PHILIP ANSELMO Says SUPERJOINT Lineup Changes Won't Affect Band's Sound

Former PANTERA and current DOWN and SUPERJOINT (formerly SUPERJOINT RITUAL) singer Philip Anselmo was interviewed on the July 3-5 edition of Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show. You can now listen to the chat using the Podbean widget below. A couple of excerpts follow.

Full Metal Jackie: Up until playing at [last year's] Housecore Horror Film & Music Festival, SUPERJOINT RITUAL had been quite inactive for quite a while. What made you start thinking about starting it back up?

Anselmo: "Well, I didn't think at all about it, you know. It was more peer pressure, so to speak, you know. I always considered SUPERJOINT pretty much finished until, really, Corey Mitchell [true-crime author and Housecore Horror Film Festival co-founder] — rest in peace; the hardest-working man for the Housecore Horror And Film Festival, who passed away untimely last year — it was really his idea, and he kept begging and kept begging and kept begging. And I was, like, 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no.' And then Jimmy Bower [SUPERJOINT and EYEHATEGOD guitarist] got into it, and he was, like, 'Why not, man? Let's do it.' Then — oh, God — we ended up in the practice room, and next thing you know, we were having fun, and then we played Housecore Horror Fest part 2, and that was fun, and then the offers started coming in. And, you know, I guess at this point, it's, like, why not? You know, let's go out and have a blast."

Full Metal Jackie: Jimmy Bower and Kevin Bond [guitar] are doing the tour but not everyone is back from before. What's changed most by having different people involved?

Anselmo: "Nothing, really. We already knew that we were gonna go with a different drummer. And one thing that people don't really recognize is that SUPERJOINT's gone through three bass players over time. And, you know, obviously, Hank [Williams] III himself was probably the most heralded and popular and beloved. And we still feel this way too. It's just a matter of, you know… Truth, Hank has been working his brains out to get to where he is at as a solo artist and… Either way, he's a hard-working man. And, you know, he basically doesn't have time to do it, but it's understood, and he gives us his blessing and all that stuff. And he's always welcome to come up and jam with us whenever he has free time, which is basically never. But he's always… The door's always open for Hank and all that stuff to come up and jam. But, more importantly, we got Steve Taylor [bass] and Blue [José Manuel Gonzales, drums] from THE ILLEGALS and WARBEAST, respectively, to play drums and bass [sic] for SUPERJOINT. I'm very familiar with those cats. And Jimmy and Kevin, you know, love those guys. So practice has been smooth; everything's been real smooth. And it is fun — I've gotta admit it — in this room full of crazy people."

Full Metal Jackie: Could getting together a tour lead to a new SUPERJOINT album?

Anselmo: "Well, I will let you know that, I think, right now, we have five new pieces that are pretty good. I think it's a decent start. But I think that Jimmy's been out with EYEHATEGOD for quite a while now. But we all need to get back in the jam room and reassess what we have. And I think that there is a good chance we could put out a record. Like I say, there is material that we've been working on. But would I say it's close [to] finished? No, I would not. I would say it needs some tender loving care, and, I guess, once we feel like we are at a certain point with the songs, then we'll decide if we're gonna move forward or just have extra stuff to put out there for kicks."

Full Metal Jackie: What do you think how different, or how it will sound compared to the older tunes?

Anselmo: "It won't sound any different, because myself, Jimmy and Kevin have always been the main writers in SUPERJOINT anyway, so, really — for the most part, really, me and Jimmy. So it shouldn't sound much different at all."