DOWN Gave Bassist REX BROWN 'An Ultimatum,' Says Guitarist PEPPER KEENAN

Michael Christopher of The Delaware County Daily Times' "Rock Music Menu" recently conducted an interview with DOWN guitarist Pepper Keenan. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On the next DOWN studio release:

"We're kinda goin' backwards now. The first record came out a long time ago, so we're feeling that vibe and heading that way; real simple: stripped down and to the point.

"I think we're going to try and do four EPs, and they're all going to be connected together with artwork. This will allow us to have a frontload, heavy as [expletive] EP, and maybe the second one could showcase some of the acoustic stuff we've been saving for awhile, and then continuing the four of them with a completely different style, and obviously the fourth one would be another doom laden heavy one."

On DOWN bassist Rex Brown, who is not currently touring with the band:

"Rex is not gonna be with us [on the road for the upcoming shows]. He's got things he needs to deal with, and we gave him an ultimatum and he's trying to work things out. We've got Pat [Bruders] from CROWBAR playing bass, and he's ass-kickin' in the same way. He plays with his fingers — which is really cool; he's got the whole Geezer Butler thing going on."

On whether Rex Brown was still considered a part of DOWN:

"I don't know what to really say on that; he's not out of the band, but he's not playing with us live."

On his other band CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, which has been touring as a three-piece without Pepper:

"I'm waiting to hear when we're gonna get together and jam. We're supposed to play some festivals in Europe [this summer] and I'm supposed to sing on a couple of songs. Right now all I know is they're doing the three-piece thing which I haven't heard much of or what the deal is, but we've talked, just not much. Eventually they want to get together, and I want to, too, and get back to the 'Deliverance'-era stuff and put together a new record. I'm just waitin' for them to call."

Read the entire interview from The Delaware County Daily Times.

Keenan accidentally hit DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo in the head with his guitar during the group's headlining performance last Thursday night (April 28) at the Best Buy Theater in New York City. The incident took place in the middle of the third song of the band's set, "Lifer", which Anselmo dedicated to his late PANTERA bandmate "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott.

Video footage of DOWN performing "Lifer" during the New York City show can be viewed below.