STILL THE MEDICINE MAN: PHIL ANSELMO RELEASES NEW SINGLE WITH DOWN, BEGINS TO SHOP AUTOBIOGRAPHY, LAUNCHES HORROR FILM FESTIVAL

It’s a big, big morning for Phil Anselmo — we’ve just gotten word of not one, not two, but three big of pieces of news regarding the legendary vocalist. Get ’em all after the jump!!!

• Down are streaming a new song called “Witchtripper” over at Rolling Stone . If I’m not mistaken, it’s the band’s first new song since they released Down III: Over the Under in 2007, and, yes, it is fucking awesome — it’s heavy and druggy and groovy and everything you want from a Down song. It may have actually exceeded my expectations, and as I write this, I’m on my fourth listen already. Head bang ’til your fucking neck breaks right here. “Witchtripper” will appear on the band’s upcoming EP One, which drops September 18.
• Anselmo and MetalSucks contributor/best-selling true crime author/founder of In Cold Blog Corey Mitchell have enlisted literary super-agent Jeff Herman to shop the proposal for Anselmo’s autobiography, which will tentatively be titled Mouth For War: Pantera, Pain, & Pride – Heavy Metal Highs, Drugged Out Lows, & The Battle For My Life. Corey will co-author. Herman is himself a writer — he’s the man behind the publishing industry’s annual Bible, Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers Editors & Literary Agents. He’ll shop the Mouth for War proposal to all of the major publishing houses in the United States, as well as numerous foreign countries. The book is described as “a no-holds barred look inside of Philip’s brain, his history with Pantera, the loss of his best-friend, Dimebag Darrell, and an unflinching examination into the downward spiral  of pain and drug addiction that nearly cost him his life.” MetalSucks readers will remember that Anselmo originally announced his collaboration with Corey more than two years ago; during that time, he has earned Anselmo’s trust, and has now been granted carte blanche to seek out and interview anyone and everyone in Philip’s life with the intention of either corroborating Philip’s version of his story, to help fill in the blanks when things might be tougher to remember, or to contradict him when necessary. In other words: yes, you are going to read this when it comes out.
• And as if all that wasn’t enough for you, Anselmo and Corey have also formed a partnership to create and host the annual Housecore Horror Film & Music Festival. The inaugural fest will take place in Austin, Texas from October 24-27, 2013, and will feature dozens of horror films, true crime films, short films, and documentaries, PLUS a drive-in movie theater (which are pretty much the best things ever if you’ve never been to one), PLUS  tattoos by world famous tattoo artists, PLUS readings from horror authors, PLUS music from Anselmo, many of his side projects, and other artists on his Housecore Records roster (you can read my interview with Anselmo on all things Housecore here).  There’s also talk of a haunted house created by some of the same people who helped Anselmo make House of Shock, his infamous New Orleans haunted house. So I dunno about you but I just booked a trip to Austin for October of next year. While you wait impatiently, you can keep up-to-date on the Housecore Horror Film & Music Festival via their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

This is obviously all KILLER news. On behalf of everyone at MetalSucks, I’d also like to congratulate Corey, who is an awesome dude that deserves all this success.

We’ll continue to bring you updates on all three projects as they become available!

-AR