DOWN Bassist REX BROWN - "This Record Has Some Very, Very Special Moments On It"

December 12, 2007, 16 years ago

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The following is an excerpt from an interview with DOWN bassist Rex Brown conducted by Metal Edge correspondent Roger Lotring:

Q: Was there a conscious point in the process of getting back together and putting this record (III: Over The Under) together that you can remember as a turning point, as far as the things you went through, personally? Was there a moment that was the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak?

Brown: "Yeah. I had my webmaster stream four songs, and it really kind of hit me that it was a really, extremely hard fuckin' process, because of all the shit that went down. I don't want to dwell on all the bad stuff, [but] this record has some very, very special moments on it. [Chuckles] It was streaming over MySpace, and I was going, wow. To come from where we came from in two years, in leaps and bounds, learning to walk again, and then learning how to kind of jog—you know, the band's playing as good as we can...[pauses] well, you're only as good as your last gig. But we're learning to run again, as far as a band, because we were five individuals from four different bands. The whole conception of the Down thing was just like, you know, just jam for the holidays [and] put it out. And now it's become this fuckin' monster that fans want. And what a blessing it is to have it twice, man! I'm blessed, basically."

Q: You talk to kids who have aspirations of becoming professional musicians and making a career of it, it's too bad somebody couldn't convey to a 17-year-old kid that they'll go full circle and probably get the most enjoyment when they get back to where they are right now.

Brown: "You hit it right on the spot when you say full circle. That's exactly what it's come back to, and that's a great feeling, you know? A lot of people don't get that chance to do that. That's why I'm saying I'm blessed, because it took me six years to even get my foot in the door in the music business, coming out of Texas. All of a sudden, we were an overnight fucking sensation with Cowboys From Hell. I couldn't imagine a band coming out now, trying to promote their shit, with the industry the way it is. Trying to promote that, it's just a totally foreign ball game to me. But, like I said, when it comes down to it, it's just nothin' but about the jams and the reaction of the kids. As long as you write good fuckin' songs, which we do—between all of us, collectively, we've written hundreds of songs, or thousands, who knows. With this band, we had all these special little moments, without sounding all sappy and all that kind of bullshit. That really is truth. I wouldn't be doing it if that wasn't the case."

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