Band Line Up 2012

Corrosion of Conformity

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

Histor

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. 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). 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. 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. The song Clean My Wounds was also featured
in the anime movie Tekken: The Motion Picture.

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 Mot?rhead 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 singing 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 Newsted.

Members

Lineups

(1982)Benji Shelton ? vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bassReed Mullin - drums
(1983-1984)Eric Eycke ? vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsReed Mullin ? drums
(1984-1986)Woody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsReed Mullin ? drums
(1986-1987)Simon Bob Sinister ? vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsReed Mullin ? drums
(1987-1988)Simon Bob Sinister ? vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarReed Mullin ? drums
(1988-1989)

(C.O.C. on hiatus)
(1989-1993)Karl Agell ? vocalsPepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarPhil Swisher ? bass, vocalsReed Mullin ? drums
(1993-2001)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsReed Mullin ? drums
(2001-2002)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsJimmy Bower ? drums
(2002-2003)

(C.O.C. on hiatus)
(2003-2004)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocals
(2004-2005)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsStanton Moore ? drums
(2005-2007)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsJason 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

(C.O.C. on hiatus)

(1989-1993)Karl Agell ? vocalsPepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarPhil Swisher ? bass, vocalsReed Mullin ? drums
(1993-2001)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsReed Mullin ? drums
(2001-2002)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsJimmy Bower ? drums
(2002-2003)

(C.O.C. on hiatus)
(2003-2004)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocals
(2004-2005)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsStanton Moore ? drums
(2005-2007)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsJason 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

(C.O.C. on hiatus)

(2003-2004)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocals
(2004-2005)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsStanton Moore ? drums
(2005-2007)Pepper Keenan ? guitar, vocalsWoody Weatherman ? guitarMike Dean ? bass, vocalsJason 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

(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