{"id":32833,"date":"2017-09-03T16:59:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-03T06:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=32833"},"modified":"2017-09-03T17:00:14","modified_gmt":"2017-09-03T07:00:14","slug":"rex-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2017\/09\/rex-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Rex Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t planned out I just let the wind blow on this thing, like I was saying, taking one note at a time. Like I said before also, it\u2019s not rocket science, it\u2019s just eleven pretty fuckin\u2019 killer songs, that\u2019s it. I\u2019m not one of those arrogant bastards I\u2019m just a musician and I\u2019m no different to anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

From release: Who is Rex Brown? To the industry, fellow musicians, and a legion of fans around the world, he\u2019s the bassist for Pantera<\/strong>, one of the biggest hard rock and metal acts of the past few decades, alongside Nirvana<\/strong> and Metallica<\/strong>. They had Number One albums with minimal support from traditional commercial outlets and went platinum several times over. Pantera<\/strong> rode a groundswell of underground loyalty, earned through several years of blood, sweat, and road beers. Five major label albums, countless international tours, and a series of carnage-filled home videos cemented a legacy as large as their massive riffs and the band\u2019s insatiable appetites for mayhem, authenticity, and brotherhood. Now Rex\u2019s solo album is full of mojo and the force of character, determination, and nerve. Smoke On This\u2026<\/p>\n

While at home in New Mexico we gave Rex Brown a call to talk about his killer new album \u2018Smoke On This\u2019, its creation, it\u2019s sound, the songs, touring, a look back at 25 years since \u2018Vulgar Display of Power\u2019, and much more\u2026<\/p>\n

We last spoke three years ago when you were heading over with Kill Devil Hill, but let\u2019s catch up how have the last three years been for you?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s been a kind of a rebirth of what I\u2019ve been wanting to have had in my head for a while, doing this solo record and I told myself sitting in the back of the bus as I got towards the end of the tour I go you know what? I need to go take some time off, I need to go watch the fuckin\u2019 grass grow, go pee on it, and I need to take two years off, you\u2019re burnt, you\u2019re not gonna come up with any good ideas or anything and about eight months later I was already back into it. More bricks were hitting me over the back of the head that I could throw a stick at, my buddy Lance Harvill had moved to Nashville about four months prior to me coming down for a Summer NAMM. Dude, I\u2019ve probably got a hundred different ideas on my phone, he\u2019s got a library of fuckin\u2019 songs that are more Beatles-esque kind of stuff he\u2019s more in the pop vein, but you put the two of us together and it\u2019s kind of like oil and vinegar, I\u2019ve got that real swagger in the way I wanna do it and once we found the voice we started fitting these riffs back in and forth and just kind of trading off from one another and we came up with these and we recorded thirteen songs and eleven made it to the record.<\/p>\n

When putting songs together for a solo album what\u2019s the process like where in a way you are essentially introducing yourself to the world with them?<\/strong>
\nNumber one, when I first started I was just making music, man, and that was it, period, It wasn\u2019t even about what\u2019s it gonna be called, how are we gonna do this, how are we gonna market it, how are we gona do this? I just wanted to make music, man, and I wanted to try this new sound that I had in my head and with Lance and through a photographer buddy of mine found this drummer that was a big Pantera fan and became one of my good friends and became one of the hottest cats in Nashville to play on the session. I thought I was gonna be there about three days and it ended up being about three weeks of tracking all this stuff and the chemistry was just there immediately, it just came together, man. When you run into something like that you just let the wind blow you don\u2019t kinda fuck with it you know what I\u2019m saying? And that\u2019s what we tried to do with this record. If you take the moniker Rex Brown off and listen to the songs what would you think then? You understand what I\u2019m saying? It\u2019s not about this marketing ploy that\u2019s out there, it\u2019s about the songs, I\u2019m all about the jam, always have been, I\u2019m a child of the 70\u2019s and grew up with 70\u2019s rock and roll and that\u2019s gonna be in your forever, I just never had the chance to step back, take a look and make a record like this and I was on no deadline, I had no outside influence except kind of shipping this back and forth to a few friends. It\u2019s just a fuckin\u2019 rock and roll record that\u2019s all there is to it, just cut the bullshit and just fuckin\u2019 if you like it go for it, I\u2019m really proud of it. I worked my ass off on it.<\/p>\n

