After the whole "Phil Anselmo white power" thing, there was a pretty considerable amount of blowback for the vocalist. Corrosion of Conformity and Down guitarist Pepper Keenan said he forgives Anselmo back in February, though in March Down still pulled out of festival appearances due to Anselmo feeling pretty embarrassed about the whole thing.
After that it was pretty much radio silence from Down, save for the band being scheduled to appear at Psycho Las Vegas. Though according to a recent interview with Anselmo posted on his website, Down certainly isn't dead.
“I think between myself, Patrick Bruders and one James Bower from Eyehategod… We haven’t seen much of Pepper, because he’s obviously been busy with COC. That’s the freedom that rock and roll brings. So, yeah, we’re all kind of doing our own things but we always come back together because Black Sabbath, Trouble and Saint Vitus bring us back together, and that’s where we started from, you know what I’m saying?”
Let's be real here and come to terms with the fact that Down has never been, and probably never will be, a "records every two years a big ass tours"-type of band. It never has been, it never will be, so the fact that Down is returning at all from its usual dormancy is awesome.
