Corrosion of Conformity singer-guitarist Pepper Keenan has revealed that Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl paid for Reed Mullin’s rehab prior to the C.O.C. drummer’s passing at 53 years old in 2020.
Mullin died in January 2020 after a myriad of health issues, including an alcohol-related seizure in 2016. As Keenan disclosed during an appearance on Suicide Silence guitarist Chris Garza’s podcast, Grohl made a valiant effort to help Mullin during his difficult times.
“Well, his health was not well,” said Keenan (as transcribed by Blabbermouth) when asked whether he knew C.O.C.’s 2018 album No Cross No Crown would be their last with Mullin. “And we tried everything. [We] didn’t know. He just couldn’t get it together, man. And we tried everything. And 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. And, yeah, I didn’t know.”
Grohl and Mullin collaborated as core members of the all-star punk-metal supergroup Teenage Time Killers, which released an album in 2015 featuring contributions from a bevy of notable musicians.
Keenan went on to say, “Now me and [C.O.C. guitarist] Woody [Weatherman] look back at things and we have nothing but wonderful stories about Reed. ‘Cause when he was at the top of his game, he was a fucking animal on the drums. You couldn’t touch him in terms of creativity and moving that type of music forward. He’s one of the OGs of the crossover shit back in the day, so he truly had helped invent something.”
When Garza further asked if the band knew the extent of Mullin’s health issues, Keenan replied, “It’s a hard thing to get a grip on things like that if you’re not in it. It’s hard to say… I do think if he’d had gotten through all this stuff and could’ve cleaned everything up, and sometimes it takes that. And then if he was here right now, I think the band would be tearing shit up. I think he would come full circle and he would’ve been one of the people not scared to go backwards either, get back into it. But who knows? You can’t go there.”
Corrosion of Conformity have gone through a few drummers since Mullin’s passing. Stanton Moore played drums on the band’s most recent album, Good God / Baad Man, which was released in April of this year. However, C.O.C.’s current touring lineup features Nick Shabatura behind the kit.
C.O.C. just completed a North American summer tour, and are currently playing shows in Europe. They’ll play the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California, on October 3rd, before heading out on a tour of Australia in January 2027.
Meanwhile, fans can catch Dave Grohl on the road as Foo Fighters kick off a North American stadium tour on Tuesday night, August 4th, featuring Queens of the Stone Age as support. Tickets are available here, with 20% off your first purchase of $200 or more using the code CONSEQUENCE20.
Watch Pepper Keenan’s appearance on The Garza Podcast below.
