Back in 1985 I was in the U.S. Army stationed down at Fort Bragg, NC. I made some friends who were also into extreme music there and we would drive up to Raleigh to hang out and see some bands on weekends. The people I was hanging out with had come to town many times before. On my first visit I met some locals in the scene. I asked one guy who were the cool local bands. He said the BAD CHECKS and CORROSION OF CONFORMITY.
In 1987 when I got out of the military I decided to make Raleigh, NC my new home. I was originally from up North but hey I wanted to start a new life and here it was. I think from 1986 to 1988 I must have seen CORROSION OF CONFORMITY at least two dozen times. I partied at their fuckin house. Every time a well known Punk or Hardcore act played the Brewery (a local club) it would be COC opening up.
I loved their early stuff especially the Animosity LP which I will always call a classic. They put this town on the map because they were huge in the underground hardcore scene. Then they were cited as one of the first "crossover" bands. I was never keen on that genre term. Anyways I was never a fan of their music after that era. But in 2012 when the band got back into the three piece line-up and put out the self titled album. I thought that release was fuckin fantastic. But they went back to the four piece thing. I was like well best of luck to ya.
So I was at work tonight and 11:15 a guy I work with comes in the kitchen and asks me if I know a band called CORROSION OF CONFORMITY. I was like well yeah they're the biggest band from Raleigh. So he tells me that their drummer died. And I was like Reed's dead, no fucking way. The guy went on to tell me, while reading off of his phone, yeah CORROSION OF CONFORMITY drummer Reed Mullin dies at 53. My last words to him were "that sucks".
Honestly I was never a friend to Reed Mullin. Basically it was like the local scene familiarity. You know one another but you're not close. I'd bump into him at record stores, shows and maybe at the convenience store. And always it was "Hey Reed how ya doing?" I thought he was always a nice guy. I never heard a bad word said about him. I still don't know the details of his passing. I read one article which did reveal some things that I don't believe are worth talking about.
Reed Mullin was an amazing talented musician who helped create over thirty years of great fuckin extreme music. I'm sure whenever he'd see photos of young new bands with one of the members sporting a COC shirt he got a kick out of it. There's a lot of modern bands who cite CORROSION OF CONFORMITY as an influence. And from someone like me who writes about this music, yeah it's true.
So as I was standing on my back deck a few minutes ago having a smoke. I thought that it was very quiet in town tonight. We the people (musicians and fans) of the Raleigh music scene lost one of our own. So it's quiet. Carry on Reed, you'll be missed but never forgotten.
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