DOWN's PHILIP ANSELMO Checks In From 'Nodferatu's Lair' (Video)

After laying down vocals for the new DOWN EP at Nodferatu's Lair, DOWN/ex-PANTERA frontman and Housecore Records owner Philip Anselmo recorded a short one-minute video message to wish fans a happy holiday and New Year. Check it out below.

Nodferatu's Lair is the barn studio on Anselmo's 17-acre property in rural south Louisiana. Its name is a play on classic horror film vampire Nosferatu, altered to reflect certain musicians' tendency to nod off.

DOWN guitarist Kirk Windsteintold Radio Metal in June that the group was planning to release four separate EPs over the course of the next couple of years. "We're going to do four EPs, and they'll all be different," he said. "We have many elements to our sound, so each one will have its own characteristics. Like, for example, this one we're writing right now and are about to start recording will be really hard, with heavy DOWN stuff. Then we'll have a mellow one, then a doom one — you know, slower and doomy stuff. A little bit of everything."

Regarding why the band chose to release four EPs instead of a full album, Kirk said, "The record industry sucks so bad. Nobody buys anything. We're trying to do something different, making it cheaper to buy. People want stuff for free! So six songs, it's cheaper to buy. Same thing for downloading; it will be cheaper to download. Nobody wants to go to the record store and buy stuff anymore. So we're just trying to mix it up and do something different. It will be released on physical EP and digitally as well."

In an interview with The Delaware County Daily Times, DOWN guitarist Pepper Keenan stated about the band's next studio release, "We're kinda goin' backwards now. The first record came out a long time ago, so we're feeling that vibe and heading that way; real simple: stripped down and to the point."

He added, "I think we're going to try and do four EPs, and they're all going to be connected together with artwork. This will allow us to have a frontload, heavy as [expletive] EP, and maybe the second one could showcase some of the acoustic stuff we've been saving for awhile, and then continuing the four of them with a completely different style, and obviously the fourth one would be another doom-laden heavy one."

DOWN recently parted ways with bassist Rex Brown and replaced him with Patrick Bruders of CROWBAR. Keenan stated about the band's latest addition, "[Patrick's] ass-kickin' in the same way [as Rex was]. He plays with his fingers — which is really cool; he's got the whole Geezer Butler thing going on."