CROWBAR/DOWN's WINDSTEIN On METALLICA: 'They're Just Regular Guys Who Happen To Be Rich'

Metalgeek conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Kirk Windstein (CROWBAR, DOWN, KINGDOM OF SORROW) when CROWBAR played the Viper Room in Vienna, Austria on July 5, 2010. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metalgeek: CROWBAR have been touring through Europe since June 18th although you don't have a current record out — and the last one, "Life's Blood for the Downtrodden", is already two years old…

Kirk: We're going to record a new album when we get home! The songs are more or less ready, the riffs are all there, so we are very close to getting into the studio to record it. So with this European tour we're just trying to get the name back out there. We supported SEPULTURA back in April and that went really well, so we tried to do some festivals and gigs to let everybody know that we are still around and that there will be a new record.

Metalgeek: How do you distribute your energy between CROWBAR, KINGDOM OF SORROW and your third band, the heavy metal supergroup DOWN?

Kirk: You know, right now I'm in CROWBAR world, when I get home we'll play a few festivals with DOWN, so I'm in DOWN world. And when I come back from that we'll start recording the new CROWBAR record and then I'm in KINGDOM OF SORROW world for the Ozzfest… and then back to DOWN world for writing some new stuff! I'm always focused on what I'm doing at the moment, so there is no confusion (laughs)!

Metalgeek: So what can you tell us about the new CROWBAR record?

Kirk: Heavy (laughs)! What we have is really, really good, I think people will really enjoy it. When we come back to the States, we will put it together. I told the guys, "Let's take a few more weeks even if it means that we can't get it out this year" — because it is too important of a record for us to rush it. It's been this long since the last one so what the fuck … it has to be a really strong record so a couple more months is totally worth it.

Metalgeek: You supported METALLICA back in 2008. Did you get to hang around with them?

Kirk: Yeah, they hang out! I've met them a long time ago and James [Hetfield] has been a DOWN fan ever since the beginning. C.O.C. had supported METALLICA, so Pepper (Keenan, C.O.C. and DOWN guitarist) knows James well. After the show James would come to our dressing room, sometimes he even brought his wife and kids, but in this case he made sure that nobody was smoking anything… I think he's a good father, that's awesome. Lars [Ulrich] and Robert [Trujillo] would invite us to their dressing room after the show and James would also be there, but as he has been sober for a couple of years now he would leave after some time — and you gotta respect him for that. For being one of the biggest bands on the planet METALLICA are very cool guys, very down to earth. They're just regular guys who happen to be … rich. (laughs)

Metalgeek: What's the current status of DOWN?

Kirk: Well, we're doing some festivals and stuff and I talked to Rex (Brown, bassist) the other day and we'll meet up in two weeks and jam a little bit. Then we fly off to London to rehearse for the High Voltage festival and then we have a festival in Spain. We have a lot of ideas and riffs already so there'll definitely be a new DOWN record in the near future.

Read the entire interview from Metalgeek.