DOWN has announced two “pop-up” shows in Louisiana for this week after their previously scheduled concert in Mescalero, New Mexico was postponed due to two rapidly growing wildfires converging on a village within a tribal reservation.
The long-standing heavy metal supergroup was set to perform on Thursday, June 20, at the Inn Of The Mountain Gods Resort And Casino in Mescalero, New Mexico.
The South Fork Fire ignited on Monday on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, prompting President Thora Walsh Padilla to declare a state of emergency.
$5 from each ticket sold for the DOWN pop-up shows will be donated to the Mescalero Apache Nation – South Fork Fire relief fund.
The dates are as follows:
June 20 – Southport Hall – New Orleans, LA
June 21 – Varsity Theatre – Baton Rouge, LA
In a video message posted on social media, guitarist Pepper Keenan stated: “Hey, guys, this is DOWN. We’re in a strange predicament right now and we were adapting by the minute as we talk here. But our show at the Inn Of The Mountain Gods clearly has been canceled because there’s a horrific wildfire that is raging through the entire Apache reservation, the South Fork fire. So we have had to adapt and jump ship and try and figure another way to not only to not — postpone the show, but now we’re trying to also help out as what we can. And being from Louisiana, we know how evil Mother Nature can be sometimes. So we are going to do two pop-up shows. One of them is on [June] 20th, Thursday, at Southport Music Hall in New Orleans. The second one will be on the 21st at the Varsity Theater in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.”
During a recent interview conducted by Shawn Ratches of Laughingmonkeymusic, DOWN drummer Jimmy Bower confirmed that he and his fellow band members have begun the process of composing new music for an upcoming release.
He said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “We got together about a month or two ago, and we were practicing with just me, Pat [Bruders, bass], Kirk [Windstein, guitar] and Pepper [Keenan, guitar]. Phil [Anselmo, vocals] lives on the other side of the lake [in Louisiana]. We got together over at his house for a weekend, and we have seven songs, man. We’re supposed to get together again in April, and then talk about recording, trying to get this thing out.”
Asked about whether Anselmo, who has been extensively touring with the reformed PANTERA over the past year and a half, arrives with a collection of lyrical concepts when they collaborate on music, Bower remarked: “He’s got notebooks and stuff that he definitely writes and keeps stuff for, but he’s generally a writes-for-the-song kind of thing.
“Phil‘s amazing to write with because he’s really good with arranging, and he’s just really witty with his arrangements and bridges and stuff like that, that, I’d be, like, ‘Damn, I would have never thought of that.’ And that’s the beautiful thing about DOWN — it’s a room filled with dudes that are witty with their songwriting and stuff like that. We can write all day without Phil, but when he’s there, it’s that much better. It really is. ‘Cause he’d be, like, ‘Do this four times. Go into the bridge, then go back to the verse, and then we’ll do a pre-chorus, and next thing you know, you’ve got a killer song.”“He’s such a songwriter, it’s ridiculous,” Jimmy continued. “And he’s super, super f**king talented. Sometimes I read comments about people’s misconceptions, and I just hold my tongue. ‘Cause I know the truth. The dude can jam his a*s off. It’s just really fun to write with Phil. He’s always in a killer mood, especially when we’re being creative. We’ve been in so many bands together.”
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