Corrosion Of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin says a John Cleese poem inspired him to put together supergroup Teenage Time Killers.
Mullin saw the Monty Python star’s poem recited on Keith Olbermann’s talk show and immediately knew he had to set it to music. He says the words reminded him of former Discharge singer Kelvin ‘Cal’ Morris.
The track ended up on the Teenage Time Killers’ star-studded debut album, with vocals performed by Dead Kennedys icon Jello Biafra.
The COC sticksman says the album was only ever meant to be a five-track EP recorded at Dave Grohl’s studio – but it grew to become one of the most ambitious supergroup projects of all time.
Mullin tells TeamRock Radio: “John Cleese wrote this great poem that was read on a TV show in the US, called the Keith Olbermann show. It’s called Ode To Sean Hannity. Sean Hannity is a very conservative, uptight, talking head Fox News kind of guy who has a TV show.
“When he was reading it, I thought, ‘I gotta put music to this. This sounds like Cal from Discharge and these lyrics sound like something from Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing.’”
Despite the number of top artists involved on the album, including Corey Taylor, Dave Grohl, Randy Blythe and many more, Mullin says the process couldn’t have been easier.
He adds: “Corey’s in one of the biggest fucking bands in the world. But we all got this shit together and did it without anyone saying, ‘Let me talk to my attorney.’ There was never any discussion of money. It was all because we wanted to do it and wrote some fucking bad-ass tunes. It was fortuitous.”
Mullin also hinted COC could tour with Clutch later this year but gave no further information.
Corrosion Of Conformity played the Encore Stage at Download on Friday and will perform seven more dates in Europe this summer before setting sail with Motorhead on their Motorboat Cruise in September:
Jun 14: Dublin Academy, Ireland
Jun 15: Belfast Limelight, UK
Jun 27: Athens Fuzz Live Music Club, Greece
Jun 29: Basel Konzertfabrik Z7 Bleibt, Switzerland
Jul 01: Madrid Sala Arena, Spain
Jul 02: Barcelona Razzmatazz, Spain
Jul 04: Roskilde Festival, Denmark
Sep 28: Motorboat Cruise, FL, US
