Corrosion of Conformity guitarist and vocalist Pepper Keenan opened up about the 2020 passing of the band’s co-founding drummer Reed Mullin. He revealed that Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl personally stepped in to help Mullin before his death, in an interview shared on The Garza Podcast.
Keenan reflected on the efforts made to support Mullin during his struggles. He noted that Grohl went as far as funding rehabilitation out of his own pocket.
“Well, his health was not well. And we tried everything. [We] didn’t know. He just couldn’t get it together, man. And we tried everything. And [former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman] Dave Grohl offered help — Dave Grohl had helped him with rehab, paid for it out of his own pocket, which was very kind. [I’ll] never forget that. And, yeah, I didn’t know,” Keenan said.
Keenan then shifted to remembering Mullin at his best, celebrating his legacy as a pioneering force in the crossover metal scene.
“Now me and Woody look back at things and we have nothing but wonderful stories about Reed. ‘Cause when he was at the top of his game, he was a f*cking animal on the drums. You couldn’t touch him in terms of creativity and moving that type of music forward. He’s one of the O.G.s of the crossover shit back in the day, so he truly had helped invent something,” he continued.
Keenan concluded with a candid reflection on the unpredictability of life and loss.
“Yeah. It’s just weird shit. You can’t plan anything. You can’t map it out. You’d be crazy to even try. You never f*cking know what’s gonna happen,” he said.
Keenan’s words paint a picture of a man who was deeply loved by those around him, and whose decline was met not with indifference, but with genuine, personal effort from some of rock’s most prominent figures. The story of Mullin’s final years is one of struggle, loyalty, and ultimately, heartbreak.
Reed Mullin passed away on January 27, 2020, at the age of 53. No official cause of death was publicly disclosed by the band, though his long-documented battles with alcohol and health issues had been well known within the rock community for years.
Mullin’s health problems had been visible long before his passing. In June 2016, he suffered an alcohol-related seizure prior to a show in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and was subsequently removed from the tour. Bassist Mike Dean addressed the situation directly, stating that the band would “not enable Reed to continue killing himself on our watch.” It was a painful but necessary moment that underscored just how serious his condition had become.
Despite those struggles, Mullin’s place in heavy music history remains unshakeable. He co-founded Corrosion of Conformity in 1982 alongside Mike Dean and guitarist Woody Weatherman, originally as a hardcore punk act out of Raleigh, North Carolina. The band went on to become one of the defining forces in crossover thrash, a genre that bridged the worlds of hardcore and heavy metal. Mullin’s drumming was central to that identity.
Grohl’s involvement in Mullin’s rehabilitation was not that of a distant admirer, but of someone with a genuine personal connection. His decision to fund rehab out of his own pocket reflected a direct, human commitment to a fellow musician he clearly cared about. It stands as one of the more quietly remarkable acts of solidarity in recent rock history — one that Keenan says he will never forget.
