Down, 'The Purple EP': Exclusive First Listen, Repost From Billboard.com

Down need no introduction. Hell, they rarely even need opening acts, when they decide to take the show on the road. With "The Purple EP" about ready to be unleashed upon the masses, Down is taking their creative output in a new direction. Instead of focusing on definitive albums, they plan on releasing blocks of music, an EP at a time. We cannot thank them enough as we only have three albums worth of material for a band that has been playing sporadically for over 17 years. Cannot wait for the new material!

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Link to original article on Billboard.com

Down - the all star metal band featuring members of Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar and EyeHateGod

The only downside of Down, the members of the all-star metal band led by Phil Anselmo, have long complained, is arranging time for the group amidst their other commitments. But they think they've found a way to solve that. "Down IV Part I - The Purple EP," a sludgey, six-song set that drops on Sept. 18, is the first of four planned EPs the quintet hopes to release in relatively short order -- at least shorter than the five years since "Down III: Over the Under" came out. (Listen to an exclusive stream of the EP below.)

Listen: "Down IV Part I - The Purple EP"

"It's about getting people more music quicker," frontman Phil Anselmo ( Pantera, Superjoint Ritual, Arson Anthem, etc.) tells Billboard. "It's obviously easier to knock out six songs rather than 12 songs. Me personally, I hate doing full-length records 'cause it drains the f*** out of you. And (an EP) leaves ways less chance for songs that you'd consider filler songs to get through. I think it's the healthiest way for Down to continue to get music out on a reasonable schedule."

Guitarist Pepper Keenan (ex- Corrosion of Conformity) says he DOES still like to make what he calls "the giant records" (i.e. albums), but he likes both the efficiency of the EPs as well as the opportunity to change styles form one to the other. "It allows us to shift gears between EPs," Keenan explains. "With Down we have a couple of styles of songs, and it's sometimes heard to fit a particular song with an album, so we have to put it aside for who knows how long. Now we can we can create EPs that can shift progression and diameters as they progress. That's our idea -- in theory, at least."

Actually, Keenan says Down has "mapped out" where it hopes to take the other three. "We're not just shooting blindly," he says. While "The Purple EP" -- which marks the debut of Crowbar bassist Pat Bruders in place of Pantera alumnus Rex Brown -- is raw and immediate in a manner Anselmo and Keenan compare to Down's 1995 debut "NOLA" ("hamfisted is a term they both use) Keenan predicts "Down IV Part 2" will be more fleshed out like "Down III." The third, he says, will likely be "trippy, acousticy, mellow, cleaner, not bombastic, the kind of songs we've been talking about for years but can never place anywhere." And the fourth? "I'm assuming that one is just gonna be doom as f*** -- giant, bombastic, slow, bury-me-in-smoke type of things. Apocalyptic. We'll have fun with it."

Anselmo, however, prefers not to promise when the other EPs will surface. "We are the worst; we are liars of the first degree when it comes to telling the public or anybody else some set date or time for the next release!" he says with a laugh. "It always seems like five friggin' years go by, no matter what we say. But, once again, the reason we're doing the EPs is to get the product out quicker to our audience. That just means concentrating on a handful of songs instead of an entire record, and it works."

And, Anselmo adds, the other EPs might not continue the color scheme in their titles. "People are calling it 'The Purple EP,' but I had nothing to do with that," he says. "Left that totally up to..,the press, to the fans. I left it up to everybody else. Call it what the f*** you want, and we'll move on from there. I honestly don't care. I don't know what the next one's going to be called, if anything. The music speaks for itself."

Down kicks off an 11-date North American tour on Sept. 18 in Fort Worth, Texas. Anselmo says the group plans to play European festivals during the summer of 2013 and may book other tours during the interim.

Hank Williams 3 - Reviews On NPR

For fans of public radio, go over to NPR and listen to a solid review of Hank 3's lastest batch of albums. They are on point and shed more light on the variety of sounds between the four albums released. We have always dug his sound due to his refusal to be pigeon holed just to play one type of music. Whether it be the hellbilly punk infused metal that was brought out through Assjack, the Discharge worshipping sounds of Superjoint Ritual or his real country tunes in which he wails like his grandfather Hank Williams. Hank 3 continues to live through music on his own terms.

Review of the four new albums on NPR

Hank Williams III, also known as Hank 3, is the son of Hank Williams Jr., as well as the grandson of Hank Williams, considered to be one of the greatest country music performers of all time. Hank 3 got his start in music playing punk and metal, then went on to form bands with members of Pantera and The Jesus Lizard. Hank 3 made country albums, too, but had little use for mainstream Nashville's restrictive culture.

He's always cast off the expectations connected with his iconic bloodline, challenging the music industry, the press and even his fans. In concert, Williams will often go from a set of straight-up country to "hell-billy" to punk rock and metal, with only the most broad-minded audience members sticking it out for the whole show. And he's just released three albums — spread out over four CDs — on which he pushes boundaries farther than he ever has before.

"Trooper's Holler," from Ghost to a Ghost, is a perfect example of Williams' originality, as his dog Trooper's vocals are featured here. Ghost to a Ghost is, for the most part, unambiguously country, with some requisite dirty words and a small shot of klezmer. The second CD, Gutter Town, plays more like the soundtrack to a horror film: a demented Cajun campfire on the outskirts of a creepy, deserted village.

Hank 3 has used ambient sounds and bleeps and blips on recordings in the past. But it's the third CD, Cattle Callin', on which he truly innovates. In his never-ending, genre-bending quest, Williams creates what he calls "cattle-core," setting the rapid-fire calls of cattle auctioneers to super-speed-metal double kick drum, guitar shreddery and diabolical vocal squall.

As if that isn't enough, there's a fourth disc, titled Hank 3's Attention Deficit Domination. This is Williams' foray into doom rock. It's a bottom-heavy slow dirge that shows off what got Williams into music in the first place: his considerable bass and drum playing.

With his instrumental skill, his vocal ability and his pedigree, Hank 3 could have easily coasted into a mainstream country-music career, but no. Legend has it that Minnie Pearl, who was close to the Williams family, told Hank 3, "Lord, honey, you're a ghost," because he so closely resembles his grandfather. But as much as country music runs through Hank 3's veins, so does rebellion. Remember that his grandpa was thrown out of the Grand Ole Opry. Most of the music on Williams' four CDs bears little resemblance to Hank Sr., but his reckless spirit is in there.