Courtesy Down has proven that supergroups can have staying power.

Like every other rock supergroup, Down features its share of name-brand talent, including former Pantera singer Phil Anselmo and Crowbar guitarist Kirk Windstein. But unlike a lot of “here today, gone tomorrow” supergroups, Down has been in existence for nearly 20 years and has three full-length albums to its credit.

The latest of those albums, Down III: Over the Under, hit stores in September and was written in large part with Hurricane Katrina in mind. Now, the New Orleans-based Down is on the road in support of the album, which includes a stop at Lonestar Pavilion at Sunset Station on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

Before the show, Windstein chatted with 210SA about his band's supergroup status, hard rock versus metal and showing some love for New Orleans.
 

Do you buy into Down's supergroup label?

I'm not really into calling us that. It's just a band to me, but (the label) doesn't bother me.

Is there a certain stigma attached to supergroups?

There can be. There are other side projects or supergroups out there, but to us right now, this is our main band. By no means are we trying to cash in off somebody's name. We're working hard and busting our ass the best we can and not focusing on anything we've done in the past.

Not only is Down successful, but (former Pantera drummer) Vinnie Paul is doing well with Hellyeah.

Yeah, I'm really happy for Vinnie, seeing him back playing music again after what happened with Dime (Dimebag Darrell, Paul's brother and former Pantera bandmate, was shot to death while onstage in 2004) ..... He's at the point in his life where he's performing live again, and I'm happy for him.

How much did each of your previous work affect the dynamic of Down?

I don't know if it helps or hurts. I think the cool thing with Down is it's five heavy hitters with five distinctly strong personalities, and when we get together, it's something special.

How much was the new album influenced by Katrina, considering a few of you are from New Orleans?

It is lyrically. I can't say that musically the record sounds different than it would if there had not been a hurricane, but it does lyrically and attitude-wise. It was such a catastrophe for all of us, but we found something positive from all of it and made positive music. It was only natural that would play a big part. The songs were directly influenced by all that happened with the storm, but musically, I can't say there was much effect.

What are you seeing in New Orleans these days?

There are still FEMA trailers in the neighborhood. Piles of debris and places are still being demolished and getting back to normal. There's still a whole lot of work to be done. It's progress, but the government really forgot about us pretty quickly. They didn't do much at all to help in the first place, blew us off and acted like it was no problem. One of the things that pisses me off personally is with the money we spend on this war in Iraq, we could have rebuilt this city 100 times already. Nobody cares except the locals, but that's made our community strong. Everyone that came back had to work together. It's been brother helping brother to rebuild lives.

You've said that Down is not a metal band, but rather a hard-rock band. In your eyes, what's the difference?

I don't like labels in the first place, really. At times we're metal, and some songs here and there I guess are metal. But we don't want to be labeled and don't really want to be anything. We're just Down. If you want a heavy song, we'll play a heavy song. If you want acoustic, we'll play acoustic. We try to pattern ourselves after bands like Led Zeppelin. One minute, they're the heaviest band, and the next minute, they're playing beautiful, mellow stuff.

CLINT HALE | 210SA