Mullin thrilled with Keenan return to COC

Corrosion Of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin says he’s “enjoying the hell out of” Pepper Keenan’s return to the band.

Mullin says he, bassist Mike Dean and guitarist Woody Weatherman hand’t played some of the band’s older material for years. But when Keenan returned to rehearsals, things couldn’t have gone smoother.

He tells MetalRecusants: “It was automatic, right off the bat. Pepper flew up from New Orleans. He’d been sitting at home listening to stuff and whatever, but the three of us — Mike, Woody and I — hadn’t practiced any of the tunes.

“And it was just, like, ‘Bam’. We toured so much before, too, and had played together for so long that the ‘lizard brain’ had started clicking in.

“But also, Mike Dean, Woody and I had been playing together since we were little kids. We kind of learned how to play music together.

“I’m enjoying the hell out of it, and I think we all are, and I think the audiences are too.”

Keenan played his first gig with COC since 2006 in Manchester this month as part of their European tour. He had last worked with COC in 2010, although he never officially left the band. They made two albums without him in the interim.

COC said this month that the chances of recording a new record with Keenan are better than ever.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.