble, Suicidal Tendencies, Soundgarden, Sacred Reich, Prong, Possessed, Mordred, Megadeth, Kreator, Helmet, Fudge Tunnel, Death Angel, Death, Dark Angel, Danzig, Celtic Frost, Carcass, Anacrusis, Alice in Chains, Agnostic Front

Influenced By:

Black Sabbath, Black Flag, Motörhead, Metallica, The Stooges, Slayer

Followers:

SSS, Raised Fist, Crowbar, Stigmata, 108, Eyehategod, Unholy, Seemless, Caliban, Beyond the Sixth Seal, Backdraft, GZR, A Perfect Murder, Collision, Skindred, All Ill, Kung Pao, Overcast

Performed Songs By:

Eric Eycke, Woody Weatherman, Reed Mullin, Pepper Keenan, Mike Dean

Formal Connection With:

Down, Leadfoot, Ten Foot Pole, Graveyard Rodeo
  • Formed: 1983
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "Blind," "Wiseblood," "Deliverance"
  • Representative Songs: "Vote With a Bullet," "Albatross," "Clean My Wounds"

Biography

One of the first punk/metal fusion bands, Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C. for short) were formed in North Carolina by guitarist Woody Weatherman during the early '80s. In their early years, C.O.C. became known for their aggressive sound, intelligent political lyrics, and willingness to break away from both hardcore and metal conventions. In the '90s, their shift to a more stripped-down, deliberate sound -- sort of Black Sabbath filtered through the Deep South -- brought them enough in line with the alternative metal zeitgeist to bring them a measure of mainstream popularity.

C.O.C. debuted in 1983 with the thrashy, Black Flag-influenced Eye for an Eye, featuring a lineup of Weatherman, drummer Reed Mullin, vocalist Eric Eycke, and bassist Mike Dean. They began to build up a cult following with 1985's Animosity, which featured additional guitarist Pepper Keenan and new vocalist Simon Bob. However, their label at the time, Death, grew tired of the band's internal instability and dropped them following 1987's Technocracy. It took several years for a new lineup to come together -- featuring Weatherman, Keenan, Mullin, vocalist Karl Agell, and bassist Phil Swisher -- but when it did, the result was 1991's Blind, a powerful, focused, more metallic record which increased their audience by leaps and bounds. Agell was fired following its success, and he and Swisher went on to form Leadfoot; meanwhile, Keenan became the full-time lead vocalist on 1994's even more Sabbath-esque Deliverance, which also featured the return of original bassist Mike Dean. During 1995, Keenan took a short detour into the Southern metal supergroup Down (which also featured Pantera's Phil Anselmo and members of Crowbar). Thanks to a shift in popular taste in favor of the ultra-heavy brand of alternative metal the group had helped pioneer, C.O.C. found themselves with a larger audience than ever before when they released 1996's Wiseblood, which continued and expanded their rock radio success. After a lengthy break from recording and a world tour with Metallica, C.O.C. returned with a new album in the fall of 2000, titled America's Volume Dealer. Another break ensued, resulting in the release of the live recording Live Volume in 2001. It wasn't until April of 2005 that the band regrouped for the hard-hitting and complex In the Arms of God. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
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Corrosion of Conformity
Corrosion of Conformity live at Reds, Edmonton, 2005
Corrosion of Conformity live at Reds, Edmonton, 2005
Background information
Origin Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
Genre(s) Hardcore punk, crossover thrash, sludge metal
Years active 1982–present
Label(s) Sanctuary, Columbia, Metal Blade, Relativity, Caroline
Associated acts Down
Website www.coc.com
Members
Pepper Keenan
Woody Weatherman
Mike Dean
Jason Patterson
Former members
Reed Mullin
Karl Agell
Phil Swisher
Simon Bob Sinister
Eric Eycke
Robert Stewart
Benji Shelton
Jimmy Bower

Corrosion of Conformity (also known as C.O.C.) is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina formed in 1982.

Contents

History

Early years (1982–1987)

Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C.) was formed in Raleigh, North Carolina by bassist and vocalist Mike Dean, guitarist Woody Weatherman and drummer Reed Mullin in early 1980s.[1] Their hardcore punk-oriented 20-track debut Eye for an Eye—the only album featuring the vocalist Eric Eycke—was released in 1984 (later re-released by Caroline Records during 1990).[2] Soon after, Eycke left the band and C.O.C. continued as a three-piece with Dean and Mullin sharing the vocal duties on the 1985's follow-up Animosity.[1] In 1987, COC recruited Simon Bob Sinister away from their fellow Carolina band and Death Records labelmates, Ugly Americans. The band's 1987 release, Technocracy featured the hectic thrash musicianship of COC with a cleaner vocal style than they had in the past.

Departure of Mike Dean, hiatus and Blind (1987-1992)

Mike Dean departed in 1987 and Simon Bob soon followed, leaving COC in a state of flux for a couple of years. The remaining members re-tuned the line up and searched for a new vocalist, even posting a classified in Flipside Fanzine for a singer similar in sound to "James Hetfield or Ozzy Osbourne" to go with their new metal sound. Caroline Records released some old tracks with Mike singing during this time with the aptly named Six Songs With Mike Singing EP.

