Bassist Rex Brown might be best known for his time spent with PANTERA and DOWN, but it’s his new band, KILL DEVIL HILL (with longtime DIO, HEAVEN & HELL and BLACK SABBATH drummer Vinny Appice), that has him screaming from the rooftops these days. Rex sat down with BraveWords.com to talk about his new passion, Kill Devil Hill.

BraveWords.com: How did you meet Vinny Appice?

Rex Brown: “We had been friends on the road. Down had opened up for Heaven & Hell all across Canada then we went to Australia with them and we just became good buds. Then, I got a call from him about this new band and he wanted to know if I’d be interested in coming down and playing on some tracks. Next door to me, I have a musician friend that has probably a half million dollars worth of gear in his house and so I played on some of these tracks and they were just blown away. I jammed with them after NAMM and I went down this week to see how it fit… how everyone got along. It turned out to be… SPECTACULAR! We got a lot of good work done. We have seven or eight songs in the can and there’s another eight sitting there. Vinny and I playing together is just nuts. It’s crazy.”

BraveWords.com: That’s one hell of a rhythm section.

Brown: "It is. It’s just nuts. We’re all systems go and we’ll get a record out this year.”

BraveWords.com: Is this simply a side-project for you or is this a band?

Brown: "I really think this is a long term deal. I really do. We fit together so good that it’s just going to work.”

BraveWords.com: Musically, what are we in for? Pantera was very aggressive and Dio was certainly more melodic…

Brown: "A lot of these things are Vinny’s drum beats that he just put down as a song and he expressed to Mark (Zavon, guitarist) how he wanted them done… I’d say if you take the elements of both bands and mash them together you have one powerful rhythm section and the rest of the songs have a little spice of maybe early ALICE IN CHAINS, but there’s a whole influence of LED ZEPPELIN… Throw that in the mix and you’ve got four pretty killer bands to choose from.”

BraveWords.com: Tell me about your vocalist, Dewey Bragg. Vocally is he more in the style of Pantera or is he a cleaner singer?

Brown: "He’s more of a clean singer. He’s got a really good range and he’s got a snarl (and all that really good stuff), but it’s not anything near what Phil was.”

BraveWords.com: How’d you find him?

Brown: "He just came along with the package. They had been working on songs and auditioned him… I just love him to death. He’s a good old Southern boy, so we get along great.”

BraveWords.com: The last time people heard about Mark (Zavon), he playing in Stephen Pearcy’s (RATT) solo band. How did you hook up with him?

Brown: "He was already in the mix, too. They called me and asked me if I’d like to play on some tracks. They sent the tracks here (to Texas) and I played on them. They loved what they heard and wanted to sign me up. Now, it’s full on. We’re getting press and interviews just crazy because of the band members and we haven’t released any music yet.”

BraveWords.com: Since you were the fourth guy to join. Is this your band as well or is this Vinny’s project and you’re just the bass player they hired?

Brown: "We’re all in this together and I have a very active voice in this band. With Vinny and me having our name on there… we don’t have any more say than the next guy, but what we do ‘say’ they take it into account.”

BraveWords.com: You mentioned that you had seven songs finished. Are these demos or the finished product?

Brown: "These are the demos, but they sound 99% like a record. They sound that good. There’s some really really good stuff on there. Some of the writing is very (I want to say) Sabbath-y, but it’s got it’s own sound to it… it’s not dated at all.”

BraveWords.com: Of course, Sabbath is never dated.

Brown: "Yeah, that’s true. We have a powerful powerful sound.”

BraveWords.com: When you’re working on these songs – are you thinking, ‘what would fans of Pantera like to hear? What would fans of Heaven & Hell want to hear?’

Brown: "It’s straight off the cuff. It’s not intended to sound like either one of these bands that we were both in or a part of for a long time. It’s intended to be fresh new music. It’s good fucking hard rock ‘n roll.”

BraveWords.com: How are fans going to get to hear this music? Are you looking for a record deal or will you release them via the Internet?

Brown: "We’re looking at label first, but it’s extremely hard in finding the right label to do it (being from the old school of having a major label behind us). If that doesn’t work, we’ll go indie. We have all the material we need for a record. It’s just finding the right people to join the camp.”

BraveWords.com: Will it be out this year?

Brown: "Absolutely.”

BraveWords.com: Do you think you might release one or two songs to the Internet to give the fans a taste?

Brown: "We’re going to put some snippets up of the seven songs that we have and let the listener have a little peek to what it’s all about, but this is all new to us. Vinny put something up on his website and it’s just blown up in the press everywhere, so that’s a good thing.”

BraveWords.com: Are you excited about starting a new band? It’s hard work.

Brown: "It is, but when you hear this music – you’ll know why I’m doing it. It’s very organic. Vinny and I playing on it is just a monster. You have your reservations about starting a new band, but we rehearsed four/five hours a day over a month on just these seven songs. We just tried to make them as tight as we possibly could and it sounds just… You’ll just have to hear it.”

BraveWords.com: What about the road? Will you be doing any festivals or club gigs?

Brown: "We’ll do a one-off in L.A. – just to pull the media in. I’ll be going to L.A. every three weeks and here comes the work ahead of us. This is the fun part.”

BraveWords.com: Do you think you might do a summer run?

Brown: "Nothing’s been planned yet, but I do want to take this thing over to England first and create a buzz there. Do maybe an eight or nine date tour. The buzz with the press over there is pretty powerful and all the European kids will absolutely love this shit.”

BraveWords.com: There seems to be a big difference between European fans and American fans. They still seem to love metal in Europe.

Brown: "They are loyal to the core. Our main focus right now is getting this thing going, getting a webmaster and trying to put it out there.”

For more info visit:

Kill Devil Hill on Facebook

Vinnyappice.com