CORROSION OF CONFORMITY guitarist and vocalist Pepper Keenan has revealed that Dave Grohl personally covered the cost of rehab treatment for the band's co-founding drummer, Reed Mullin, before Mullin's death in 2020.
Keenan discussed Mullin's final years in a new interview with The Garza Podcast, hosted by SUICIDE SILENCE guitarist Chris Garza. Mullin co-founded CORROSION OF CONFORMITY in 1982 as a hardcore punk outfit alongside bassist Mike Dean and guitarist Woody Weatherman. In the four years before his death, health issues kept him off the road for a number of shows, including the aftermath of an alcohol-related seizure he suffered in June 2016.
Asked whether he knew at the time that 2018's "No Cross No Crown" would end up being Mullin's last album with the band, Keenan said: "No. Well, his health was not well. And we tried everything. [We] didn't know. He just couldn't get it together, man. And we tried everything." He then credited Grohl, the former NIRVANA drummer and current FOO FIGHTERS frontman, with quietly stepping in: "Dave Grohl offered help — Dave Grohl had helped him with rehab, paid for it out of his own pocket, which was very kind. [I'll] never forget that."
Keenan said he and Weatherman now choose to remember the good times. "We have nothing but wonderful stories about Reed," he said. "'Cause when he was at the top of his game, he was a f***ing animal on the drums. You couldn't touch him in terms of creativity... He's one of the O.G.s of the crossover scene back in the day, so he truly had helped invent something."
Asked whether Mullin grasped how serious his health had become, Keenan reflected: "It's a hard thing to get a grip on things like that if you're not in it... I do think if he'd gotten through all this stuff and could've cleaned everything up... if he was here right now, I think the band would be tearing it up... But who knows? You can't go there."
Weatherman, who grew up with Mullin, told the Classic Metal Show in May that the band was on tour in Australia when Mullin died, and that the loss "wasn't entirely unexpected" given his ongoing health issues, but still "really tough." Weatherman added that while recording CORROSION OF CONFORMITY's new album with drummer Stanton Moore, the band repeatedly felt Mullin's presence in the sessions.
That album, "Good God / Baad Man," arrived in April as a 14-song double LP via Nuclear Blast, produced by Warren Riker. In March, the band announced Nick Shabatura, recommended by ANTHRAX/PANTERA drummer Charlie Benante, as its new full-time drummer.