CROWBAR Frontman: 'I Realized The World Does Not Revolve Around Beer'

Brandon Marshall of Sonic Excess recently conducted an interview with Kirk Windstein (CROWBAR, DOWN, KINGDOM OF SORROW). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Sonic Excess: "Sever The Wicked Hand" is CROWBAR's first album in six years. Did this recording take so long because of your commitments with DOWN and KINGDOM OF SORROW, or have you been waiting for the right time to release?

Kirk: A little bit of both. It did take so long because of the commitments with DOWN and KINGDOM, and coincidentally, it was a good time to release it.

Sonic Excess: When writing "Sever The Wicked Hand", did you have to set up outside the worlds of DOWN and KINGDOM OF SORROW entirely? Did you find yourself writing material that would be best suited for those bands?

Kirk: I didn't have to step out of the DOWN and KINGDOM worlds. After doing this for so long, it's easy for me to change my mindset in a second. It's not uncommon for me to write, or be involved, with all three bands in one day. So, I'm able to separate them.

Sonic Excess: Was "Sever The Wicked Hand" the first album you wrote sober? Was it therapeutic?

Kirk: It was. I mean every CROWBAR guitar riff ever written was recorded sober. When it came to singing, I would be pretty tanked. Instead of getting a sore throat with the style I sing, it's more comfortable bringing an ice chest full of beer in the booth. Singing sober, I never had done it. If it takes me two or three hours to record vocals, I would pound beers the whole time, and I would have a nice buzz by the time it was over. It took a little adjusting doing it sober. I guess I mistakely thought that alcohol brought out emotions; I would get more emotional vocals, because I was pounding beer. I found it was a false emotion. Once I became comfortable with my singing, I loved it. It's been six months tomorrow since my sobriety and a lot to learn. I have reprogrammed my entire way of thinking on everything. I mean, I'm not a poster boy or anything like that. To each his own, and you have to live and learn. People are always asking about what I think about young kids experimenting. It's normal. They are going to. Unfortunately, people are going to die from it, but that life, a dark part of life. Each person has do decide what's best for them. To me, it was like, "Why am I a slave to this shit? Why does everything revolve around beer o'clock?" Normally, if I would have press days, I would find any excuse on God's green earth to drink. "Oh, I'm going to be doing interviews from 12:00 to 6:00," and I would say the same shit over and over again. "Oh, fuck it. I'm going to get a case of beer and make it fun." I realized the world does not revolve around beer. It's difficult because down here in New Orleans, its available 24-7, 365 at any place you go. That's what makes it hard. I had issues with cocaine years ago, and it's the easiest drug to get off of. Erase the fucking coke dealer's number from your phone, and stop going to the bars where you know it's at. So, no big deal; there goes coke. But, trying to deal with alcohol, beer especially, it's almost sacrilegious not having beer watching a football game.

Sonic Excess: Has being clear-headed given you a new appreciation for everything?

Kirk: Yeah, this whole experience has been great. I have fallen in love with music again, because that's all I have on that side of things. I don't have the party side of it anymore. It's music and business, and that's a positive thing. Like I said, I got up at 5:30 this morning, and it's all business. I jump on the computer, and, at that time in the morning, it's 12:30 in the afternoon in Germany or 11:30 in the U.K. So, the emails are always flying in from overseas, and that's my schedule. I get up at 5:30 a.m., instead of going to bed at 5:30 in the morning everyday.

Read the entire interview from Sonic Excess.