Courtesy photo The band is petitioning the House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner to support the Lane Evans bill, which would require mandatory counseling for combat veterans.

Drowning Pool, a Dallas-based heavy metal band famous for songs like “Bodies,” “Shame” and “Killin' Me,” seems like an unlikely candidate to lobby for peace and troop support.

But after performing for U.S. troops in Iraq, Kuwait and South Korea in 2005 and 2006, the band members couldn't stop thinking about the men and women they met. Early this summer, Drowning Pool launched its “This is For the Soldiers” campaign to drum up support for better mental health care for veterans.

The band will perform Saturday, Sept. 8, at Rosedale Park with $1 from each ticket sold going to the USO and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Nearly one-third of soldiers returning from Iraq suffer from mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, according to the IAVA.

“These numbers were so mind-boggling, we felt we had to do something about it,” guitarist C.J. Pierce said.

In early August, Drowning Pool released its third album, Full Circle, capping off a turbulent musical history — the band went through two lead singers (one quit, the other died from complications of a heart problem) on its first two albums. But the band agrees that singer number three, Ryan McCombs, is here to stay.

“The cool thing with Ryan is that the communication has never been better,” Pierce said.

Calling the album Full Circle holds special meaning for Drowning Pool. The band's first big hit, a 2001 ode to mosh pit kids called “Bodies,” was banned from radio stations after Sept. 11, when critics said lyrics “let the bodies hit the floor” referred to people jumping from the World Trade Center.

Now, military training videos use “Bodies,” and soldiers play the song in their Humvees when going out on missions, Pierce said.

“There we were on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 playing that song for the troops in Iraq,” Pierce said. “It completely turned our feeling about the song around. And that's kind of where Full Circle comes from.”

Drowning Pool hopes to visit one of San Antonio's military bases and veteran's hospitals.
“Anytime we've had a chance and there's a military base, we've gone and visited,” Pierce said.

Sarah Sumadi | 210SA