Sludge metal outfit Down will reportedly be reuniting their NOLA era lineup for a live stream performance on August 22. This news was announced by the group’s manager and former Skid Row guitarist Dave “Snake” Sabo, who revealed this information during Megadeth bassist David Ellefson’s “Tribute Wars” podcast yesterday.

The NOLA era lineup includes vocalist Phil Anselmo of Pantera, guitarist Pepper Keenan of Corrosion of Conformity, guitarist/bassist Kirk Windstein of Crowbar and drummer Jimmy Bower. Windstein rejoined the group last year and was reportedly set on appearing at the group’s various concert dates across the United States, however these plans were scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Todd Strange was known for playing live with the group during the era of this recording, he did not play the instrument in the studio sessions for NOLA (this was handled by Windstein), however he is credited on the project’s release. As of press time, there hasn’t been any announcement regarding Strange’s involvement with this reunion.

“I’ve been managing since 2006, which seems like a lifetime ago, and it kind of is. I’ve been managing the band DOWN since then – Philip Anselmo and Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein – and that, for a long time, took up a lot of our time,” Sabo said during the podcast. “But they’ve taken a bit of a hiatus. They’re actually gonna be doing one of those streaming live shows August 22nd. So we’ll have more information out online as that progresses, as we get closer.”

NOLA is the band’s seminal 1995 debut album, which is named after abbreviation New Orleans, Louisiana, where the project was recorded. The group were scheduled to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album this year.

This event will be the band’s first live show since 2016, following the band’s backlash from the metal community, after Anselmo was filmed allegedly giving a Nazi salute and stating “white power.” While the performer apologized for the incident, he made statements regarding “fake journalism” within the metal community in 2017 and was dropped from performances as recently as last year. Keenan offered his take on the incident, stating that the blame was squarely on Anselmo, who he encouraged to “get his shit together” following the incident.

“You know, Down didn’t do anything wrong,” Keenan stated. “I mean, we were just guilty by association on that one. That was Phil’s mistake. I’ve spoken to Phil and told him to get his shit together, and he is. He knows he made a mistake and was being stupid.”

Check out the podcast below:

Updated (8/11): Down’s current live bassist Pat Bruders has been confirmed for this upcoming performance. The performance has also been announced for August 29 (it is unknown if it was rescheduled or if Sabo simply misspoke) at 6:00 p.m. EST. The event will be rebroadcast during the following two days at the same time. Tickets for the event can be purchased here. Ten percent of these proceeds will be donated to the United Houma Nation, in support of Louisiana’s Houma people.