DOWN are set to release their first EP in the series of EPs that the band will be releasing and you can now pre-order ‘Down Iv Part I – The Purple EP’ from Play.com by clicking here!

Phil Anselmo was a guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show recently and they talked about the upcoming EP release, ‘Down Iv Part I – The Purple EP’ – check out some extracts from that interview below:

Instead of an entire album, Down is releasing four EP’s in the next year and a half so Phil, not having to come up with 16 to 20 songs all at once, how did that change how the songs were written?

Well really it took a lot of pressure off of any and all of us. When this question comes up I refer to the first demo we did in 1992 when we all flew into Texas with this idea in our heads and we had really no idea what was going come out of it. I had no lyrics, everything was just right on the spot and I think we came out with ‘Bury Me in Smoke,’ ‘Temptation’s Wings’ and ‘Losing All,’ which would be on the first record.

We took this approach with this record and honestly I have never in my life taken so much pressure off of myself to do a record. We didn’t know what we were thinking and the fact that it is six songs, I think that commanded all of our attention at the time and really to do a 10 or 12 song record – there’s no room at this point in my career at all for what would be called filler. I don’t want any filler, I want the songs to be direct, I want them to be unique and I think we did pretty well with this EP.

You’ve had a pretty prolific career with eight plus bands. What’s different about the satisfaction you get from DOWN compared to your other bands?

Well truth be told, Down to me is a genre band. No matter what has been created from Down, whatever slot all the experts want to slide us into, that’s all fine but really know at the end of the day that Down has a very hardcore following, a cult following so to speak. We made promises in the past that we would do records in this certain time span and then five years goes by in between every release so for people to get new Down music it’s important to that fanbase so we never, never, never want to let those folks Down as far as releasing new stuff. So am I answering the question right there, Jackie?

[Laughs] Yeah I think you have.

Really? I think I lost it somewhere.

Basically the question was, what’s different about the satisfaction you get from Down compared to all your other bands?

It’s pleasing this fanbase. I may play in a lot of different bands but do they have this fanbase? No they do not, those are more self-indulgent projects that I feel like doing. Not that I don’t feel like doing Down, that’s not what I’m saying, the thing is Down does have a hardcore following. Outside of two other bands I’ve been in, everything else has been a small fanbase and or just me enjoying myself. Down is an obligation.

Click here to pre-order your copy of DOWN’s first EP ‘Down Iv Part I – The Purple EP’ from Play.com!