HED p.e. links with Drowning Pool for co-headlining tour

Sporting a new lineup, HED p.e. hits the road this month for a joint outing with fellow rockers Drowning Pool.

The tour is set to launch in San Diego on Tuesday (11/23), and dates are set through late December. The itinerary is shown below.

The outing marks HED p.e.'s return to the road after finishing work on its next studio set, "Only in Amerika," which is scheduled for release on Feb. 22. The set will be the band's first for KOCH Records, with whom the group signed earlier this year after parting ways with Jive Records--a move frontman Jahred is apparently pleased with.

"I'm excited because I have the artistic freedom to do and say whatever the f--- I want," he said in a message posted at the band's website. "The upcoming release is going to be all me because I don't have any dude in a suit and tie cracking the whip, telling me what to say and how to sing, s--- like that ... I'm amped!"

Joining Jahred and fellow original members Product (turntables/samples) and Mark Young (bass) on the road are new members Mark "Moke" Bistany (drums), formerly of Otep, and Jackson Lee Benge (guitar).

Though the album's release date is still months away, several tracks from "Only in Amerika" are streaming at HED p.e.'s website.

Drowning Pool, meanwhile, is backing its April release, "Desensitized," samples from which are streaming at the band's website. The album is the follow-up to the group's 2001 debut, "Sinner," and is the band's first with singer Jason "Gong" Jones.

In 2002, original frontman David Williams was found dead on the band's tour bus during the group's stint on that year's Ozzfest tour. The singer died of a heart defect. It was with Williams behind the mic that the group broke through on the music scene with the hit "Bodies."

The surviving band members settled on Jones last year after listening to hundreds of demos and auditioning a number of singers.