December 12, 2016 - 12:53 AMT
Ex-Pantera bassist Rex Brown set to release solo album next year

Former Pantera bassist Rex Brown is set to release his debut solo album in May 2017. He has previously described the LP as a “monster,” and it will reportedly see him singing and playing guitar and bass on tracks inspired by his love of 1970s music, NME said.

Speaking on Eddie Trunk’s SiriusXM show Trunk Nation earlier this week, Brown said; “I went to [the] NAMM [convention in Anaheim, California] last year, and I have a really good friend, this songwriter, Lance Harvill – a great songwriter and just killer guitar player. And we started putting together songs. And it’s just one of those things, I feel free again.”

He added: “Man, I’m a musician number one, and doing this thing on my own and being an artist is what I’ve wanted to do for a long time. So I’m just letting the wind blow, buddy. That’s all you can do. And the material on this is as good as anything I’ve ever done.”

Speaking of making his solo album at Sherman’s Cygnus Sound studio, Brown said: “Nashville has become this hotbed of super-cool people. You go to L.A. and you ask somebody to play on your record and they go, ‘How much?’ without playing a note. Fuck you! Nashville, there’s just this community that welcomed me in. I lived at [Caleb’s] place; he’s got a huge spread.”

There will be some touring surrounding the release but according to Brown, “it’s not gonna be extensive touring”. He continued, “We’re going to Europe, doing a bunch of festivals, and then we’ll see where we go from there.”

Speaking to Metal Hammer earlier this year about the album, Brown described it as “a rock and roll record. It’s not your standard fare or typical metal thing.”

He added; “I was always a big Led Zeppelin fan and even though it has its little fringes of it… It’s a new journey that sounds like anywhere from FOGHAT to old Tom Waits. I’m a child of the 70s and I love those kind of songs.”