DOWN Members Discuss The New EP
June 8, 2012
Via vtmag
Hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, Down – the supergroup consisting of members of Pantera, Eyehategod, Crowbar and Corrosion of Conformity – recently hit the road for roughly two weeks of dates prior to releasing their much anticipated EP. Zero Tolerance magazine was fortunate enough to speak with drummer Jimmy Bower and new bassist Pat Bruders during their stop in Houston, Texas, in what turned out to be Bruders’ first European interview as a member of Down. “Your first European interview is taking place in Houston, TX of all places. Did that just blow your mind?” I ask, to which Bruders laughed and replied “Yeah it did!”
It’s been nearly 5 years since Down’s last album, 2007’s “Down III: Over the Under.” What fans can expect from the band over the next couple of years is not just a new album, but a series of four new EPs, each one concentrating on different aspects of what Down can offer musically. So why the different approach to releasing new music? “We just wanted to do something different. They’re all going to have kind of a concept; even the artwork altogether makes kind of a concept,” says Bower. “This record is kinda old-school NOLA [Down’s first album – ed.], the third one is gonna be an acoustic record, and the fourth one, total doom ya know. We’ve been talking about an acoustic record forever, but never got around to it.” Given the passage of time since Down has put out any new material, Down fans are anxiously awaiting the arrival of this new EP. “I think people are really going to like it,” continues Bower. “It does have more of a jam room vibe. It’s been a long time since we’ve put a record out; since 2007. So it’s definitely time, and it sounds killer. We’re ready for it to come out; we worked hard on it.”
Surely with all the time since the Down III, the band couldn’t have hit the studio cold to write the whole album from scratch. “We pretty much went in as a band with some songs written, then went through them and picked out stuff,” explains Bruders. “Then he [pointing at Bower] and Phil had some ideas and riffs. But we all, as a whole, went in as a band and ripped it out.”
2011 saw a lineup change for the band with the departure of bassist Rex Brown. Brown’s departure paved the way for Bruders, also of Crowbar and Outlaw Order fame, to join the band. “He plays his ass off on it!” exclaimed Bower of the new EP. “He brought a new life into the band, and a new style on bass, and it’s fuckin’ killer man. It made total sense to get Pat.”
