“I don’t know what I’d call Teenage Time Killers, but I do know it’s a supergroup of fucking badass musicians and singers,” Corrosion of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin told Rolling Stone in 2015 of his all-star punk-meets-metal side project. Their first album, Greatest Hits Vol. 1, came out that year.
Now, in the wake of Mullin’s death last month, his core collaborators in Teenage Time Killers — guitarist and co-songwriter Mick Murphy, also of My Ruin, and Foo Fighters studio engineer John Lousteau — have released a series of pro-shot videos from the band’s only live show. That blowout 2015 gig, held at L.A.’s Fonda Theatre, featured guest appearances from many of the singers who appeared on the album, including Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor and Clutch’s Neil Fallon. The supporting cast includes Mullin, Murphy and a revolving cast of bassists, with Lousteau handling drums on the handful of songs when Mullin took his turn at the mic.
“Teenage Time Killers was Reed’s brainchild and John Lousteau and I had a blast helping him make it happen,” Murphy said in a statement accompanying the never-before-seen videos. “I’ll be forever proud of the music that came out of that whole project. Having so many legendary artists from metal and punk genres collaborate with us by adding their lyrics and vocal talents to our songs has made the album timeless and our gig at the Fonda was an awesome night I’m sure those who were there will never forget. Thankful and humbled to be even a small part of Reed’s incredible musical legacy. He will be missed by many. R.I.P.”
Highlights of the show include the Taylor-sung “Egobomb,” a swinging rocker that erupts into a hardcore tirade midway through; “Crowned by the Light of the Sun,” where Fallon’s mighty bellow tops off a monstrous, doomy groove; and “Hung Out to Dry,” an anti-conformist diatribe featuring Blythe’s caustic growl. Also look out for Mullin’s charged-up vocals on tracks like “Exploder,” and an appearance from actual teenager Trenton Rogers — of L.A. band Chaotic Justice — on a cover of the band’s namesake song, a 1981 track by U.K. punk eccentrics Rudimentary Peni.
Other tracks feature underground luminaries like Bl’ast’s Clifford Dinsmore, Scream’s Pete Stahl, Prong’s Tommy Victor and Municipal Waste’s Tony Foresta, along with Tony Agell, who fronted Corrosion of Conformity for 1991’s Blind. (Taking the stage, Dinsmore summed up the mood of the night by saying, “What a fuckin’ ultimate collection of fuckin’ miscreants and fuckin’ weirdos.”) The videos of the show were edited by Murphy and filmed by Jill and Gary Bandfield of Tour Bus Live.
Reed Mullin died in January at age 53. “He could cop one hundred different styles and reference them in his own way,” his Corrosion of Conformity bandmates wrote on Facebook. “Everything from Earl Hudson and Clive Burr to Neil Peart (R.I.P.) to Mitch Mitchell and Bill Ward. From John Bonham to Phil Taylor and Nicko McBrain. All the while he was creating his own thing, odd times and polyrhythms played nonchalantly, powerful, simple, deliberate sections, all of the possibilities were in fact possible but utilized thoughtfully, in the proper place, for the proper effect, as the song demanded. Musically speaking, what more could you ask for?”
Mullin appeared on COC’s final album, 2018’s No Cross No Crown, but had not been of a part of the band’s touring lineup at the time of his death. Corrosion of Conformity are currently on tour in Australia.
