Australia's The Rockpit recently spoke with former Pantera bassist Rex Brown about his debut solo album, Smoke On This, out July 28th via Entertainment One Music (eOne Music).

Rex insists he has moved on from Pantera and is completely comfortable in where he is now in his life after years of living life on the road and coming out of a health scare a few years ago, all of which he discusses openly in his autobiography, Official Truth: 101 Proof.

“Pantera ended 15 years ago, I’m a different person altogether mentally and everything else,” says Rex. “I can sit here for hours talking about the differences between the two [bands] but I’m not going to, you change, you evolve, you do what you’re going to do. Whatever makes you comfortable and I’m comfortable doing exactly what I’m doing right now so that’s just it.

“I think I’ve put out a really good record and I’m damn proud of it. I mean who wouldn’t be? And to have it honest like that and not to be a deadline or anything like that and doing it you’re own way and then to have a fucking bidding war for it was insane and just being where you”re never really talking about new music in this kind of form where it’s all me even though I had some great people. You gotta have a band, you gotta have some characters that connect this music. I hate those guys that get up there and play every note on the fucking record, bass and everything, well that wasn’t the case here. I had Lance Harvill and Caleb Sherman who was my producer who played organ on it, it was a really cool combination of people that got in and helped me with this thing.”

Read the full interview at The Rockpit.

Brown has debuted an all new single and music video for his track “Buried Alive”. This is the third single behind "Train Song" and "Crossing Lines" from his upcoming LP that were previously released.

Rex once again partnered up with Justin Reich (Zakk Wylde, Ace Frehley), who also directed the video for "Train Song”. This is the second music video being released from Brown's debut solo effort.

"Justin once again did a fantastic job," says Brown. "The video captures every bit of emotion I had when I was writing the song as it's a very personal song for me."

The video was shot in Nashville, TN where the record itself was recorded and produced. Rex's bandmates are also featured in the video. Lance Harvill, who also co-wrote most of the LP with Brown plays lead guitar. Joe Shadid plays rhythm guitar and longtime friend of Brown's and Type O Negative member Johnny Kelly plays drums. Caleb Sherman can be seen on Keys and lap steel as well.

"Buried Alive," "Train Song" and “Crossing Lines” are now available on all streaming platforms and as an iTunes instant gratification track, meaning fans who pre-order the LP today will get the track as a download instantly.

Brown’s solo debut strips away any boundaries and preconceived notions, reveling in a newfound freedom to express all of the various shades of the man whose name is out front. The song “Fault Line” helped him find his voice. “That was the very first one I sang. After I got that one, I knew that I could do it, and Lance was my biggest motivator in finding that voice. Up until that point I just wasn’t sure.”

From there, there’s the brilliantly straightforward “Lone Rider,” the monstrous In Through The Out Door vibe of “Crossing Lines”, the Pink Floyd reverence of “Best Of Me”. “Get Yourself Alive” is something of an ode to “Strawberry Fields Forever”, but with a swift-kick of rock n’ roll. It’s rich in nuance, with Indian tandoori and layers of vocals. The extremely catchy “Grace” is “something you would never expect to hear off a Rex Brown record and that’s exactly why I did it. It’s just a really great song, period. Bottom line.”

Rex’s solo album is full of mojo and the force of character, determination, and nerve. He tracked lead vocals, rhythm guitars, and bass, working with his primary collaborator and old friend, Lance Harvill, a Nashville-based guitarist and songwriter, on the album’s songs. “Lance was & is, my main man on this. Everything we did was finely tuned, both musically & brotherly.”

Drums were tracked by Christopher Williams, himself no stranger to diverse tastes, from funk music to punk. His talent has been utilized by country music star Lee Greenwood, the reconstituted Blackfoot and most recently, power metal legends Accept. The album was produced by New Yorker turned Nashville transplant Caleb Sherman, a multi-instrumentalist with work on records by Little Big Town and Porter Block, among others. “Caleb produced the project from a musician's standpoint,” adds Brown. “Not just a typical producer’s standpoint, which was something I definitely needed. Between Caleb and Lance, we were a force to be reckoned with. They really pulled out the best in me.” Peter Keyes, known for his work with Lynyrd Skynyrd can also be heard on a few tracks. All bass tracking came from Rex himself as well.

Who is Rex Brown? To the industry, fellow musicians, and a legion of fans around the world, he’s the bassist for Pantera, one of the biggest hard rock and metal acts of the past few decades, alongside Nirvana and Metallica. They had Number One albums with minimal support from traditional commercial outlets and went platinum several times over. Pantera rode a groundswell of underground loyalty, earned through several years of blood, sweat, and road beers. Five major label albums, countless international tours, and a series of carnage-filled home videos cemented a legacy as large as their massive riffs and the band’s insatiable appetites for mayhem, authenticity, and brotherhood.

“My motto these days is ‘Shake some shit up,'" Brown declares about the new LP. “I’ve had my ups and downs, like anybody in this business. I wanted to feel like a true artist again, where I can write and record songs without worrying about any of the bullshit.”

Tracklisting:

“Lone Rider”
“Crossing Lines”
“Buried Alive”
“Train Song”
“Get Yourself Alright”
“Fault Line”
“What Comes Around...”
“Grace”
“So Into You”
“Best Of Me”
“One Of these Days”

"So Into You" teaser:

“Train Song” video:

“Crossing Lines” lyric video:

Pre-order physical copies here, and digital copies here.