KIRK WINDSTEIN On Next CROWBAR Album: 'We're Gonna Start Writing First Of The Year'

In a new interview with Metalcavern, Kirk Windstein, founder, vocalist and guitarist of Louisiana metal legends CROWBAR, spoke a possible follow-up to the band's most recent studio offering, the critically lauded "Zero And Below", which came out in April 2022 via MNRK Heavy. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): " We're gonna start writing first of the year. But we write quickly, and if we can get on maybe like a three-day-a-week type of schedule and really stick to it, it'll come very quickly, because it's been a while since we've written.

"Obviously, I write the majority of the riffs, but [guitarist] Matt [Brunson] writes — what he writes is great. He might not write as much, but what he writes is great. And [bassist] Pat's [Bruders] an amazing writer. He wrote a lot of the really killer stuff on the new DOWN [album] as well. He's a great, great writer, man. So, it'll come together, man. We just need to get with [drummer] Tommy's [Buckley] schedule.

"Matt, Pat and I live closer to the rehearsal space than Tommy does. He's about 15 minutes from where Phil [Anselmo, Kirk's bandmate in DOWN] lives, on the north shore of New Orleans, so he's over in the... He says Covington, but I tell him all the time, I'm, like, Dude, you must be the last street in Covington. 'Cause you ain't far from Phil in Folsom. But it's a great area over there. It's very nice. But he's 10, 15 minutes from Phil, which is a little hike for him for rehearsal. Luckily, the rehearsal room is off the bridge and the main highway that you... It's only one block off of where he's coming from, so it's not that long. But, yeah, we're ready to dive into the new CROWBAR first of the year and just get this thing rolling, man."

"Zero And Below" was produced, mixed, and mastered by Duane Simoneaux at OCD Recording And Production in Metairie, Louisiana. The LP was described in a press release as CROWBAR's "most unforgivably doom-driven record" since the group's 1998 landmark effort "Odd Fellows Rest".

CROWBAR was created in 1990 from the ashes of THE SLUGS! Original members Kirk Windstein and Jimmy Bower (DOWN, EYEHATEGOD) had a vision to move away from the trendier thrash sound of that time, and create their own brand of doom metal with a bit of upbeat hardcore mixed in. Heavily influenced by THE MELVINS, CARNIVORE, TROUBLE, SAINT VITUS and a blend of BLACK SABBATH meets East Coast hardcore, CROWBAR set out to create an original sound which has become influential to many bands over the last 36 years. Windstein is the only original member and has helped carry the band through numerous lineups and twelve critically acclaimed albums.

Photo by Robin Windstein