Kirk Windstein says that he is not opposed to making new music with DOWN
Last month, Windstein confirmed that he will be part of DOWN 's upcoming 2020 shows to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the group's debut album, "NOLA" .
A founding member of DOWN , Windstein left the band in 2013 in order to focus on CROWBAR and his family life. He was replaced by Bobby Landgraf , DOWN 's former guitar tech who was previously in GAHDZILLA MOTOR COMPANY , a 1990s outfit also featuring Jason McMaster ( DANGEROUS TOYS , WATCHTOWER ), and HONKY .
Asked by Christina Rowatt of Australia's The Void With Christina if there is any chance of DOWN working on new material in the near future, Windstein said (see video below): "Some special shows, or something, for the 25th anniversary of 'NOLA' , we're talking about all of that. But as far as doing a record and all of that, I don't know. It's not in my hands.
"In all honesty, you see how busy everyone is — me with CROWBAR , Pepper [ Keenan ] with C.O.C. , Phil [ Anselmo ] with his 20 bands," he continued. "I mean, if they were up for doing it and it didn't… My big thing, and I know Pepper feels the same way, and I'm sure Phil feels the same way as well, if it doesn't interfere with anything to do with…
"See, DOWN started out as a side project, and that's kind of where it would be again, where everyone's got their main things going on and DOWN would be done in the spare time."
This past December, Windstein told Revolver that he will definitely rejoin his DOWN bandmates to celebrate "NOLA" 's quarter-century milestone.
"I'm in, 100 percent," Windstein said. "The quote from Pepper was, 'If you ain't doing it, I ain't doing it.' Phil , Pepper and Jimmy [ Bower , DOWN drummer and EYEHATEGOD guitarist] are my three of my oldest, closest friends, so this is a no-brainer for me."
When asked if this means he's back in DOWN for good, Windstein replied: "As far as I know, I'm back in the band. Bobby Landgraf did a fantastic job, and he's a very good friend of mine. But once again, DOWN is back to what it started out as, which is a 100 percent complete side project. Everyone's other bands are the priority and that's that. But it's been six and a half years since I jammed with those guys, so I'm excited. It's gonna be fun."
DOWN has several shows scheduled in 2020 so far, including appearances at the Graspop Metal Meeting festival in Dessel, Belgium, and at the Copenhell festival in Copenhagen, Denmark.
DOWN was forced to cancel a number of shows in 2016 after Anselmo was filmed giving a Nazi salute and shouting "white power" at a California concert.
Keenan later offered his take on what transpired, telling Metal Wani that DOWN was "far from done" after the controversial incident. "You know, DOWN didn't do anything wrong," he said. "I mean, we were just guilty by association on that one. That was Phil 's mistake. I've spoken to Phil and told him to get his shit together, and he is. He knows he made a mistake and was being stupid."
He continued: "I've known the guy [most of my life]. He's not what that whole thing framed him to be at all. But, yeah, there's definitely a future for DOWN . I wouldn't throw all the shit we've done, beautiful music we've done on one stupid moment that was caught on camera, and he apologized for. [So we are] far from done."
DOWN 's last live appearance took place in August 2016 at the Psycho Las Vegas festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.
