Have either of you ever thought about forming an actual project together?
Philip: I think we do projects together, the way it exists.
I meant more so forming a new band together.
Philip: I know what you mean, but… Bruce, do you want to take this one?
Bruce: Oh, we joked around for fun and talked about it, but there’s time schedules and Philip’s got so many bands and stuff going on, me too. It would be something I’d love to do, but it’s a just a matter of being realistic. It’s probably too time-consuming.
Philip: And the distance, too, like him living in Dallas and me living close to New Orleans. If you really want to have something, you need guys on hand right there. And like Bruce said, time constraints. It might be too much.
Bruce: But we do have fun at shows. Philip’s probably sang with Warbeast and Rigor Mortis over 50 times live over the years.
Philip: God yes!
Bruce: So that’s very meaningful to me, especially when I run to the left side of the stage for a part and notice everybody is looking at Philip!
Philip: [laughs] What are you talking about?
Bruce: [laughs] Dude, you’re the fucking “legend”! So all eyes are always on you when you step onstage. It don’t matter if you’re just standing there and farting, they’re just all going to be watching you. You know that!
Philip: Ahh, but you know I’m having a blast!
Bruce: I know! It’s just funny because I did do that at one show, and I was like “I better stay over by Philip, or nobody is even going to watch me!” [laughs]
Philip: [laughs] Such bullshit! But that’s funny.
I’m actually a little disappointed, Philip, to hear that you’re no longer getting the pit started at these shows!
Philip: Oh, hey man, my pit-starting days… I’m going to leave that to the youngsters!
Fair enough! Well Down and Warbeast will be touring together again soon, but Philip, do you have any plans to perform with your solo group live anytime soon?
Philip: You know, that’s always a variable that is highly considered. Believe me, I would love to do that, but I have the commitment to Down, I have the commitment to Housecore Records. If we can do it and make it really work, then yes. Of course, I want to do it, but once again, it’s one of those “fingers crossed” type things where I don’t want to say “Positively yes!” or give you a date because anything can happen in between here and now. But I think it’s a good chance it’ll happen and I’ll leave it at that.
Bruce: I’m going to make a prediction, though, as far as just how excited I am about Philip’s new solo album, that I think it’s going to do very well and eventually you’re going to see them out for a couple of weeks sometime next year. Just because of demand for wanting to see it. Sorry, just throwing that out there.
Philip: Nah, I think that’s a good prediction and I hope you’re right!
Having both been a part of the metal scene for so many years in numerous groups and in different aspects of the industry, what would you say has been the biggest change in the metal community? Has it been for the better or worse?
Philip: Well… when you’re in a band like Pantera, and we all know the negatives and the loss of Dimebag Darrell and how heavy that hits the heart, how tremendous of a loss it is…there is no more Pantera. So there has been a lot of bands out there that have needless to say have been influenced by Pantera and have taken up the slack where we don’t exist anymore. And there’s a void there to be filled, and there’s been plenty of bands that have been attempting to fill that void. So I think there’s been a lot of change there, within the style of music and also the production, because I think Pantera upped the level of heavy metal production, which can be seen as a good thing or bad thing. Like myself, I can listen to something that’s nice, glossy and polished, and say “Ok, it sounds pretty flat and stale to me,” and then go back and listen to something that’s very raw and low-fi and fucking fall in love with it because I can feel the genuine intent there. So I love all forms of heavy metal.
And I think that with the computer age, YouTube, MySpace and all that type of stuff, self-promotion and getting all the “hits” on YouTube, bands out there are so visible now compared to when Bruce and I were around growing up where you had to go get off your fucking ass and find bands. Sometimes you’d just buy the fucking record because of what the cover looked like. You didn’t even know what it sounded like till you got home. So that’s a big change right there. Bands have an opportunity to be seen and heard via computers these days. So it’s like… the underground is thriving. I could say that the bands that are underground today are the bands above ground tomorrow to a certain extent. But then there’s bands out there that want to remain in the underground, which I actually have a lot of…I guess I’m proud of them. Take a look at bands like Australia’s Portal. They’re not going to fucking win a Grammy anytime fucking soon, but they sure are a fucking spectacle and they sure are pushing the entire envelope with their music and concepts. So I think bands like that keep the pulse of extreme music alive in a very real sense. And that’s admirable, I love that!
I’m very conscious of what young people are listening to today. I’m not at all concerned with pop culture, not at all. That shit has never really done anything for me at all. And people can take that statement and look at Pantera’s success and say “Well, that’s kind of a contrary statement,” but honestly I’ve always been a supporter of the underground, no matter what stage or level my career has been on. I think the health of music is pretty damn good, as far as the underground goes. And with Housecore Records, we feel that we’re perpetuating the right band and the right kind of music, and honestly I champion any of the thriving underground groups right now. I could go ahead and list a bunch of them, but a lot of them, everybody knows who they are. From Darkthrone to Portal. I don’t know if anybody’s heard of Virus yet, but that features [former members of] Ved Buens Ende from Norway, fucking god damn genius music. Deathspell Omega from France is really pushing the envelope for black metal. I’m just a huge fucking fan. Bruce, if you have anything to chime in with, please fucking do!
Bruce: You talked about everything I could have mentioned. I guess the biggest thing would be how it was for us back then as far as we had to find out about bands and updates from word of mouth, fanzines, and going to shows. And now you can find out what a band’s doing while they’re on tour or in a studio, instant news. That’s the biggest difference, but we’ve managed to adapt to the changing times.
Philip: Make it work for you. Bruce is one of the best at self-promotion, band promotion and stuff like that. He’s excellent at what he fucking does.
Bruce: Thanks man!
Philip: It’s the truth, though! We all know it’s a team effort here [at Housecore Records]. All we do is put out records, but still we are a unique record label to where, like Bruce said, we can talk about ANYTHING, and we do. We can talk about any fucking thing, look at all the variables, and come up with a solution no matter what it is. Whether it’s the actual music, touring, or fucking merchandise, you name it! We go over everything, whereas with other record labels, if they say “That’s not our department,” that’s the end of the conversation. We’re not a management group, we’re not a booking agency, we’re not an accountant agency, but we’ll do our best to help you in those avenues. Once again, that’s why we’re a knit group of believers in the underground and heavy metal music, and honestly it just feels right in my heart to be this way. Heavy metal has been so kind to me, all I can do is give back. And to take a great line from one of the greatest of all time, “I get by with a little help from my friends.”
Bruce: [laughs] That ain’t no shit, man! With all of the releases between me and Philip, and especially with his huge success, first and foremost we are fans and always will be. And I talk to Shelby about it all the time, Philip has got to be one of the most passionate music fans that we’ve ever met. Sometimes when we’re hanging out recording and staying at his house for a week or so, when Philip gets time he wants to break out his laptop, play music and go into his own world. And it don’t have to be metal, it’s all kinds of music, but he’s a passionate person, he’s a fan and that’s the one thing that’ll never change.
[picture taken by Beth Shelby]
