DOWN Guitarist On Upcoming Album: These Are 'Angry, Frustrated Songs'

January 30, 2007

DOWN guitarist Pepper Keenan recently spoke to Chris Harris of MTV.com about the making of the New Orleans group's third full-length album, tentatively titled "Down III". Producer Warren Riker (CROWBAR, SUBLIME) has already signed on to helm the effort, for which the band has composed 18 tracks so far.

"[Frontman] Phil's [Anselmo, ex-PANTERA] really good at [lyrics]," Keenan said. "Several songs address [Hurricane] Katrina's aftermath and how life changes on you, man. We've got a lot of ammunition for this one, I'll put it that way — a lot of things have not necessarily gone right for everybody these last couple of years. Everybody's just trying to stay positive. We're not writing Christian songs. These are still angry, frustrated songs."

One new track addresses the death of Anselmo's former PANTERA cohort, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, who was gunned down in 2004 while performing with DAMAGEPLAN in Columbus, Ohio. The guitarist was shot five times at point-blank range and died onstage.

"[Phil]'s got a lot of demons he needs to get off his chest," said Keenan. "This is gonna be a hard record for us to make because there's just a lot of emotional things going on. I think we'll all be better after we get this thing done. But Phil's got one beautiful song about Dime that really surprised me. When I heard it, I was pretty watery-eyed. Those [PANTERA days] were beautiful days for him. The whole song is pretty intense, and it's actually a heavy song. That's the wild thing about it — it's not a ballad or anything."

DOWN plans to begin recording the album February 15. They'll take about a month off, first to tour Canada with HEAVEN AND HELL, then to play four headlining gigs between March 30 (Worcester, Massachusetts) and April 2 (Washington, D.C.).

After the tour wraps, DOWN will return to the studio to track the remainder of "Down III", which the guitarist said could be out by summer's end. "Once we get in the studio, we shouldn't be more than six, seven weeks," he said. "We've already spent all the time [writing it] — we're just getting ready to bang the sh-- out."

Read the entire interview at MTV.com.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).