COC wanted to be Black Sabbath

Corrosion Of Conformity guitarist Woody Weatherman says he wanted the band to be Black Sabbath when they were starting out.

But he says they played too fast to be compared to the metal icons.

He tells Metal Underground: “We were a bunch of hardcore kids. We loved Sabbath, Maiden, Scorpions, all that kind of shit, but we also loved Flag, Bad Brains.

“We were striving to be Black Sabbath, but we played everything 10 times faster. That was our gig back then. That was our thing.”

Pepper Keenan says their track Rednekkk which featured on their 1984 debut album Eye For An Eye was directly inspired by Ozzy Osbourne and co.

He says: “It’s like Symptom Of The Universe played a million miles an hour. The orthodox punk kids hated metal – It was oil and water with a lot of those punk kids.”

Weatherman adds: “It was vice versa, too. A lot of the metal kids hated punk rock, but then bands like Venom came out and of course there was Metallica that borrowed stuff from punk rock.

“Slayer is the same thing. Then punk rock bands were borrowing stuff from metal and then all of a sudden it turned into a brotherhood. Then there was the crossover thing that you’re talking about. It turned into that. People started giving it a name.”

Corrosion Of Conformity signed a deal with Nuclear Blast this year for their next album, which will be their first with Keenan since 2005’s In The Arms Of God. Earlier this month they said they wouldn’t be rushed into releasing it as they couldn’t “toss any fucking horses hit out there.”

They’re currently on tour across North America.

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.