Forever synonymous with the New Orleans metal scene, the name Kirk Windstein holds a legendary status with people on the eternal search for heavy riffs. While some may know him from his days with Down, his main outlet forever remains Crowbar, which has been punishing crowds for over 30 years now, with an unmatched crushing heaviness. Beyond the sheer brutality, Crowbar creates an unparalleled deep emotional bound with its most loyal fans. They pour their guts out into their slow, deliberate heavy doom/sludge and their live shows have seen many a fan pouring their rawest, most visceral pains back at the band.
Their 12th LP, Zero and Below, released in 2022, taps into the doomiest side of the band’s identity. Released on MNRK Heavy, the album shows a band that’s every bit as relevant as ever and ready to dominate stages everywhere.
Catch them live on tour across the US, July 22nd through August 27th, with special guests Spirit Adrift.
What have you been listening to the most lately?
Um, I mean, I don’t have time for anything in my personal life and business life, so I don’t even get to listen to music that often. When I’m driving, I normally listen to the radio, so I listen to an 80’s pop station, and I listen to an old school rock and roll station that plays stuff from the 60’s all the way up to the early 80’s. If I am listening to music on a stereo or something, it’s mainly old school stuff. I still listen to my original old KISS stuff, THIN LIZZY, BLACK SABBATH, MICHAEL SCHENKER and UFO, stuff like that. MOTÖRHEAD. My lifestyle, the way it is, I really don’t get a chance to check out current bands’ music. When I was younger, I didn’t have a family and didn’t really have a care in the world, it was really easy to research and find new bands and listen to music a lot. I really wish I had time to do that still.
Do you still get to go to concerts frequently or your concert intake is through touring mainly?
I try if it’s something I really want to see, and I’m not on tour, which I mean, with the pandemic everything’s screwed up anyway. Since 2020, the beginning of the pandemic, I haven’t really been able to see any live music with the exception of local dwellings that play cover songs. I mean, they’re great bands and a lot of them are great musicians, great singers. As far as touring bands coming through town, I haven’t seen a show in forever but it’s something where, my wife and I really enjoy going out to see a band we really like or maybe a band we’ve heard about being great.
What’s the last time that you remember being really stoked on going to see a touring band like this?
It’s probably been five years or something now, but SAXON played here in New Orleans and I’m actually friends with Paul Quinn, the lead guitar player, one of the original guy. We’ve been playing with them a lot in Europe, especially Germany and stuff, so I know all the guys and they know I’m a Saxon freak. So yeah, that was a while ago, but there really hasn’t been a whole heck of a lot coming through like that. As I said, I’m more into old school stuff and a lot of those bands are not around anymore or whatever. But yeah, Saxon was the last one that I was really pumped up, where I kind of felt like a kid again.
Overall, what would be some of the most memorable shows that you remember seeing?
My first real arena rock concert was VAN HALEN in 1980, for Women and Children First. That, of course, was extremely memorable. I was lucky enough to see the original Van Halen, I saw them in 1980 and 1981, with David Lee Roth and all the old school stuff. From there, I started seeing a lot of tour packages at the Superdome. We had A Day of Rock and Roll, they’d call it and it’d be HEART, TED NUGENT, REO SPEEDWAGON, MOLLY HATCHET, a lot of different bands that were really great rock bands. All of those concerts were very special. For me personally, THIN LIZZY was my favorite band, seeing MOTÖRHEAD and being able to actually play a few festivals with them, and seeing them on the big outdoor stages was always great. I really miss being able to tour Europe in the summer, it’s something I’ve done for so long. There’s always some great old school bands at those festivals. We’re able to play the same day as JUDAS PRIEST, ZZ TOP or KISS, or AEROSMITH, a lot of the bands that I grew up with and that’s all special.
On a smaller scale, I guess at some point you started diving a little deeper into smaller, more underground concerts. What do you remember being your favorite local band back then?
The original GRAVEYARD RODEO were really killer. They were kind of the real godfathers of a lot of stuff that were along my lines, with the exception of EXHORDER who were a thrash bands and amazing at it.
In terms of bands that you’ve toured with, what are some that impressed you the most? Bands that you just add to watch their set night after night?
