Weedeater‘s “Dixie” Dave Collins grew up in North Carolina and has always been involved in the underbelly of that state’s grimy music scene. It’s no surprise then, that when pressed for his favourite album of all time, Collins quickly chooses North Carolina’s favourite crossover hardcore sons: Corrosion of Conformity. And while mentions that he savours all eras of COC (a band who have covered a lot of musical ground in their careers, but always settled on loud and heavy), it’s the early-era COC that he digs the most, as is evident by his own stoner metal and sludge output in Weedeater.
Collins: My favourite album of all time is probably still Animosity by Corrosion of Conformity. That album is one of the main reasons I started playing bass guitar. When I was a kid I was definitely a punk rock/hardcore kid and I was full into Corrosion of Conformity, them being from North Carolina as well, and just for several reasons. But that album is monumental as far as the kind of stuff that we do, and I think it’s one of the best, if not the best, album written that I’ve ever heard. It is art, therefore it’s in the ear of the beer-holder, I guess. But that record stands out as the best record of all time.
It’s got to be up near the top ten for me. It’s weird because when I was a kid I heard the Eye for an Eye and the old stuff with Mike Dean singing, and then I also heard Technocracy, and knew they were a great band, but until I heard Animosity I didn’t really realize how good they were.
Yeah, all of those records you just named are great, and everything COC does is great. I almost consider them three different bands at this point; the early stuff, then the Blind era, and then the stuff with Pepper after that, with Deliverance and all of that stuff, which is all great, but it just sounds like different bands to me. Three great bands, but different bands, and Animosity is the be all, end all for me.
Have you tried to emulate that production sound over the years? Animosity has a real cool production sound to it.
We haven’t really attempted to emulate it, but I’m sure some of it bleeds out, and you could probably tell if you listen closely that I dug that record so much. But we did not attempt to emulate it; it’s just sort of built in to our DNA after constantly listening to it growing up, skateboarding and listening to stuff like that.
It’s definitely a skate album, for sure. The first time I heard them was on the Thrasher Skate Rock compilation.
Yeah, I had all of those Skate Rock comps! They were great.
Any other thoughts on Animosity?
Well, if someone by any chance missed it along the way, you should definitely check it out. It’s a truly awesome record.
Corrosion of Conformity‘s Animosity was released in 1985 on Death/Metal Blade Records.
Weedeater‘s Goliathan is out May 18 on Season of Mist.
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