Rex Brown’s highly anticipated solo album, Smoke on This, will finally be released this Friday (June 28). In this exclusive interview, Brown tells us how the breakup of Pantera, influence from the Beatles and much more helped shape the Smoke on This album.

It took Rex Brown a long time to find his voice for Smoke on This, especially since the folk / blues and country elements of the album offer such a departure from Brown’s past as Pantera and Down’s bassist. Though Smoke on This doesn’t sound anything like Pantera, the legendary metal band still influenced Rex’s latest work, notably on “Buried Alive.”

“[Pantera’s career] was kind of cut short, if you remember,” Brown says. “I didn’t think about it when I performed it, only when I went home. It was cathartic. I was drowning in a black water, man — cases of it. I had to find the real me again. Everything was dropped short, but Philip [Anselmo] and I got back together again [in Down].”

The track “Get Yourself Alright” has a strong Sgt. Pepper vibe to it, which Rex calls “intentional.” “My producer had this sitar thing,” Brown describes. “I ran that through this echoplex backwards and we went to Google and found this thing called a tandoori and it plays through the whole song. The buzz goes through the whole thing.”

Check out our exclusive chat with Rex Brown above and click here to grab a copy of Smoke on This.

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