Wonderfully lazy headbanging with the biting southern blues / heavy metal of the gents from Down. Down - situated in New Orleans, Louisiana - has on the payroll: Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown (both ex-Pantera), Pepper Keenan (Corrosion Of Conformity) and Jimmy Bower and Kirk Windstein (both Crowbar). Initially a Pantera side-project, Down is now top priority for Anselmo & Co. A fresh dive into southern rock, doom metal and stoner-rock that has its breeding ground in bands like Led Zeppelin and St Vitus. Anselmo’s voice also impressively honours that of Metallica’s James Hetfield and David Coverdale in the Deep Purple days, a fiery mix of metal and searing soul. Down now returns to AB after a brilliant ABconcert in 2008 and the live DVD/CD ‘Diary of a Mad Band: Europe in the Year of VI’ in 2010.

Special guest will be none less than Duff McKagan’s Loaded. We know McKagan of course from Guns n’ Roses and Velvet Revolver, and after Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots) turned his back on Velvet Revolver for good, McKagan dusted Loaded off for a new run. April will see the release of their third studio album ‘The Taking’. Their bluesy hard-rock has influences from such diverse corners as Thin Lizzy or The Rolling Stones.