SUPERJOINT guitarist Jimmy Bower says that the band is “done” for good.
SUPERJOINT‘s latest album, “Caught Up In The Gears Of Application”, came out in November 2016 via singer Philip Anselmo‘s Housecore record label. Since then, Anselmo and bassist Stephen Taylor have focused primarily on Anselmo‘s PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS solo project, which released its second album, “Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue”, in 2019.
Asked in a new interview with Pierre Gutiérrez of Rock Talks if there are any updates on SUPERJOINT‘s future activities, Bower said: “SUPERJOINT‘s done, man.” When Gutiérrez pressed Bower about whether he means that the band is done “for good,” Jimmy responded: “Uh huh. We don’t wanna do it anymore. We got back together, did a new record and we toured for, like, two or three years. And that’s it. [Philip and Stephen are] focusing on THE ILLEGALS and I’m doing EYEHATEGOD.”
Bower‘a comments come more than a year after Taylor said that he had “no idea” if SUPERJOINT would ever make more music or tour again.
“I think the response [to ‘Caught Up In The Gears Of Application’] was a little less than expected, maybe,” Stephen said during an August 2020 appearance on the “Not These Two Fucking Guys” podcast. “I don’t know if the record did as well as they anticipated. I don’t know what happened. I guess it got a mixed reception, and we just never expanded on another one. And Jimmy started doing EYEHATEGOD, and then we just kept on with the ILLEGALS, and then we started writing the EN MINOR stuff, which is basically all the same people — just revolving to different bands.”
Asked if SUPERJOINT — which was formerly known as SUPERJOINT RITUAL — is “retired for right now,” Stephen replied: “I’m not sure. Never say never, man. But we haven’t wrote anything or discussed anything about any of that. I’m not sure if it’s a dead issue or not, man. I really can’t say. I have no idea.”
Back in June 2019, Anselmo told Metal Underground that he didn’t “really feel like doing SUPERJOINT anymore.”
“Caught Up In The Gears Of Application” was recorded at Philip‘s New Orleans-area studio, Nodferatu’s Lair and was produced by Anselmo and Stephen Berrigan. The effort was mastered by Scott Hull (AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED, PIG DESTROYER) at Visceral Sounds.
SUPERJOINT‘s most recent lineup included guitarists Kevin Bond (CHRIST INVERSION, ARTIMUS PYLEDRIVER) and Jimmy Bower (DOWN, EYEHATEGOD), drummer José Manuel Gonzalez (WARBEAST, PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS) and bassist Stephen Taylor (PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS, WOVEN HAND, 16 HORSE POWER).
Anselmo told Decibel magazine that SUPERJOINT was forced to drop the “RITUAL” from its name was “because there’s a bloodsucking leech out there who took advantage of a situation. But we’re all at fault as well for signing a document that basically has a zero sunset clause, meaning that this person is privy to a cut of any money a ‘SUPERJOINT RITUAL‘ would make. Hence getting rid of the ‘RITUAL,’ coming back as SUPERJOINT, and cutting out that cancer.”
