Target Audience Magazine Down Drummer Talks Down IV and Rock on the Range Interview by Jerel Johnson On February 10 at 1:00 p.m., I was fortunate to talk with legendary NOLA metal musician and current Down drummer, Jimmy Bower. Down finished mixing its fourth record the previous night, and Jimmy was happy to give me the skinny on how the record sounded and the concept of the record. The new record is scheduled for a May release, coinciding with the band’s performance at Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio. It was obvious from our chat that metal heads will not be disappointed with the record. Target Audience: When’s the new Down record coming out? Jim Bower: We finished last night (February 9 at time of interview) with the mixing and everything. So, all we have to do now is get it mastered and the artwork is all done. So I think maybe early May. It takes a while to get everything together; it took us a little longer with the recording process so it’s done. We finished it last night. It sounds killer. TA: What does it sound like compared to your previous albums? JB: We went for a really raw sound and went back to NOLA. The songs are really Sabbathed-out. I’m really happy the way it came out. It’s really aggressive and raw. All them rock n’ roll adjectives in there bro. It’s doomy! TA: Any songs similar to “Stone the Crow” or “Jail” or is it pretty much an all-out blitz? JB: No, the idea is we’re doing four EPs and the first one is pretty much cut-throat. The third one is supposed to be the acoustic one. But we’re releasing four EPs within the next year and a half. They all coincide with one theme. Like the artwork and everything. It’s like a big story. TA: Like a concept record? JB: Exactly. A concept with 4 EPs. TA: What’s the theme? Is there a back story? JB: No. Well, it’s kind of like end of the world kind of shit. Just the times we’re in. it reflects on how humanity is going apeshit. As far as concepts I don’t know. TA: What’s the name of the record? JB: Down IV, I think. I saw the artwork last night. There wasn’t an album title or anything. The artwork looks great. TA: What’s the picture of? What’s the cover? JB: I’m not gonna say anything man. Pepper usually does all the artwork; he does a really good job. TA: Pepper is a good artist? JB: Yeah, he does all the artwork for Down. TA: I didn’t know that and I’m a COC fan. JB: He did all the artwork for those records he was on as well. TA: From Blind on? That’s excellent. So how have the shows been? JB: They’ve been good. We haven’t been playing much. We’ve been pretty much busy with the recording process. But we have a festival in Ohio (Rock On The Range) and we’re going to do a couple of shows around that. We’re pretty much waiting for the release so we can get out and start working a little harder. TA: When the new record comes out, are you going to do a national or world tour? JB: Yeah. Probably start in the U.S. and work our way to Europe, and hopefully go to Japan and Australia, and hopefully back to South America. Continue Reading...