Radio Metal has just published an interview of CORROSION OF CONFORMITY drummer Reed Mullin, and DOWN/ex-Corrosion Of Confirmity guitarist Pepper Keenan, talking Keenan's possible return in the band.

This new Corrosion Of Conformity album is the first without Pepper Keenan in seventeen years. The guitarist has admittedly been very busy with Down lately. When we interviewed him a few weeks ago for the promotion of Down’s latest EP, Keenan also mentioned his “weird bluesy acoustic stuff” project – and we also need to take into account his family, which grew

recently.

In short, he’s a very busy musician, but that didn’t stop him from auditioning for METALLICA in 2003: “That would’ve been an interesting situation. Because at the time I was still doing Corrosion Of Conformity and Down at the same time, so I would’ve assumed – had I accepted it – I would’ve just been the bass player for Metallica, which I don’t know if I could’ve handled that [laughs]. Because I have lots of ideas and things. But, you know, I’ve never had to cross that bridge, so it worked out for the best”.

With such a busy schedule, Corrosion Of Conformity couldn’t reasonably afford to wait any longer: “We were ready to go, so we just

took off”, says Mullin. “I mean, he has to wait for Phil’s shit to get together, and we were like ‘Fuck we want to go’, and Dave was like ‘When are you going to my place to record for free?’, so we were like ‘For free?? Yeah!’”

When all’s said and done, what does the drummer think of Corrosion Of Conformity’s current trio situation? “I just like to play with these guys”, he says. “If somebody’s in addition then that’s great, I liked Pepper too but I like these guys better”.

He corrects himself quickly: “Wait, that’s wrong: I like playing with these guys first of all and if Pepper is coming that’s great, and I guess he will. He calls us all the time.”

This likely return is confirmed by Pepper Keenan himself: “Yes, we’re waiting to get it all organized, it’s something that I would love to do. We kind of left that thing unfinished. Once Reed came back in the band, I was excited about getting back to it. But since I’ve been so busy, it would’ve been wrong for me to hold those guys back, so they continued on. But yeah, we’re definitely talking about doing something in the future. I’m excited about it.”.

And exactly what could we expect? Will the band continue in the rawer, slightly more hardcore direction taken with the latest album, or go back to where they left off, seven years ago?

Keenen says: “The last album I did with them was called In The Arms Of God, which was one of my favorite records. So if I hook back up with those guys, I’d like to continue on that particular kind of path. But yeah, I think they did a great job”.

The full interview is available at this location.

Corrosion Of Conformity's video for the track 'Feed On', featured on their new Megalodon EP, can be seen below:

Megalodon EP tracklisting:

'Feed On'

'Priest Brains'

'The Megalodon'

'Strong Medicine Too Late'

'The Vulture'

COC tour dates include:

December

12 - The Crocodile - Seattle, WA (with YOB, Saviours)
13 - Dante’s – Portland, OR (with YOB, Saviours)
14 - Oak Street Speakeasy – Eugene, OR (with YOB, Saviours)
15 - Harlow’s – Sacramento, CA (with YOB, Saviours)
16 - Uptown Theater – Oakland,CA (with Saviours)
18 - Catalyst - Santa Cruz,CA (with High on Fire, Goatwhore, LoPan)
19 - The Brickhouse - San Diego, CA (with High on Fire, Goatwhore, LoPan )
21 - The Observatory - Santa Ana, CA (with High on Fire, Goatwhore, LoPan)