Rex Brown - Kill Devil Hill (06/12/2013)
Sitting down to chat with former Pantera and Down, current Kill Devil Hill, bassist Rex Brown, The 59th Sound talked about his ongoing passion to be a productive feature on the music scene, Kill Devil Hill's newest album Revolution Rise.
Speaking on Revolution Rise, Brown spoke with passion. “This record is really, really special to me” he started before giving the complete rundown on the recording of the album saying that the tracks of the record had been recorded in spurts of “three, then four, then three again”. Talking through some of the history of the band, and taking the chance to praise the members he had the “privilege” of recording, he reminisced about the first time he had heard vocalist Dewey Bragg sing during the recording of the first album, “It was exactly what I'd been looking for, it was exactly what I'd been missing for a while”. He concluded his thoughts about the new record by saying “This record is one of those records I'm very, very proud of.”
The band has recently completed a six week stint on tour across North America. Explaining why the band had featured more tracks from their newer album in the setlist, Brown mentioned that some of the songs from Revolution Rise had gotten play time on college radio across the states before making it into the playlists of several bigger rock and metal stations. He concluded this train of thought by saying “This is the first time in my career that I've had any kind of radio support whatsoever”.
Leading from the talk about the North American tour, on the subject of a potential world tour, Brown simply said “We're in the planning process”, but for those itching to see Brown do his thing live on stage he later added that “We probably won't make it down to Australia until 2015”. However, with a casual chuckle he asked whether our festival was called Soundwave, before hinting “It's a maybe, it's a real good maybe we're coming over for fuckin' Soundwave.”
He later added some thoughts about what they were looking for in terms of gigs internationally, “It's more about us supporting bands, that's what we're going after. Instead of us going out and fucking headlining, let's get our music out to the masses first and then come back and headline.”
Kill Devil Hill is composed of members with past experiences from some of the biggest bands in metal history. Including Brown's past credits with Pantera and Down, the band also consists of former Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, and Dio drummer Vinny Appice, as well as Mark Zevon on guitar and ex Pissing Razors vocalist Dewey Bragg closing out the quartet. With credits like that, the media have been quick to label Kill Devil Hill with the 'supergroup' stamp. Taking the chance to ask Brown about his feelings towards the term, a brief pause followed before he responded “You know what? You can throw that 'supergroup' tag out the fuckin' window!” He continued by summarising the usual trajectory of so called supergroups as releasing one record and then disappearing completely before adding “I don't like the term supergroup, this is a band. This is my passion. When I have a passion I go in a 100 and fuckin 50 percent”.
With a career that spans over three decades as an active tentpole of the metal scene, Brown has definitely left a mark in history. He summarised his own thoughts about his legacy by saying “I'll have kids come up and ask for an autograph and they're fifteen years old, and some of these records have been out 20+ years. It means you've left a mark, means you've done something right.”
This short trip down memory lane later moved into a conversation about Pantera, and how Brown can't stand people that come to shows simply to ask for Pantera songs. He called this behaviour “sleazy” before adding some notes about his own desire to move away from Pantera, “At a certain point in this musical journey, you have to reinvent yourself in a certain way or your not staying current, you're just going backwards. If there's one thing I will not fucking do, it's go backwards”, before closing with a brief statement about the sound of Kill Devil Hill, “It doesn't sound like Pantera, I don't want it to sound like Pantera.”
As the interview started to draw to a close, Brown shared a brief summary of his own musical progression, jokingly saying that if we wanted to know more we could simply go and buy his book. He restated his passion for recording music with Kill Devil Hill, saying “that hunger is back”, before adding “That's my life, without music I wouldn't be shit. I've got a gift, I wanna go share it.”
“It's not Pantera, but it is bad fucking ass in its own right. If you're expecting Pantera, you're gonna miss the point. It's bigger, it's boulder, it's badder. Now it's time to take it to the masses.”
Kris Solberg
Speaking on Revolution Rise, Brown spoke with passion. “This record is really, really special to me” he started before giving the complete rundown on the recording of the album saying that the tracks of the record had been recorded in spurts of “three, then four, then three again”. Talking through some of the history of the band, and taking the chance to praise the members he had the “privilege” of recording, he reminisced about the first time he had heard vocalist Dewey Bragg sing during the recording of the first album, “It was exactly what I'd been looking for, it was exactly what I'd been missing for a while”. He concluded his thoughts about the new record by saying “This record is one of those records I'm very, very proud of.”
The band has recently completed a six week stint on tour across North America. Explaining why the band had featured more tracks from their newer album in the setlist, Brown mentioned that some of the songs from Revolution Rise had gotten play time on college radio across the states before making it into the playlists of several bigger rock and metal stations. He concluded this train of thought by saying “This is the first time in my career that I've had any kind of radio support whatsoever”.
Leading from the talk about the North American tour, on the subject of a potential world tour, Brown simply said “We're in the planning process”, but for those itching to see Brown do his thing live on stage he later added that “We probably won't make it down to Australia until 2015”. However, with a casual chuckle he asked whether our festival was called Soundwave, before hinting “It's a maybe, it's a real good maybe we're coming over for fuckin' Soundwave.”
He later added some thoughts about what they were looking for in terms of gigs internationally, “It's more about us supporting bands, that's what we're going after. Instead of us going out and fucking headlining, let's get our music out to the masses first and then come back and headline.”
Kill Devil Hill is composed of members with past experiences from some of the biggest bands in metal history. Including Brown's past credits with Pantera and Down, the band also consists of former Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, and Dio drummer Vinny Appice, as well as Mark Zevon on guitar and ex Pissing Razors vocalist Dewey Bragg closing out the quartet. With credits like that, the media have been quick to label Kill Devil Hill with the 'supergroup' stamp. Taking the chance to ask Brown about his feelings towards the term, a brief pause followed before he responded “You know what? You can throw that 'supergroup' tag out the fuckin' window!” He continued by summarising the usual trajectory of so called supergroups as releasing one record and then disappearing completely before adding “I don't like the term supergroup, this is a band. This is my passion. When I have a passion I go in a 100 and fuckin 50 percent”.
With a career that spans over three decades as an active tentpole of the metal scene, Brown has definitely left a mark in history. He summarised his own thoughts about his legacy by saying “I'll have kids come up and ask for an autograph and they're fifteen years old, and some of these records have been out 20+ years. It means you've left a mark, means you've done something right.”
This short trip down memory lane later moved into a conversation about Pantera, and how Brown can't stand people that come to shows simply to ask for Pantera songs. He called this behaviour “sleazy” before adding some notes about his own desire to move away from Pantera, “At a certain point in this musical journey, you have to reinvent yourself in a certain way or your not staying current, you're just going backwards. If there's one thing I will not fucking do, it's go backwards”, before closing with a brief statement about the sound of Kill Devil Hill, “It doesn't sound like Pantera, I don't want it to sound like Pantera.”
As the interview started to draw to a close, Brown shared a brief summary of his own musical progression, jokingly saying that if we wanted to know more we could simply go and buy his book. He restated his passion for recording music with Kill Devil Hill, saying “that hunger is back”, before adding “That's my life, without music I wouldn't be shit. I've got a gift, I wanna go share it.”
“It's not Pantera, but it is bad fucking ass in its own right. If you're expecting Pantera, you're gonna miss the point. It's bigger, it's boulder, it's badder. Now it's time to take it to the masses.”
Kris Solberg