Interview with Philip Anselmo DOWN IV, Poems, and Witch Movies
September 17, 2012
Philip Anselmo Talks “Down IV Part 1”, Poems, and Witch Movies and Looks Back on “The Great Southern Trendkill”
via Artist Direct
Once again, the underground rises within Down’s music.
On Down IV Part I, the group conjures six songs of spellbinding metallic mastery. “Levitation” and “Open Coffins” haunt with infectious choruses and dizzying leads, while “Witchtripper” takes flight on one of the year’s most potent, powerful, and pummeling riffs. This is everything a Down record should be, and it’s everything a rock record should be…
In this exclusive interview with ARTISTdirect.com editor in chief Rick Florino, fronman Philip Anselmo talks Down IV Part I, writing, witch movies, and he even looks back on Pantera’s The Great Southern Trendkill.
Be sure to get the album on September 18, 2012. Here’s an iTunes link!
Watch an exclusive video tour of Down’s lair by Anselmo here!
How much did the initial poem for “Misfortune Teller” differ from the song?
It’s a lot different. I guess it was more of a kneejerk reaction to what was going on around the time of Hurricane Katrina. It’s been a long time. It was always a title that stuck with me. I applied it when the proper time came.
Do you have a stash of notebooks with ideas and poems?
Yeah, I’ve got tons of notebooks. I make all kinds of notes. Honestly, I wish I was a little more diligent. Sometimes, I wish I carried around one of those tiny pocket recorders and documented all kinds of stuff that pops in the brain. There are a lot of sources of past creative material that I can hinge together with more modern ideas. I’ve got a lot of material.
As a writer, do you get deeper into the language as you progress?
Well, there are a lot of times where you’re in song format, which is different from poetry format for me. The poetry I like does not normally rhyme, nor does it have to. For me, it’s the way certain words sit next to each other that make a little bit of magic. I’m a wordsmith. I like words. I like the least expected word sometimes or an adjective that might describe something a little more seedy or ugly as opposed to something more traditional. I do like and concentrate on the flow of words. Sometimes, a word can pop into your head and you apply it in a sentence. At first glance, it might not make complete sense. If you step away from it and come back to it, there could be a whole different meaning than the first time you eyeballed it. To me, it always comes down to that very last glimpse or chance of finding that one word to complete a line or hook in a song—or even something within that imagery.
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