This metalcore band made the worst album they could on purpose to get out of a bad record deal
“Papa Roach asked us to go on tour, but our label would have to rent the bus – they didn’t pony up for it. That was our fucking big shot!” says Simon Brody of Drowningman.
Image: Aldara Zarraoa / Redferns via Getty
Having your album branded as one of the worst to ever be made is a label every artist hopes they never find themselves facing. But New England metalcore band Drowningman once made the worst possible album they could create on purpose.
They released their debut album Busy Signal At The Suicide Hotline in 1998, and a label signing followed suit. But after releasing their second record, 2000’s Rock And Roll Killing Machine, the band became unhappy with how things were being run in their camp.
Drowningman had one more album left to make to fulfil their contract, so they headed to the studio with the goal of making the most horrific, unhinged record they could think of. And of course, they titled it Best Record Ever.
“Papa Roach asked us to go on tour, but our label would have to rent the bus – they didn’t pony up for it. That was our fucking big shot!” Explains vocalist Simon Brody on the New Scene podcast (via Metal Hammer).
“[Kurt Ballou of Converge] was a very willing participant,” he remembers. “On a few tracks, he played some saxophone. He soloed over some 12-bar blues. Kurt conceptualised a song called Guitar Center Duel: It was somebody playing [Aerosmith’s] Sweet Emotion in one speaker, badly, and somebody playing [Led Zeppelin’s] Stairway To Heaven, badly, in the other speaker.”
Stephen Brodsky of Cave In also caught wind of the project via Ballou, and came to help. His contribution came in the form of a terrible cover of the David Bowie classic Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, but in his rendition he decided to change the lyrics to be all about Brody. This track was then given the name of Simon Brody And The Pill Poppers From Mars.
Brody later shares during the podcast episode that the label of course were “not excited” about their monstrous creation, “They knew what was coming. They did not care for it,” he says.
Check out more from Drowningman below: