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An
Interview with C.O.C. Guitarist Woody Weatherman
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| WW:
Why the lengthy stretch between this album and the last album? COC: That’s a good question. The thing that happened was we were out on the road for the In the Arms of God album and we kind of got sidetracked with the hurricane in New Orleans and all that. We wound up having to cancel a bunch of dates we had and just never got back to it, you know? Then Pepper got busy with the Down stuff and those guys down in New Orleans. They were geographically set up to get busy and we were up in Raliegh. Mike and I were working on tunes and whatnot but, you know, you blink your eyes a couple of times and three or four years have gone by. Then you’re like, whoa!!! We’ve got to get busy here! WW: Is Pepper still in C.O.C.? And just taking a hiatus? COC: It’s definitely on the table and the door is always open. We’re good buddies with him and talk pretty often and whatnot. I think that in time, once we get this tour cycle out of the way and he gets done with his Down recording…you know they’re working on new material right now. But the door’s open, we’re all good friends, and I think it could happen at some point…do some more four piece stuff. We like both. We like it all. As long as we can play music we’re down with it. WW: Although originally starting out as a punk-thrash band, you guys have transcended that genre into metal and even southern rock. Was this a natural progression? COC: Well from Day 1, we probably had all the same influences then that we carry with us to this day. It’s just a matter of how we interpreted it at that given time. There’s always a bunch of different monikers and labels thrown on the music we do, like crossover. But you got to remember that at that time, the division between punk and metal was pretty decisive. They didn’t really come together at too many shows. Metalheads weren’t really welcome at punk rock shows and vice versa. WW: Yeah, you guys are often credited with being like the founding fathers of the crossover between punk and metal. 
COC: Well we just kind of bridged that gap. We’d find ourselves
getting thrown on a bill with all these metal bands and we were not
metal. We love metal, but we kind of stuck out like a sore thumb.
Or at least at the time we seemed to. We didn’t have the garb
on and we didn’t wear leather. But somehow we kind of bridged
that gap a little bit. But it didn’t take long for people to
realize that it doesn’t really matter if people call it punk
rock or speed metal or whatever…as long as it rocks.WW: Who or what first inspired you to pick up a guitar and start playing? COC: Well, for me personally, well my Dad’s a musician so he turned me on at a pretty early age. I kind of caught the bug from him. He plays everything from guitar to wood instruments to woodwinds. So he’s got instruments of all types lying around the house: violins, fiddles, trumpets…he’s got it all! I grew up with it. He bought me a guitar at a pretty early age and I just kind of stuck with it. WW: How do you spend your time when you’re not on the road? COC: I keep a farm up here and live kind of in the foothills in Virginia. I raise a lot of cows and other animals, donkeys and whatnot. I have a three year old son so that keeps me busy. There’s no shortage of stuff to do here on the farm, man. WW: What do you think makes North Carolina such a hotbed for musicians? COC: Well, there are a lot of bands from here, and from down South in general. When you get right down to it you could say that about so many places though. I don’t know. I think especially in this part of the country, Appalachia and whatnot, musical roots go way back. Back to bluegrass and mountain music and back to when the Irish came over with the fiddle tunes 2 and 3 hundred years ago. I think it just kind of stuck as part of the culture down South. WW: You guys have had a number of label and member changes. What do you think is vital to a band’s longevity? COC: The ability to hang onto the fans. That’s what enables you to go on a tour and tour successfully. We’ve taken a number of 3, 4, 5 year breaks and we’re lucky that after taking a break that long that we still have people that will come out and see us, and have a successful tour. That and us learning how to deal with each other. Hitting the road ruins bands a lot of times. They might get along great at home and have a good time writing albums and stuff, but they hit the road and have to be around each other for a month or two and things can change. We learned a long time ago how to do that. WW: You guys will be hitting the road in support of the new album with Valient Thorr, Torche, and A Storm of Light in early March. I think the lineup is a really good match for you. Are you looking forward to it? COC: I really am. What’s cool about this is that the four bands are really diverse. Anyone that comes to see the show and watches all four bands definitely won’t hear the same thing four times in a row, but it still goes together well…which is cool. C.O.C. has always enjoyed creating those kind of bills where we go on the road with a pretty diverse group yet it all seems to mesh. WW: What would you like audiences to leave a COC show with? COC: A t-shirt! The new album! Haha! Nah, just the feeling that they had a good time and we put on a good show. We want to put on a good show and want fans to have a good time so they come see us again the next time. WW: Final words of wisdom to your die-hard fans? COC: Thank ya’ll so much for hanging in there and sticking with us through all the years and all the styles we like to experiment with. We really appreciate everybody still being there. It’s really important to us. WW: Well I guess I’ll be seeing you guys during SXSW. COC: Great! We’re going to be there! I’ll see you there Wendy! |
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WW:
So a new 8th studio album, Corrosion of Conformity, is slated for
release Feb. 28th with the original Animosity era lineup. Was it
good getting back to the original three? 
