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The stuff that doesn't make it to YouTube.
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What's up everybody — Beau here.
I got to sit down with Pepper Keenan, Woody Weatherman, and Bobby Landgraf from Corrosion of Conformity on May 10th before their show at The Roxy in Lakewood, Ohio. In-person, all three of them at the table. This was a big one for me. Thirty years of fandom led to that moment, and it's an experience I won't forget. That interview is Episode 33 of The Sonic Road Podcast, and I went deep with them on the new album, the studio process, and a lot more. You can check it out wherever you listen to the show on Friday May 15th. You guys are getting the scoop before the episode is released. That’s how much I love you. Ha. Anyway, here we go….
I want to go further here and share some of my own thoughts on the album, the experience of being there, and why the way this band made this record matters right now.
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Good God / Baad Man
I'm just gonna say it — this album is a new masterpiece. Pepper said something in the interview that stuck with me. He said a guy told him it sounds like a greatest hits record, but it's all new songs. I started thinking about that, and he's right. If you heard this thing 20 years from now without knowing when it came out, you'd swear it was a greatest hits collection. Every era of C.O.C. shows up on it. It fits seamlessly with the older material, and it's quickly becoming my favorite in their catalog. I don't say that lightly about a band I've followed since I was a teenager.
This is their eleventh studio album. First one in eight years. First without Reed Mullin, who passed away. First one without bassist Mike Dean in a long time, who stepped away again. First with Bobby Landgraf on bass, the second album with Stanton Moore on drums in an official capacity, and first with Warren Riker producing after longtime producer John Custer had to bow out due to severe tinnitus. That's a lot of change for any band. Most would have fallen apart. These guys made the best record of their career.