After much searching, Karl Agell was recruited on vocals, Phil Swisher on bass and Pepper Keenan as a second guitarist. COC gravitated towards a more straightforward heavy metal sound. By 1991's Blind they had become a heavy metal band. Blind was the first COC album to receive mainstream attention. The video for "Vote With A Bullet" received airplay on MTV and the album cracked the Billboard Heatseekers chart in early 1992. The album has sold around 250,000 copies in the US to date.

Deliverance and Wiseblood (1993-1998)

In 1993, Agell and Swisher left the band and formed the band Leadfoot, Dean returned and Keenan took over lead vocals. The following year COC signed to Columbia Records, and the release of Deliverance saw the band move toward Southern metal, a sound that they also carried onto the Wiseblood and America's Volume Dealer albums. In 1994, their song Big Problems was featured on the Clerks (soundtrack).

Deliverance was the band's biggest selling album. This was mainly due to the singles "Albatross" and "Clean My Wounds" becoming Top 20 hits on rock radio and the album managed to spend almost 4 months on the Billboard Top 200, peaking at No.155. On the Heatseekers chart, it peaked at No.5 and lasted almost a year on that particular chart. US sales for the album were just over 440,000 by the end of 2005 and this album should be eligible for Gold status within the next few years.

Wiseblood was released in October 1996. Despite producing a Top 30 radio hit with "Drowning In A Daydream" and a worldwide tour with Metallica, the album failed to match the sales set by the previous album. Total US sales to date are just over 150,000. COC was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the song "Drowning in a Daydream".

America's Volume Dealer and In the Arms of God (1999-2006)

Pepper Keenan live on stage

Soon after the release of Wiseblood, Columbia dropped COC, who then moved to Sanctuary Records. The band released its first album for its new label, America's Volume Dealer, in November 2000. The album was even more of a commercial failure than Wiseblood not even managing to make the Billboard Top 200. However, the single, "Congratulations Song", did give the band another Top 30 hit. No videos were made from the album. Mullin left the band in 2001. Since then the band has worked with a series of drummers: Jimmy Bower of Eyehategod, local Raleigh percussion professor Merritt Partridge, Stanton Moore of Galactic and Reed's former drum technician Jason Patterson, who previously played drums in the Raleigh-based rock band Cry of Love.

In April 2005, COC released In the Arms of God to much critical acclaim. The album performed much better than their previous effort, debuting at No.108 on the Billboard Top 200 and even topping the Heatseekers chart. This was achieved without even one radio hit from the album. A video was made for the song "Stonebreaker" which saw airplay on MTV2's recently revived Headbanger's Ball. The band spent the rest of the year touring the US and Canada. They were the opening acts for Motörhead and Disturbed and also went on headlining tours with Crowbar, Fu Manchu, Alabama Thunderpussy and Danko Jones all providing support. A European tour was scheduled for September/October 2005 but was later cancelled, after Hurricane Katrina ravaged Keenan's adopted hometown of New Orleans. A co-headlining UK tour with Clutch commenced in January 2006.

Recent history (2007-present)

The band is currently on a hiatus while Pepper records and tours with Down. Starting in March, 2009 Karl Agell and Reed Mullin have started touring with Jerry Barrett, Scott Little, and Jason Browning as "COC-Blind", performing the Blind album. There are talks about COC-Blind creating original material moving forward. Reed Mullin and Mike Dean along with Jason Browning are also touring in a new band called "Righteous Fool."

Collaborations/side projects

They have also collaborated with a number of other artists: James Hetfield of Metallica contributed vocals to the song "Man or Ash" on Wiseblood; Warren Haynes of the Allman Brothers' Band and Gov't Mule played slide guitar on "Stare Too Long" on America's Volume Dealer; and Stanton Moore of Galactic played drums on In The Arms of God.

Members of COC have also participated in collaborations: Keenan plays guitar with the metal supergroup Down, and Dean contributed vocals to a track titled "Access Babylon" on Dave Grohl's Probot project. Also Pepper is on Metallica's Garage Inc CD playing guitar and signing the second verse of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Tuesday's Gone", he is also in the documentary "Some Kind of Monster" auditioning to be Metallica's replacement for Jason Newstead.

