Stevie Benton

The band was named after the 1975 film The Drowning Pool.

Since its formation, the band has consisted of guitarist C.J. Pierce, bassist Stevie Benton, and drummer Mike Luce, as well as a revolving cast of vocalists.

Drowning Pool is an American rock band formed in Dallas, Texas, in 1996.

Drowning Pool formed in Dallas, Texas, in 1996.

Guitarist C.J. Pierce and drummer Mike Luce formed Drowning Pool after relocating from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Dallas.

There, they found and recruited bassist Stevie Benton.

For a few years they stuck to performing as an instrumental trio, but this all changed in 1999 with the arrival of vocalist Dave Williams.

After recording a demo, Drowning Pool hooked up with Sevendust which got Drowning Pool in touch with Hed PE and Kittie.

After touring with these bands, Drowning Pool got their demos enough radio play to get signed by Wind-up Records.

The band made music with producer Jay Baumgardner.

Drowning Pool rose to fame with their debut album and played at the Ozzfest in 2001.

Their 2001 debut album Sinner was certified platinum within six weeks.

After the release of their debut album, Sinner (2001), original vocalist Dave Williams was found dead on August 14, 2002, from heart disease.

A number of songs from the album were featured at various WWE events that year, and three tracks would be included on the soundtrack for the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge in early 2002.

On August 14 that year, Dave Williams was found dead inside his tour bus.

He died from an undiagnosed heart condition, now known to be cardiomyopathy.

When asked if the band had any unreleased songs, according to a 2002 Blabbermouth article, drummer Mike Luce replied that "only 3-4 songs were done, including one called "Heroes," which is a tribute to dead rock musicians such as Layne Staley. I don't know if we will ever release them."

Jason Jones, who replaced Williams in 2003, recorded one album, Desensitized (2004), but left in 2005 due to musical differences.

In 2003, Jason 'Gong' Jones replaced Williams as Drowning Pool's vocalist and the band released the album Desensitized in 2004.

The bands recorded version of "Rise Up", was used as the theme song for WWE SmackDown from September 30, 2004 – September 26, 2008.

The band signed a new deal with Eleven Seven Music and also announced a new management company, Tenth Street Entertainment.

Despite the success of the album's lead single, "Step Up," the album was not nearly as successful as Sinner, and it was publicly announced on June 14, 2005, that Jones had departed from the band, due to "irreconcilable differences".

The band announced that their replacement singer would be formally announced at Ozzfest in Dallas, where the band did a one-off performance on the main stage.

On July 20, 2005, the website SMNNews revealed that Ryan McCombs, then former singer of SOiL, was the new vocalist.

The band initially wanted McCombs to join Drowning Pool as the replacement of Dave Williams, nearly two years prior.

In spring of 2006, the band announced that they had parted ways with Wind-up Records.

In October 2006, a new song "No More" was announced to be released on the Saw III soundtrack, their first song (besides a re-recorded version of "Rise Up") with McCombs.

Ryan McCombs of Chicago-based band SOiL, later replaced Jones and released two albums, Full Circle (2007) and Drowning Pool (2010), making it the first time Drowning Pool had not switched singers after just one album.

The band's third album, Full Circle, was released on August 7, 2007.

Two songs on the album were produced by Funny Farm Records, owned by Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx and former Beautiful Creatures guitarist DJ Ashba.

The remaining songs were produced by Ben Schigel at the Ohio-based Spider Studios.

The band then toured with Saliva in North America and also Sick Puppies and Seether in support of the album.

Later in the year, work on a fourth album was announced.

On March 3, 2009, the band released a live album, Loudest Common Denominator, which featured acoustic versions of "Shame" and "37 Stitches" from Full Circle.

The band finished recording their self-titled album with producer Kato Khandwala at House of Loud in New Jersey.

It was the first studio album in the band's history not to feature a change of vocalist from the preceding album.

However, McCombs left the band in 2011 to rejoin SOiL.

Jasen Moreno was announced as McCombs' replacement in 2012, and the band has recorded three albums with him: Resilience (2013), Hellelujah (2016) and Strike a Nerve (2022).

This makes Moreno the band's first lead singer to perform on three albums.

The band continued performing with Moreno until McCombs returned in March 2023.