In a new interview with Scott Penfold on a charged radio, DOWN guitarist Kirk Windstein talks about the possibility that he and his colleagues will write and record new music in the near future. The supergroup, which also includes PANTHER singer Philip Anselmo, COMPLIANCE CORROSION guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan (on guitar),EYEHATEGOD guitarist Jimmy Bower (drums) and bassist Pat Brudershasn’t released anything since the arrival of “Down IV – Part Two” EP in May 2014 Windsteinwho also plays guitar and sings LOMsaid (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I talked with Phil pretty good part and we will all go to his house and property later this month [October]… He kind of likes something for Halloween or whatever. So we’re going to do it.
“PhilThe attitude of is kind of like, “Look, guys, I do what I do [with PANTERA]. Love it. We kill him. And boy, are they. We [CROWBAR] had the pleasure of playing with PANTHER in Poland at the beginning of June. It was amazing. I mean, I laughed, I cried. My emotion was different because I was very tight [late PANTERA guitarist] Dimebag. It’s real – what they do is real. But what Phil said, “Hey man, in the big picture, dude, I don’t really have a band. i do a PANTHER something to collect. And of course they will do it while they can. I mean, I don’t blame them. Who would? You do what you have to do. And they’re killing it and doing it from the heart for the right reasons and I love it. But as he said, “Look, you’re the boys.” And I talked to Pepper about two or three days ago. I think he has a couple of gigs in early November with COC and he leaves for a while. LOMThe next gig is in Ireland at the end of February, so we’re close. And when you have five boys – well, Philof course, it will be out of the picture for now, but I, Pepper, Jimmy and a pat — in a room together with all these guys writing riffs to each other… And that’s the way I like to write — I like to write spontaneously straight up. I do not like [go], “Okay, this is my new song. Boom. Here you all are, or whatever. I like to write off the cuff, on the spot. I feel what the other guys are giving me in terms of mood and whatnot. And that’s a winning formula for me. Really.”
Asked by Penfold if he says there may be something new DOWN music coming out in 2024, Kirk replied, “I hope so. To be honest, we’ve talked about doing like an EP of cover songs. But we threw about a hundred songs and we can’t choose any of them. So it’s easier for me to just go, “Hey guys, let’s go in the fucking room and just write shit.” Come out with six songs and make an EP. So I hope that happens.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” he continued. “And that’s not from Phil or [PANTERA bassist] Rex [Brown] or something else. They can do [the PANTERA thing] forever. As for festivals in South America, Europe and whatnot, they can – they can always go do a weekend or two in the summer here and there between Zak [Wylde, PANTERA guitarist] and Charlie‘c [Benante, drums] [schedules]… whatever they come up with [their respective] groups. So I hope they do. I hope they do it forever.
“When we got DOWN together in 1991, it was the first demo tape,” Windstein added. “We wrote “Bury Me In Smoke”, “Wings of Temptation” and “Losing All” in one day. We recorded it. Phil was singing. We mixed it down to four tracks or something and that was it. Phil flew back to Texas and Pepper flew back to North Carolina with COC So when we got together we always joked, but it’s not a joke anymore that this is the band we can grow old with. It doesn’t matter what we look like. We can be fat. We can be bald. We do not attract 18 year old girls. If they want to be music fans, great. If you are a [Taylor Swift] fan hey more power to you. Everything is fine. Anyway. But that wasn’t our intention. And it’s kind of ironic or whatever that it’s kind of full circle where we see ourselves going, “Hey guys, we’re approaching the mid-50s to the 60s. It’s a group that we can actually do and kill it and then retire with it maybe.’ This is what I personally believe will happen and I hope that in the near future it will happen and we can do more DOWN in, say, ’24, ’25, whatever. But there’s no time limit on anything. I mean, Phildoes what he does and God bless him for it. And I’m so proud of him. I really am.”
DOWN made several rare live appearances in the spring and summer of 2022. The band kicked off a three-date US concert series in May 2022 at Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida. After playing in Atlanta and Dallas right after Rockville, DOWN took a three-week break before regrouping for three European festival appearances in June. Appeared last year Blue Ridge Rock Festival followed in September 2022 in Alton, Virginia.
In August 2021 DOWN took part in a very special live and virtual experience. NOLA Town Throwdown took place at the Fillmore in New Orleans, Louisiana and included fans attending the show in person as well as watching it live from the comfort of their living room.
In August 2020 DOWN celebrated the 25th anniversary of “NOLA” with a special live event. Duplicated The Quarter Century Throwdownthe high-production, multi-camera event took place using cutting-edge streaming technology to create a one-of-a-kind virtual concert experience.
Founding member of DOWN, Windstein left the band in 2013 to focus on LOM and his family life. He was replaced by Bobby Landgraf, DOWNa former guitar technician at who was previously at GAHDZILLA MOTOR COMPANY90s clothing also included Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS, WATCHTOWER), and HONKY.
Windstein announced his return to DOWN in 2019, with the band confirming a number of festival appearances for 2020 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of “NOLA”all of which were later canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world.
Before going live in August 2020. DOWNThe last live live performance took place in August 2016 at Psycho Las Vegas festival in Las Vegas.
“Down IV – Part Two” sold around 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release in May 2014 to debut at number 23 on The Billboard 200 chart.
The band’s previous EP, “Down IV Part I – The Purple EP”opened with around 12,000 units in September 2012 to land at number 35.
“Down IV – Part Two” is recorded in Lair of Nodferatu — Anselmothe home studio of — and produced by Michael Thompson. It was released via Down Records/ADA music.