Easiest question ever. Hands down, PANTERA. We were lucky enough to do two tours with Pantera who were a younger and newer band. It always turned into a party as well but they were the best live band that I’ve ever toured with. I mean, there were many. If I’m on tour with another band, I like being able to be a fan as well. We got to go on tour with SEPULTURA and SACRED REICH and I’m a big fan of both of those bands so I tried to watch as much as I could of those sets. You know, we’ve toured with so many bands, it’s crazy. We did a short tour with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, that was great. With CARCASS, that was great. But definitely Pantera. Watching Dime and the whole band, as tight as they were. At the time, they were still relatively young and hungry and about to hit it big and then they did it and we went on tour with them on the Far Beyond Driven. We were on tour in New York and they got the news that Far Beyond Driven had gone number one in the US on Billboard, it was a platinum record within one week. It was special moments, it was pretty cool.
Do you have any memory of a band that you toured with, which you didn’t really know heading in and got blown away discovering them?
I would say when we supported PARADISE LOST in Europe and it was a long tour, like seven weeks or something. I’d heard a bit of Paradise Lost stuff and actually I’d flown over to Germany to do a press tour and one of the record label guys had a cassette of the Paradise Lost Icon record in his car. I had heard the first record I believe, but when he was playing Icon, like we drove through Germany and France, different spots all around doing press and that was pretty much the only record we listened to and, oh my god, I loved it. We were lucky they asked us to come out on tour, back in 94, they were amazing. I fell in love with the band and met the guys. I didn’t know much about them until that press tour and hearing that album but to see them live too was just great. The shows were good, the crowds were good, it was a great time in general.
Is there a band that you didn’t really enjoy much on record but seeing them live totally changed your opinion?
That’s a tough one. I mean, a lot of bands, especially back in the early 80’s, a lot of their earlier records, the production was not so great because it was such a tight budget. There was a band from Phoenix in the early to mid 80’s called ICON. The record, I did like it, but when I saw them live, it was unbelievable, they really sounded amazing live. Killer guitar tones, the mix was great, they were just great musicians. Sadly, they were never really heard of. They put out the first record, production was a little weird but the songs are great. Then, they kind of tried to go more commercial, blah, blah, blah, and they just broke up and kind of fell off the face of earth. They were a great band, but they were a great, great live band. I liked the record, but after seeing them live, I fell in love with the record.
Do you remember the first time that music had an impact on you? The first time that you discovered that this was a thing for you?
Growing up, my dad was a big music fan. A lot of times, on Saturdays or something, he might put on some records, have a couple of drinks or something, listen to music. So I’ve always been a huge music fan, I was kind of brought up on it. My mom played piano, she loved music, although she was much more into the 50’s classics. I remember seeing the NEIL DIAMOND records and SONNY AND CHER and all this kind of stuff that my mom would play as well. My first real rock star that I idolized was ELTON JOHN, believe it or not. I was about eight or nine years old, I bought Elton John’s Greatest Hits Volume One. I loved every song and I still do to this day, and it came out in 1973. But the thing that did it for me was the original KISS. I was ten or eleven years old and a kid that I was friends with had brought a magazine and I was drawn to the image. Then a friend of mine, Kevin, brought me his older brother’s copy of Kiss Alive! to take home one night. I listened to it a couple of times and I was sold. It was like, “I want to do that. I want to play music, I want to write songs.”
What was next in terms of musical milestones for you? Discoveries that opened up a new world for you?
I want to say, the discovery of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement was extremely important in my love of heavy metal, my love of music, my love of musicians. The first quote unquote metal band I heard was JUDAS PRIEST on Hell Bent On Leather. From there, it just went on. There were so many killer bands. The first two IRON MAIDEN records. It was still ’82 or something and I remember going to a record store -all we had was vinyl and cassette- and looking at all the different bands and I picked up Iron Maiden Number of the Beast. I didn’t know that they had switched vocalist so I bought the record home and I’m like, “This is not Paul Di’Anno”. It took me a little while to get used to it. Of course, Bruce is a much better singer but for me personally, I still have a special place in my heart for those first two Iron Maiden records because they were big on me, as far as influence. Then bands like MOTÖRHEAD and SAXON, I mean, you name it, they just kept coming…ANGEL WITCH. Then, I had already known about SCORPIONS, but bands like them, or ACCEPT from Germany, still one of my favorite bands. It was a plethora of everything. Guys would bring in cassette tapes and trade them in high school. Then, it was all about hanging out at the record stores and listening to music and talking to the guys that worked there and finding out about new metal bands. It was a great time in the early 80’s up until about ’85 or whatever, when I first started playing live. I started playing with my cover song band and dipping into writing some of my own. All of it was extremely important to my love for music.