Members

Lineups

(1982)
(1983-1984)
  • Eric Eycke – vocals
  • Woody Weatherman – guitar
  • Mike Dean – bass, vocals
  • Reed Mullin – drums
(1984-1986)
  • Woody Weatherman – guitar
  • Mike Dean – bass, vocals
  • Reed Mullin – drums
(1986-1987)
  • Simon Bob Sinister – vocals
  • Woody Weatherman – guitar
  • Mike Dean – bass, vocals
  • Reed Mullin – drums
(1987-1988)
  • Simon Bob Sinister – vocals
  • Woody Weatherman – guitar
  • Reed Mullin – drums
(1988-1989)

(C.O.C. on hiatus)
(1989-1993)
  • Karl Agell – vocals
  • Pepper Keenan – guitar, vocals
  • Woody Weatherman – guitar
  • Phil Swisher – bass, vocals
  • Reed Mullin – drums
(1993-2001)
  • Pepper Keenan – guitar, vocals
  • Woody Weatherman – guitar
  • Mike Dean – bass, vocals
  • Reed Mullin – drums
(2001-2002)
  • Pepper Keenan – guitar, vocals
  • Woody Weatherman – guitar
  • Mike Dean – bass, vocals
  • Jimmy Bower – drums
(2002-2003)

(C.O.C. on hiatus)
(2003-2004)
  • Pepper Keenan – guitar, vocals
  • Woody Weatherman – guitar
  • Mike Dean – bass, vocals
(2004-2005)
  • Pepper Keenan – guitar, vocals
  • Woody Weatherman – guitar
  • Mike Dean – bass, vocals
  • Stanton Moore – drums
(2005-2007)
  • Pepper Keenan – guitar, vocals
  • Woody Weatherman – guitar
  • Mike Dean – bass, vocals
  • Jason Patterson – drums
(2007-present)

(C.O.C. on hiatus)

Collaborators

  • Warren Haynes – slide guitar ("Stare Too Long," America's Volume Dealer)
  • James Hetfield – vocals ("Man or Ash," Wiseblood)
  • Robert Stewart – vocals (performed live, never recorded)
  • John Custer – producer of Blind, Deliverance, Wiseblood, Nativity In Black, America's Volume Dealer and In The Arms Of God

Discography

Studio albums

Date of Release Title Label Chart positions US sales
1983 Eye for an Eye No Core/Toxic Shock/Caroline Records
October 1985 Animosity Metal Blade Records
1991 Blind Relativity Records 250,000
November 27, 1994 Deliverance Columbia Records 155 440,000
October 12, 1996 Wiseblood Columbia Records 104 150,000
October 10, 2000 America's Volume Dealer (Available as Dualdisc) Sanctuary Records
April 5, 2005 In the Arms of God Sanctuary Records 108

Live albums

Date of Release Title Label Chart positions US sales
August 7, 2001 Live Volume (CD, DVD and DVDA) Sanctuary Records

EPs

Date of Release Title Label Chart positions US sales
1987 Technocracy Metal Blade Records
1989 Six Songs With Mike Singing Metal Blade Records

Compilations

  • No Core tape (1982, No Core)
  • Why Are We Here? 7" (1983, No Core Records, "Poison Planet", "Indifferent", "Too Cool")
  • Empty Skulls tape (1984, Fartblossom Enterpises, "Poison Planet", "Eye for an Eye")
  • Cleanse the Bacteria LP (1985, Pusmort Records, "Kiss of Death")
  • Thrasher Skate Rock Vol. 3 LP (1986, Thrasher/High Speed Records, "What", "Not For Me", "Citizen")
  • Empty Skulls Vol. 2 LP (1986, Fartblossom Records, "Center of the World", "Eye for an Eye", "Negative Outlook")
  • Complete Death LP (1986, Death Records, "Loss for Words")
  • Life is a Joke Vol. 2 LP (1986, Weird System Records, "Eye for an Eye")
  • Flipside Vinyl Fanzine Vol. 3 LP (1987, Gasatanka Records, "Intervention")
  • Rat Music for Rat People 3 LP (1987, CD Presents Records, "Bound")
  • "Clerks" Soundtrack LP (1994, Columbia Records, "Big Problems")
  • Nativity In Black: A Tribute To Black Sabbath LP (1994, Columbia Records, "Lord of This World")
  • UMPF LP (1995, ???, "Clean My Wounds")
  • Duke Nukem: Music To Score By LP (1999, RED Interactive, "Land Of The Free Disease")
  • Xtreme Rock: Music That Changed Our Lives LP (1999, RED Distribution, "Land Of The Free Disease")
  • Motorcycle Mania 3 CD (2004, Artist Direct BMG, "Thirteen Angels")

Music videos

  • "Vote with a Bullet" (1992)
  • "Dance of the Dead" (1992)
  • "Albatross" (1994)
  • "Clean My Wounds" (1994)
  • "Drowning in a Daydream" (1996)
  • "Stonebreaker" (2005)

References

  1. ^ a b Huey, Steve. "Corrosion of Conformity > Biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifyxqw5ldte~T10. Retrieved on 2008-11-07. 
  2. ^ "MusicMight - Artists - Corrosion of Conformity". Rockdetector. http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/usa/raleigh/corrosion+of+conformity#bio. Retrieved on 2008-11-07. 

External links

v • d • e
Corrosion of Conformity
Pepper Keenan • Woody Weatherman • Mike Dean
Former members
Reed Mullin • Karl Agell • Phil Swisher • Simon Bob Sinister • Eric Eycke • Benji Shelton • Robert Stewart
Albums
EPs
Technocracy • Six Songs With Mike Singing
Singles
Albatross • Clean My Wounds • Drowning in a Daydream • Congratulations Song

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Corrosion of Conformity".  Read more

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