You talk about the 70\u2019s stuff and there are so many different vibes and grooves on the album with a mix and feel of bands like Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd, The Beatles and more which will be unexpected for what people may think they\u2019ll get from you, but was it a planned departure from the norm for you?<\/strong>
\nTotally, totally I wanted to do something different man, it\u2019s kinda like reinventing yourself in that weird way and I needed that, look I\u2019ve done metal as much justice as I possibly can, I\u2019m one of those cats that\u2019s got a guitar sitting by his bed and if I wake up at three in the morning I\u2019ll pick it up and take it to one of the rooms I have in this house and put together a riff or two and then go back to bed, finish it up in the morning that\u2019s just what I do. Number one I\u2019m a musician, man, and that\u2019s just it we happened to find my voice on this thing and we made the best of it and I\u2019m still searching. That\u2019s the whole point, I had to stop\u00a0 and look and say alright Rex why did you start this in the first place you\u2019ve been incredibly successful, and I could sit on my couch for the rest of my days and be fine but I\u2019ve still got this rock and roll blood in me and it had just reached a point where these songs were starting to really take shape and there was something magical about them and I said I don\u2019t want to hear these songs just for me I want people to hear it and what are we going to call it? So we named it The Rex Brown Band or just Rex Brown, that\u2019s just it, no band. It\u2019s just me, man, this is what I want to do right now and we\u2019re gonna tour off this thing extensively and go show people how to rock again, man.<\/p>\n

I always like to pick one track that stands out for me to ask about, on this one it\u2019s \u2018Buried Alive\u2019, when writing a song like that and putting those feelings into five minutes does it become an easy task that just flows or harder due it being so real?<\/strong>
\nI think with \u2018Buried Alive\u2019 and that\u2019s one of my favourites too by the way, Lance had the first couple of lines and then he had a different part and I wanted to hear this big huge army come in when it first started, first you have this acoustic play like a dozen fuckin\u2019 acoustics on the front of the thing *laughs* and the keyboards in the back leaves this kind of haunting feel, he\u2019d had like the very first two lines and then I changed the second two lines and the middle, that\u2019s how we kind of work together, I take stuff and we both work together on how this thing works out. So when I was writing \u201cDrowning in black water\u201d after Dime died I was fucked up, I was trying to find out why, I was trying to find out wow and this has been a long time ago but pen went to paper at that point you know? I didn\u2019t realise until after I recorded it and looked at passion really I wasn\u2019t fucked up, I hadn\u2019t smoked too many joints for the day it was just one of those things that came out and I listened back to it and the guys came in and said \u201cdo you know what you just sang about? Do you even realise it?\u201d and I said \u201cNope\u201d and then I started thinking about it and then it was like oh shit, now we\u2019re onto something really good. It\u2019s not a tribute to Dime it\u2019s just about what I went through and its one of those songs and the lead work that Lance does in that song is simple and I told him on this record Lance, just play something that people can fuckin\u2019 hum. Some of my favourite guitar players\u00a0 like Jeff Beck you can hum their melodies and that\u2019s what I wanted to do with the leads on this thing, Lance making this memorable as you can, if I hear one swoop on here I\u2019m gonna knock it off the record, one arpeggio that doesn\u2019t need to be there, it\u2019s all about the feel of one note, man, that\u2019s all it is and I take one note at a time.<\/p>\n

Of course I have to ask if we\u2019ll see you heading down to see us in Australia and play some shows?<\/strong>
\nAbsolutely , I\u2019m already talking to promoters now.<\/p>\n