Is there a song that you discovered as a cover first, and which, despite hearing the original later on, will always remain the reference version for you? One that, even if perhaps you eventually got into the original artists, that cover version always remained superior to you.
There are a lot of songs I didn’t realize were covers. On the early Zeppelins, I mean, of course they’re famous for stealing stuff as well, but they also did of a lot of blues classic standards. Babe, I’m Gonna Leave you was a cover song as well. I would say hearing Diamonds and Rust on Unleashed In The East by JUDAS PRIEST, I had no idea that was JOAN BAEZ, of all people. I didn’t know The Green Manalishi was originally by FLEETWOOD MAC with Peter Green. Those two songs in particular really stand out as something that I thought they were Judas Priest songs. Really, they were because they made them their own, as great as the original. Of course, one of the most famous of all time, would have to be All Along The Watchtower, by JIMI HENDRIX, which is BOB DYLAN originally. I didn’t know MANFRED MANN’s Blinded By The Light, which was a massive radio hit, was a BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN song as well. Those are great examples of bands taking a song and making it their own. I’ve listened to the originals and I don’t really care for the Bruce Springsteen version but I think the Manfred Mann’s version is just fantastic.
Do you have any unpopular music opinions that you’d like to defend? Something that you truly love but can hardly find anyone to agree with you on it?
There’s a lot of artists I like that my friends don’t listen to but they’re very successful artists. I love SEAL but my group of friends, they don’t listen to that kind of stuff. I’m really a huge fan of 70’s soft rock and a lot of one-hit-wonder bands stuff or even bands with a couple of hits, like SEALS AND CROFTS, I love all that kind of stuff. Great songwriting, great vocalist, right?
We’ve talked about a lot of classic bands that had long careers. What are some examples of bands with an extensive discography that eventually put out some of their best stuff very late in their career?
I’m honestly a very big fan of the last few SAXON records, the last few ACCEPT records. I’m a big, big fan of JUDAS PRIEST’s Firepower record. I think it’s great, I listen to it quite often. I like certain things off the previous recent records but as a whole album, it just didn’t quite hit me right. Then when somebody was like, “man, you gotta hear the new Priest!”, and I was like, “Yeah, Okay.” I heard it while on a long tour and I remember hearing the whole record and staying up later, listening to it a couple of times in a row. I was like, “this is a fucking killer record!” So, I listened to that one for a long time, and still do from time to time when I have a chance. I think that record could have been squeezed between Defenders Of The Faith and Painkiller. I could do without Ram It Down. I mean, I love the title track and I love Blood Red Skies, but I don’t really care for the rest of the record. Priest are one of my favorite bands ever but this is just not for me, so to speak, but I think Firepower could easily fit in that era, in the late 80’s.
Can you think of a band or artist that put out only one fantastic release, and then disbanded? One that you really wish they would have kept going.
There’s a lot of bands that have one classic record in a really bad run. I would say an example of that was the Argus album from WISHBONE ASH. I mean, I’ve heard about Wishbone Ash, I like everything I’ve heard, but this album is just a few notches above anything else they’ve ever done, in my opinion. That’s the case with a lot of older bands, where there’s one album that’s just classic.
In closing, any projects that you would like to promote?
Right now, it’s all about Crowbar. I mean, I am doing a second solo record, but that won’t be completed for a good while and won’t come out till sometime next year. But yeah, Crowbar, we’re excited to get on the road. We’re excited to release the record, we had been sitting on it for two years, and the band loves it. We love the record, even after two years of it not being out. I’ve probably listened to it 50 or 60 times during the pandemic, the whole record. I love it, and so do the other guys.
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