If there is one thing that Philip Anselmo has never ever done is bite his tongue. The controversial multifaceted ex-PANTERA and current DOWN frontman, recently spoke with The Boston Phoenix about the current state of Heavy Music and of course about the NEW DOWN album ''Down IV Part I – The Purple EP''. A few excerpts from the interview follow:
About producing bands and releasing records via Housecore Records (Anselmo's label):
"I love it. I love everything from the camaraderie, the studio work, pulling songs together, helping out — I hate mixing, but I love the end result," Anselmo says, checking in by phone from his home in the swamps of Louisiana. "It is important to me, it really is. I'm very interested in what the thinking bands are doing out there. I love the underground; I'm always looking for anything that is a breath of fresh air because it makes me feel young again and gives me that 'Holy shit, I just picked up Slayer's Hell Awaits record again.' It gives me that feeling, and it's probably good for the circulation."
The NEW DOWN:
"I put no pressure on myself for this Down record," Anselmo says. "I don't think any of us did. I did what we did when we recorded the first demo. I am never the guy that will sit back and say, 'Oh, we gotta break new ground!' and have all these gigantic expectations. I'm the biggest fucking pessimist in the entire world. Even when I was in Pantera, I didn't expect a fucking thing." More info about the NEW DOWN here!
PANTERA's legacy:
"We were very strong, in our strongest, strongest bodies," he says. "The injuries had not yet mounted in my skeleton, and . . . gosh man, we were so physical back then onstage. When we had recorded [1990's] Cowboys from Hell, we were playing a lot of those songs live in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, and I know that this has been said before, but the last song we wrote for Cowboys was 'Primal Concrete Sledge,' and if there was any song that there was a possible bridge or a sneak peek at what Vulgar Display of Power would be, it's definitely that song.""I miss the days, I long for the days, sometimes, and I miss Dimebag very, very much," Anselmo says. "There's a plethora of emotions, and to dwell on the past doesn't feel healthy for me and when I think about those days. It's not like I try to think of all the good stuff; it kind of comes naturally, especially Vulgar Display of Power and that whole touring cycle and the change in the audience and their perception of us. When we toured Cowboys from Hell, there was a very lukewarm if not awful response. But when you back it up with a record like Vulgar Display, that's when the tide did turn — rapidly, to say the fucking least. There were some extremely educational, memorable, cherishable times in my life.
"We used to fuck with all kinds of songs. Obviously we did that ridiculous version of 'Cat Scratch Fever' for some movie soundtrack [Detroit Rock City], that dickface Ted Nugent. Shit dude, we would kick into Kansas and all kinds of shit. What you said does ring a bell; I think it was something like 'Outta Love Again,' I wonder where that shit is. And here's another one for ya: I never did sing on the motherfucker, that old Phil Collins [he starts singing 'I Don't Care Anymore'], we did a version of that, and it's somewhere. But there really probably isn't any original material left, but cover tunes and shit like that. If there was the proper amount of digging, we could find all kinds of shit."
The current state of Heavy Music:
"Heavy Metal has always gotten the meathead rap, and you know, hey, honestly I haven't fucking helped. I've made more bad decisions than great decisions in my fucking life, and I regret a lot of things I've said onstage, a lot of actions I've done onstage, and a lot of trouble that I've got into, because all it does is bring bad publicity to heavy metal. It kind of makes us, heavy metallers, a sovereign state in a lot of ways. We might not get as much big-time praise from mainstream media, but let them call us meatheads, let them think we're ignorant, and let them keep writing awful music — and I'll keep calling it awful and we'll just be even at that."
Don't forget that Philip Anselmo will be speaking the truth with DOWN this fall on a North American tour, followed by a
European trek. The band will be touring in support of their forthcoming
NEW EP (details below). The following dates have been confirmed so
far, with more to be added soon:
U.S. Tour Dates (*) with Saint Vitus, Warbeast and HAARP:
09/18: Fort Worth, TX – Ridglea Theater
09/19: Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom
09/21: Sauget, IL – Pop’s
09/22: Chicago, IL – House Of Blues
09/23: Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Ballroom
09/25: Boston, MA – House Of Blues
09/26: Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
09/28: New York, NY – Best Buy Theater
09/29: Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
10/02: Charlotte, NC – Tremont Music Hall
European Tour Dates (*):
10/19: Manchester, UK – O2 Academy
10/20: Birmingham, UK – HMV Institute
10/21: London, UK – Roundhouse
10/23: Antwerp, Belgium – Trix Hall
10/24: Paris, France – Bataclan
10/25: Holland, Amsterdam – Melkweg
10/27: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg – Den Atelier
*: More tour dates to be added
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