Speaking Rock is a regular stop for Drowning Pool

Let me start by saying that I’ve covered this band multiple times over the years here in the Borderland and all but once, they’ve always played at Speaking Rock Entertainment Center. Make no mistake, there’s a reason for this, because Speaking Rock is a Top-Drawer venue, Blue Ribbon all the way. The care for the National acts that perform here is second to none from logistics, hotels, catering, band trailers, outdoor venue, meet and greets and let’s not forget, all shows are free to the public. Hence bands like Drowning Pool and they’re not alone, that love to come to West Texas and play here at Speaking Rock.

This stop, which was last Saturday, the 14th, had to have been a prelude to the upcoming No Authority 2024 Fall Tour which kicks off on a 19 date tour on 27 September in Shreveport La and ends on 10 October in Hochatown, OK. In support will be A Killers Confession, Above Snakes and The Fail Safe. Check those listings, I recommend this highly. Straight outa Dallas in 96, CJ Pierce, Stevie Benton and Mike Luce have been the core of the band, but have been plagued over the years with a revolving door of vocalists, which started with their first one, Dave Williams, who I saw in 2001 at Ozzfest in St. Petersburg, Fla. They had just released their debut album Sinner which went platinum in 6 weeks, needless to say, they were a hot ticket back then, even though they played on the smaller stage outside, you know, up and coming bands, I believe I watched another up-and-coming band that played that same stage that day, Mudvayne, yeah, I had never heard of them either. So, back to Drowning Pool, 7 releases in 21 years starting with Sinner in 01 and the latest with Strike a Nerve in 22. As mentioned, the band has been though 4 frontmen, Dave Williams who died in 02, Jason Jones, Ryan McCombs and Jasen Moreno. Ryan who left the band go back to his original band Soil in 2011 has now returned as of March of 23 and it seems all is well in the land of Drowning Pool.

Now what are the odds of showing up to the venue, getting your pass and looking out into the concert area, before doors and seeing a white drum kit sitting out there, gee I wonder? As fate would have it, Drowning Pool was going to do a video shoot supporting their new single, Revolution. A crowd was positioned around the band and off we go, as the film crew out of Sacamento went to work, 4 times to be exact, I know the song by heart now, kidding aside, it was a real treat for sure and none other than Speaking Rock was chosen for this, to me this alone speaks volumes, thanks guys. Local support for the evening was To No Avail and I really like these guys, a lot. Just last week I shot a Chevelle and an Alice in Chains tribute, both bands fronted by Raymond Amparan and I must say he is one talented individual and as fate would have it, To No Avail is his band also, three times in two weeks I’ve seen this guy, no complaints yet. Included is Brandon Arpin doing the honors on percussion and the backbone of this outfit is Jason Sanford on Bass. Thier 90-minute set contains mainly covers from the Foo Fighters, Chevelle and AIC, they are worth giving a listen to, after a couple of weeks and I’m a fan and so will you be. Here’s a little fun fact, CJ Pierce, who is a huge Chevelle fan, actually came out of his trailer to side stage to listen to some Chevelle and recognized Brandon Arpin as he was the drummer for Murder FM, who toured with Drowning Pool back in 2012. Murder FM was a popular band then, Matt and J6 were the stand outs in that band for me, great guys. The boys hit the stage at 9:30 sharp to an audience of close to 5k with Sinner and never took their foot off the gas, they also did a cover, Rebel Yell by Billy Idol. The 9-song set list was over before you knew it and of course we always round things off with Bodies, definitely the crowd favorite, but this Post Grunge/ Nu Metal band that took the world by storm back in 2001 is showing no signs of letting up and I for one look forward to their return next year, high energy and headbanging fun at its best. Thank you so much and of course, we’ll see you at the next rock show.