DOWN will perform live for the first time in four years as part of a virtual concert later this month. The news of the acclaimed supergroup's return to live activity was broken by DOWN's longtime manager, SKID ROW guitarist Dave "Snake" Sabo, who guested on this past Sunday's (August 2) episode of "Tribute Wars", the Internet show co-hosted by MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson. Speaking about how he has been keeping busy on the managerial front, Sabo said (see video below): "I've been managing since 2006, which seems like a lifetime ago, and it kind of is. I've been managing the band DOWN since then — Philip Anselmo and Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein — and that, for a long time, took up a lot of our time. But they've taken a bit of a hiatus. They're actually gonna be doing one of those streaming live shows August 22nd. So we'll have more information out online as that progresses, as we get closer." Last month, Windstein told Revolver that DOWN was planning "something really special in the next few months," but he offered no further details. A founding member of DOWN, Windstein left the band in 2013 in order to focus on CROWBAR and his family life. He was replaced by Bobby Landgraf, DOWN's former guitar tech who was previously in GAHDZILLA MOTOR COMPANY, a 1990s outfit also featuring Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS, WATCHTOWER), and HONKY. Windstein announced his return to DOWN last year, with the band confirming a number of festival appearances for 2020, all of which have since been canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe. Asked if DOWN has started work on new material, Kirk told Revolver: "There's actually been no talk of that. The main thing was trying to do the European festivals and Psycho Las Vegas [in Las Vegas]. Psycho Las Vegas was pushed back a year, and, obviously, the European festivals were all canceled. So I have no idea what's in the future. We're working on something really special here in the next few months that I'm excited about, and that's all I can really say. I'm super excited to get together with all the guys again." DOWN was forced to cancel a number of shows in 2016 after singer Philip Anselmo was filmed giving a Nazi salute and shouting "white power" at a California concert. Guitarist Keenan later offered his take on what transpired, telling Metal Wani that DOWN was "far from done" after the controversial incident. "You know, DOWN didn't do anything wrong," he said. "I mean, we were just guilty by association on that one. That was Phil's mistake. I've spoken to Phil and told him to get his shit together, and he is. He knows he made a mistake and was being stupid." He continued: "I've known the guy [most of my life]. He's not what that whole thing framed him to be at all. But, yeah, there's definitely a future for DOWN. I wouldn't throw all the shit we've done, beautiful music we've done on one stupid moment that was caught on camera, and he apologized for. [So we are] far from done." DOWN's last live appearance took place in August 2016 at the Psycho Las Vegas festival in Las Vegas.
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