DOWN guitarist Kirk Windstein has confirmed once again that the band are currently in the studio working on new music and has shared a few photos online
Earlier today (January, 13), Kirk Windstein posted a group of photos of DOWN‘s studio, as well as a new band pic to his social media pages. Along with the images, Kirk included the caption: “Happy Saturday…an early start to hopefully a very creative and productive day of Riffing and Jamming!!!
#downriffs“.
The guitarist also posted a new band photo of the group soon after, which simply carried the caption, “DOWN 2024!!!”.
These new posts come a day after Kirk Windstein posted the following update to his social media: “An amazing day of writing and recording!!! Good night…a lot of work to do tomorrow with Down!!!
#downriffs“
Drummer Jimmy Bower also posted a few photos to his social media, displaying his drum kit as well as the band’s studio. All of these posts can be seen below.
DOWN, which features vocalist Philip H. Anselmo (PANTERA, SCOUR) alongside guitarists Pepper Keenan (CORROSION OF CONFORMITY) and Kirk Windstein (CROWBAR), drummer Jimmy Bower (EYEHATEGOD) and bassist Pat Bruders (ex-GOATWHORE), has seemingly provided insights into the creative process for an upcoming release via Kirk, who also posted a pic of himself with Keenan in the studio in late December, captioning it: “So…we kinda wrote 2 DOWN songs today!!!”
This past October, Kirk Windstein spoke to Scott Penfold on The Loaded Radio Podcast about the possibility of him and his DOWN bandmates writing and recording new music in the not-too-distant future. Kirk Windstein, who also plays guitar and sings in CROWBAR, said: “I talked to Phil a pretty good bit… Phil‘s attitude is kind of just like, ‘Look, fellas, I’m doing what I’m doing [with PANTERA]. I love it. We’re killing it.’ And boy, are they. We [CROWBAR] had the pleasure of playing with PANTERA in Poland in early June. It was unbelievable. I mean, I laughed, I cried.
“My emotion was something else, because I was very tight with [late PANTERA guitarist] Dimebag. It’s real — what they’re doing is real. But what Phil said, ‘Hey, man, in the big picture of things, dude, I really don’t have a band. I’m doing a PANTERA reunion thing.’ And of course they’re gonna do it as long as they can. I mean, I don’t blame them. Who would? You do what you’ve gotta do. And they’re killing it and doing it heartfelt for the right reasons, and I love it.
“But like he said, ‘Look, you are the guys.’ And I talked to Pepper Keenan about two or three days ago. I think he’s got a few shows in early November with C.O.C. and he’s off for a while. CROWBAR‘s next gig is in Ireland in late February, so we’re off for a good bit.
“And when you have five guys — well, Phil, of course, will be kind of out of the picture for now but me, Pepper, Jimmy and Pat — in a room together, when you’ve got all these guys writing riffs off of each other… And that’s the way I like to write — I like to write spontaneously off the cuff. I don’t like to [go], ‘Okay, this is my new song. Boom. Here y’all go,’ or whatever. I like to write off the cuff, on the spot. I feel what the other guys are giving me vibe-wise and whatnot. And that, to me, is a winning formula. It really is.”
Asked by Penfold if he is saying that there could possibly be some new DOWN music coming out in 2024, Kirk replied: “I hope. To be honest, we talked about doing like a cover-song EP. But we threw around like a hundred songs and we can’t pick and choose any of them. So, to me, it’s easier to just go, ‘Hey, guys, let’s get in the fucking room and just write some shit.’ Come out with six songs and do an EP. So I hope that that’s what happens.
“To be honest, I don’t know,” he continued. “And this is not from Phil or [PANTERA bassist] Rex [Brown] or anything. They can do [the PANTERA thing] forever. Like as far as 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 Zakk [Wylde, PANTERA guitarist] and Charlie‘s [Benante, drums] [schedules]… whatever they’re up to with [their respective] bands. So I hope that they do. I hope they do it forever.
“When we got DOWN together in 1991, that was the first demo tape,” Windstein added. “We wrote ‘Bury Me In Smoke’, ‘Temptation’s Wings’ and ‘Losing All’ in a day. We recorded it. Phil sang. We mixed it off on a four-track or some shit, and that was it. Phil flew back to Texas and Pepper flew back to North Carolina with C.O.C. So when we got together, we always joked, but it’s no longer a joke that this is the kind of band we can grow old with.
“It doesn’t matter what we look like. We can be fat. We can be bald. We’re not attracting 18-year-old girls. If they wanna be a fan of the music, great. If you’re a [Taylor Swift] fan, hey, more power to you. It’s all good. Whatever. But that was not our intention. And it’s kind of ironic or whatever that it’s kind of come full circle where we see ourselves going, ‘Hey, guys, we’re closing in on mid-50s to 60s. This is a band that we can actually do and kill it and then retire with it maybe.’
“So that’s what I personally believe is going to happen, and I hope that in the near future, that’s what happens and we’re able to do more DOWN in, say, ’24, ’25, whatever. But there’s no time limit on anything. I mean, Phil‘s doing what he’s doing and God bless him for that. And I’m so proud of him. I really am.”
In the spring and summer of 2022, DOWN made a rare series of live appearances. The band kicked off a three-date U.S. tour in May 2022 at the Welcome To Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida. Following performances in Atlanta and Dallas immediately after Rockville, DOWN took a three-week hiatus before reuniting for three European festival shows in June. Their presence was also felt at last year’s Blue Ridge Rock Festival in September 2022 in Alton, Virginia.
August 2021 saw DOWN participating in a unique in-person live and virtual event titled “NOLA Town Throwdown.” Held at the Fillmore in New Orleans, Louisiana, fans had the option to attend the show in person or enjoy it in real time from the comfort of their homes.
To mark the 25th anniversary of “NOLA” in August 2020, DOWN hosted a special livestreamed event called “The Quarter Century Throwdown.” This high-production, multi-camera spectacle utilized cutting-edge streaming technology, delivering a distinctive virtual concert experience.
