REX BROWN Confirms He Is Officially Out Of DOWN

Bassist Rex Brown has confirmed that he is no longer a member of DOWN. Speaking to Patrick Musumeche of 8countnews.com over the weekend, he said, "I'm officially out of the band. Things came to a head and they're better off doing what they're doing. They've got Patrick Bruders [from CROWBAR] playing bass and I kind of lost my passion after a while. There were some other problems that we had to address and it just turned out better that we just parted ways."

According to Brown, he will focus all of his attention on KILL DEVIL HILL, the new band featuring Vinny Appice (HEAVEN & HELL, BLACK SABBATH, DIO) on drums, Brown on bass, Mark Zavon (RATT, W.A.S.P., 40 CYCLE HUM) on guitar and Jason "Dewey" Bragg (PISSING RAZORS) on vocals.

Brown stated about KILL DEVIL HILL, "It's awesome. It's got a huge bottom end on it. It's coming on really well. It clicked and turned into a really cool project and it's gonna be a full-blown band. He added, "This is old school meets new school it's got the heaviness of [BLACK SABBATH album] 'Mob Rules', with some ALICE IN CHAINS thrown in, some LED ZEPPELIN thrown in. There are a lot of different tunes on this record. It's just kick-ass fucking heavy."

8countnews.com's entire interview with Brown can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.

DOWN drummer Jimmy Bower said in an interview with MetalChroniques.fr last week about Brown's status in the band, "It's a real delicate situation, because what he went through was really [In 2009 Brown was diagnosed with pancreatitis, a sudden inflammation of the pancreas which can have severe complications and high mortality despite treatment. Ed.] I mean, he's got a scar from here [points to his stomach] all the way to here. We just wish him to find peace within himself and be healthy, and we weren't seeing that for DOWN. We have Pat now. Pat's playing bass. Pat's from New Orleans, [which] makes sense. He plays with CROWBAR as well." He added, "We love Rex to death, man, and wish him the best. He has a new project as well KILL DEVIL HILL, with Vinny Appice and I know he's having fun doing that. He gave Pat his blessing, so it was on a good term [that we parted ways]. But he will not be back."

During a press conference at this year's Sweden Rock Festival, DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo stated about Brown, "Just to put it kindly, [Rex] needs to address some personal things in his life and when he has to address these personal things, the extremity of them, it's gonna take him away from music and touring and stuff like that. We all support him, we love him, we're still very close with him, speak with him all the time. . . We wish the best for him."

Speaking to The Delaware County Daily Times this past spring, DOWN guitarist Pepper Keenan offered the following when asked about Brown, "Rex is not gonna be with us [on the road for the upcoming shows]. He's got things he needs to deal with, and we gave him an ultimatum and he's trying to work things out. We've got Pat from CROWBAR playing bass, and he's ass-kickin' in the same way. He plays with his fingers which is really cool; he's got the whole Geezer Butler thing going on."

When asked if Rex was still considered a part of DOWN, Pepper replied, "I don't know what to really say on that; he's not out of the band, but he's not playing with us live."

During a recent interview with the "Focus In The Mix With Denise Ames" TV show, Brown was asked if he still speaks to Anselmo. "We're having a little marital spat, so I'll just leave it at that. I'm in the doghouse," he replied.