In terms of touring what have you got planned off the back of the new record? <\/strong>
\nWell right now I\u2019ve got a bunch of promo stuff I\u2019ve gotta do, start rehearsal and then we head to Germany for ten to twelve dates, then have like a week off then we go back to Spain and Italy and play some festivals then from there I believe we\u2019re going out with somebody big but I can\u2019t say.<\/p>\n

Obviously over time a lot changes but what would you say is the one thing that\u2019s stayed the same in your time making music?<\/strong>
\nJust the attitude, I would wanna say. With everything I put out I\u2019m proud of everything I\u2019ve done and it has to have that integrity to it, I just got to the point where I want to do and look I\u2019ve always taken care of this and taking care of this band and this band and that band, so it\u2019s not like I\u2019m unfamiliar with how this kind of works, I just wanted to get away from that while product cycle bullshit, live your life a little bit, man, you deserve it, this is as much as I\u2019ve done in however many years, I really haven\u2019t taken time to just really, really, really focus on me and I think that\u2019s a reflection in the music. It wasn\u2019t planned out I just let the wind blow on this thing, like I was saying, taking one note at a time. Like I said before also, it\u2019s not rocket science, it\u2019s just eleven pretty fuckin\u2019 killer songs, that\u2019s it. I\u2019m not one of those arrogant bastards I\u2019m just a musician and I\u2019m no different to anybody else.<\/p>\n

I always say you\u2019re just a normal person with just a really cool job.<\/strong>
\nExactly *laughs* and I\u2019m not bitchin\u2019. I think I\u2019ve just talked about this album so much I should let the music do the talking for it, I hate to just take it apart because it\u2019s not supposed to be taken apart it\u2019s supposed to be listened to and that\u2019s my main point.<\/p>\n

\u2018Vulgar Display of Power\u2019 turned 25 this year, still to this day such an amazing album. What are your best memories of releasing what would become such an important album in the world of metal?<\/strong>
\nOh shit I could go on forever and you ain\u2019t got enough ear *laughs*. That\u2019s one of my favourite records we ever did and the craziest thing is when we did that record everything just started falling into place and that was exactly what happened with this last record that I just did, it was just one of things that just fell into place, and you really can\u2019t try to scientifically figure out why, if it\u2019s happening fuckin\u2019 go with it that\u2019s all I can say. You know with \u2018Vulgar\u2019 we never in a million years thought it would have the impact that it did, we knew that after we finished it and had a copy of it that we were like little kids in a candy store walking around with this thing for four months playing it to everybody that we knew and looking back at it now I guess it really was a game changer. We were just four guys putting it together and that\u2019s the way I\u2019ve tried to stay, when you start trying to put too much shit in it or overthink stuff that\u2019s when it really gets in the way of the whole creative process you know? If\u00a0 Vinnie had come up with a drum beat or Dime had come up with a riff or I came up with a riff you know Dime and I worked real closely on all of those riffs, I don\u2019t like to speak much about it now because he\u2019s not here to say yes that\u2019s true but we worked everything together. So when he passed it was like losing your while right side of your body and it\u2019s one of those things I\u2019ve had to get over\u00a0 and I think I used the road as just covering up some of those feeling you know?\u00a0 I had to do a lot of deep soul searching. The recording of my own shit and not listening to someone else helped me kind of cathartically do it.<\/p>\n

Lastly let\u2019s look ahead to the future, finish this sentence for me, by the end of 2017 Rex Brown wants to\u2026<\/strong>
\nRex Brown wants to take a vacation *laughs*. Rex Brown wants to go rock some fuckin\u2019 heads off, man. That\u2019s it, plain and simple.<\/p>\n

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Essential Information<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong>\u00a0Texas<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.rexbrown.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> Smoke On This (Out Now \u2013 eOne Music)<\/p>\n

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