IS REX BROWN OUT OF DOWN? DON’T ASK PEPPER KEENAN!
Rex Brown is not participating in Down’s current tour, and this interview seems to suggest that he’s never coming back to the band. And so, in an effort to get some clarification, The Delaware County Daily Times, your leading source for rock and metal news, decided to ask Down’s Pepper Keenan outright whether or not Brown is still Down. His answer?
“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.”
Well, that’s reassuring!
Keenan clarifies… kinda sorta:
“[Brown has] 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.”
First of all — what are “things he needs to deal with?” Of course, one’s mind goes right to “drugs and/or booze,” but, really, Keenan could be referencing, uh… uh… yeah I have no idea. Has Brown been chronically tardy to band practice as of late and the other members of Down are fed up? I really can’t imagine that would be an issue. So I’m sticking with “drugs and/or booze” until someone tells me otherwise.
Second of all — what does it mean for Down fans if Brown is out of the band? I love Brown as a performer and a bassist, but, really, when you get right down (no pun intended) to it… I’m not sure it means anything, other than Phil Anselmo might possibly now be on non-speaking terms with both living members of Pantera. It’s important to remember that Brown didn’t even play on NOLA, Down’s debut (and, with all due respect to their subsequent releases, which are terrific, still my favorite of their albums). And of the twenty-eight songs he recorded with the group over the course of two albums, he’s only credited with have co-written four… three of which appeared on 2002’s Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow.
My point being, yeah, it would be kind of a bummer if Brown is out of the group, but it’s not the end of the world. I don’t really know Bruders — like most people, I almost never have any idea who is in Crowbar at any given moment besides Kirk Windstein — but there’s no way the Down dudes would work with him if he wasn’t a top-notch player.
So however this shakes out… Down is gonna be a-okay.
-AR
[via Metal Insider]
