Jimmy Bower of DOWN

Here we have an interview I did with Jimmy Bower the drummer for the band I consider legend of the "real" underground called DOWN. This Louisiana based band set a standard for a newer form of rock that you just really never heard before. It has been many years since that second and now flying the flag for American rock is this kick ass band.

I start this interview letting him know the history of my past writings and the FM gig of today. A tiny intro you could say.

Happy to be a part of it.

Do you guy have a web site for the band?

http://www.down-nola.com

Do you guys plan on doing more shows for this record?

Yea! I think you can expect a lot more touring out of Down and for this record for sure. Opposed to the last one. I think we had a lot more problem's with the scheduling and everything. And on this one everybody made a point to commit to tour a good bit.

Are the other bands that you guys are in on hold at the moment? (PANTERA, COC, EYEHATEGOD, CROWBAR)

Just kinda on break. It worked out well. The timing was good to do it. I'm playing with COC now and finished up eight months with them and Pantera just finished and Crowbar finished as well. The timing was perfect. The only thing that I'm presently doing right now is Eyehategod.

Are you still with Century Media (Eyehategod that is)?

No we are not. We don’t have any label right now. We are finally free and trying to figure out our next move.

Maybe a few more singles on your own?

Definitely! Yea. We were definitely thinking about doing that for sure.

Are you in COC now. Is Reed really hurting?

Reed has quit. I'm trying to help them out. A big dream would be to write with those guys. They were one of my big influences growing up. To be playing in the band is really cool.

Animosity was a really cool record. That is when I really got into them. I would never think that Reed would leave? I thought he hurt his back? And jammed with this band Gyromantic's???

He has jammed with this band Brown (that is what he said, right? FMH) , his other band. I guess he got tired of it.

Will this record be more sludgy? More grooving? More fat? More heavy?

Its definitely heavy It's heavy in a different way. Its in a way a lot like the first record and at the same time a lot different than the first record. If you remember on the first record. We did these mellow pieces. On this record we kinda experimented a little more with the songs and stuff like that. The good thing about this record is that it’s a FUCKING ALBUM! You cant just go track three's cool and track six is cool cause you cant say that. It really flows like a record. I don't know if you heard it yet?

Any songs you'd like to talk about or what you can tell us about the last few years?

Big Todd Our bass player quit playing music. We were in a position to get a bass player and boom in walks Rex. It was perfect! We couldn't ask for a better bass player. We started jamming with him in 98. He added much bigger dimension to the band… We had a bunch of material then. Everybody writes on four track players. So we wrote from then to the present. Then we went in and everybody put their ideas on the table. There was a lot jamming going on. A lot of songs were written out of stuff from 98. Like "Perfection Of The Seed" (It is on the version I have of it called "The Seed")is a hard, hard hitter and is a real Down song. There are more mellow songs. Some have a solitude feel and even a Zeppelin feel. Mellow Zeppelin. When I mean mellow I don't mean Bon Jovi.

Or take the tissues out!

Right. We have a song that’s an acoustic piece and Phil just singing over it as opposed to samples or rapping. That track should be "Where I'm Going" Or "Wars" with orchestration to boot! Fucking awesome acoustic track coming from DOWN II.

Did you guys write around the tragedies?

Um, no. Phil writes all the lyrics. That would actually be a good question for him. I'm sure some might be interpreted to the tragedies in a way. Basically what we want to be is a great American rock band. And that's all we ask. In a way the music scene needs a band like Down. And not saying that in a selfish level. The band uses its influences well and possibly could. We are basically a garage band with the opportunity to get pushed on a major level. Its cool. It gives hope to bands like us. Cause right now rock is unorthodox right now. It doesn't make sense to me. But that is the way that it is. Underground bands are and always have been. So consider with that band and go with that thought we are underground.

Do you feel you guys have any similarities to COC on this album?

Are you talking about more like on the Deliverance vs. a Down record? No . I think all the similarities are wrong. The first Down record was written in 91. The Deliverance album was put out. Pepper did a lot of writing as well as Phillip. And I think that's were Pepper's head was at the time.

I felt more out of the Blind mould. I always wanted to say that.

To me Down sets the stage for that kind of music and not COC. Down wrote all those songs then.

Even VH1 Played "Stone The Crow" recently. And all the questions were answered. They are coming back. The wait is over.

We got everybody's schedules. And saw that we had the time to do it.

With all these other outlets like DVD and stuff like that. Do you guys plan on doing one?

We talked about doing a thing like that. We got a lot of footage while we recorded the record. We originally planned on doing over the internet was the writing and the recording of the record. Since the Sept 11^th thing we couldn't find any sponsors. We had them all lined up and then we couldn't do it! We were gonna do a cool internet thing. Nobody did it. We weren't gonna hide anything. We hope we can do something like in the future.

Who produced it?

Who produced Warren Reicher. (I think that is what I heard him say. Taping over the phone isn't easy! FMH)He worked on the last Carlos Santana record, rap and R&B stuff. Basically he is a metalhead from Jersey. Peeper knew him well and worked on the DVD with him and the live thing. The way we recorded it was we wrote it, recorded it, and mastered it mixed it in 21 days. A short period of time. We needed to have a person to handle a job like that and Warren was our guy. The record sounds really good.

With his credits people might wonder how this is gonna sound?

I'd have to say you have to hear it. The first time I met Warren, he had a Dio shirt on. Dudes killer to me. It’s a match made in heaven. A good engineer can do it with any band. Styles don't really matter. I'm sure you don't get to interview bands I always want?

Your right. I was doing all this and I can get to where I'm going.

They did13 shows total. The first record sold 300,000 copies and 100,000 worldwide? And that's gold. Were gonna try and tour as much on this record and see.

Is there a video for one of the songs on the record?

I think we are doing a single called "Beautifully Depressed". And we are budgeted to do a video. I think we will end up doing one. They are a blast to make.

What is the name of the record?

March 26^th it comes out and its called A Bustle In Your Hedgerow.

Is that from Zeppelin?

I don't know? Down II a bustle… It shows where our head was at. When you hear "Flambeaux", you'll hear Zeppelin.

Anything to say to the dying fans waiting to hear this record. People were asking me?

We get more questions about Down than the band we were on tour with. A lot of my friends on the internet cant wait for it to come out. For a band we cant wait. We have to wait for the people to hear it. We are proud of it. I think it came out good. For Down fans everywhere. When you listen to it. Listen to it like the first one and I'm sure you'll love it!

You recorded in the Lair?

Nasfuratue's Lair.

Did you record a song about that place?

We write out in a barn in Louisiana. Country. We rented old gear and some new stuff and basically did the whole record there. It was basically a title for the barn that we came up with.

http://www.down2.com ?

Good luck!

Sound like you have a great thing going.

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