Kirk Windstein Wants Down to Return with New Music in 2024

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from the supergroup Down, but that doesn’t mean the act is dead. No, we haven’t gotten that cover album, nor have they finished that line of acoustic EPs they promised like 20 years ago or so at this point, but if Kirk Windstein gets his way, maybe we’ll get new music next year.

The news came while Windstein was speaking with Scott Penfold on Loaded Radio (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). During this little chat, Windstein discussed the future of Down and how schedules may finally align in such a way that the guys can get together and start working on stuff.

“I talked to Phil a pretty good bit, and we’re all gonna go out to his house and his property later this month [October]… He kind of does like a little Halloween thing or whatever. So we’re gonna do that.

“Phil’s attitude is kind of just like, ‘Look, fellas, I’m doing what I’m doing [with Pantera]. I love it. We’re killing it.’ And boy, are they. We [Crowbar] had the pleasure of playing with Pantera in Poland in early June. It was unbelievable. I mean, I laughed, I cried. My emotion was something else, because I was very tight with [late Pantera guitarist] Dimebag. It’s real — what they’re doing is real. But what Phil said, ‘Hey, man, in the big picture of things, dude, I really don’t have a band. I’m doing a Pantera reunion thing.’ And of course they’re gonna do it as long as they can. I mean, I don’t blame them. Who would? You do what you’ve gotta do. And they’re killing it and doing it heartfelt for the right reasons, and I love it.

“But like he said, ‘Look, you are the guys.’ And I talked to Pepper about two or three days ago. I think he’s got a few shows in early November with C.O.C. and he’s off for a while. Crowbar’s next gig is in Ireland in late February, so we’re off for a good bit. And when you have five guys — well, Phil, of course, will be kind of out of the picture for now but me, Pepper, Jimmy and Pat — in a room together, when you’ve got all these guys writing riffs off of each other… And that’s the way I like to write — I like to write spontaneously off the cuff. I don’t like to [go], ‘Okay, this is my new song. Boom. Here y’all go,’ or whatever. I like to write off the cuff, on the spot. I feel what the other guys are giving me vibe-wise and whatnot. And that, to me, is a winning formula. It really is.”

Now, it’s a little strange how Windstein lays it all out here, since my guy’s also going to be a bit busy with Eye Am, that other supergroup he’s in with members of Crowbar and Type O Negative. They’ve gotta be busy working on songs for their debut release, so it’s curious how we’ll also get new Down along the way.

That being said, Windstein is a hell of a musician and a busy dude in metal, so if anyone can swing it, he can. When asked about the possibility of new Down tunes coming out next year, Kirk admitted that it was still up in the air.

“I hope. To be honest, we talked about doing like a cover-song EP. But we threw around like a hundred songs and we can’t pick and choose any of them. So, to me, it’s easier to just go, ‘Hey, guys, let’s get in the fucking room and just write some shit.’ Come out with six songs and do an EP. So I hope that that’s what happens.

“To be honest, I don’t know. And this is not from Phil or [Pantera bassist] Rex [Brown] or anything. They can do [the Pantera thing] forever. Like as far as festivals in South America, Europe and whatnot, they can — they can always go do a weekend or two in the summer here and there between Zakk [Wylde, Pantera guitarist] and Charlie’s [Benante, drums] [schedules]… whatever they’re up to with [their respective] bands. So I hope that they do. I hope they do it forever.

“When we got Down together in 1991, that was the first demo tape. We wrote ‘Bury Me In Smoke’, ‘Temptation’s Wings’ and ‘Losing All’ in a day. We recorded it. Phil sang. We mixed it off on a four-track or some shit, and that was it. Phil flew back to Texas and Pepper flew back to North Carolina with C.O.C. So when we got together, we always joked, but it’s no longer a joke that this is the kind of band we can grow old with. It doesn’t matter what we look like. We can be fat. We can be bald. We’re not attracting 18-year-old girls. If they wanna be a fan of the music, great. If you’re a [Taylor Swift] fan, hey, more power to you. It’s all good. Whatever. But that was not our intention. And it’s kind of ironic or whatever that it’s kind of come full circle where we see ourselves going, ‘Hey, guys, we’re closing in on mid-50s to 60s. This is a band that we can actually do and kill it and then retire with it maybe.’

“So that’s what I personally believe is going to happen, and I hope that in the near future, that’s what happens and we’re able to do more Down in, say, ’24, ’25, whatever. But there’s no time limit on anything. I mean, Phil’s doing what he’s doing and God bless him for that. And I’m so proud of him. I really am.”