PHILIP ANSELMO And THE ILLEGALS

Philip Anselmo, legendary frontman of PANTERA and DOWN, will kick off the second leg of his first-ever solo tour, dubbed "Technicians Of Distortion", on January 10 in Houston, Texas and head westward, trampling through over a dozen cities with additional support provided by HYMNS. On this trek, Anselmo will once again be joined by his backup band THE ILLEGALS — guitarist Marzi Montazeri (ex-SUPERJOINT RITUAL), drummer José Manuel Gonzales (WARBEAST) and bassist Steve Taylor. Anselmo's recently released, limited-edition two-song "Housecore Horror Fest" 10-inch vinyl EP will be available for purchase on all tour dates. A new one-and-a-half-minute promotional video for the upcoming tour can be seen below. Anselmo's career-first solo album, "Walk Through Exits Only", sold around 8,700 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 35 on The Billboard 200 chart. Produced by Anselmo and Michael Thompson, and recorded over the past couple of years at Philip's New Orleans studio, Nodferatu's Lair, "Walk Through Exits Only" is abrasive, aggressive, anthemic and 100% Anselmo. According to Anselmo, he worked on an estimated 15-17 songs for "Walk Through Exits Only", which was issued via his own Housecore Records (MRI/Megaforce) "I could've put on any number (of songs) I wanted, but for me, these eight songs all together, 40-something minutes, that's my idea of a proper listening length," he tells Billboard.com. "When you start to get longer it gets a little redundant and boring, and I didn't want to bore anybody." Asked why he felt the need to start another band outside of DOWN, Anselmo told The Washington Times: "If you look at DOWN, we're made up of three different bands, EYEHATEGOD and CROWBAR and whatever the fuck Pepper's [Keenan, guitar] doing, you know; he does a lot of different things. So, we have this flexibility of freedom and dead time is lame. Instead of starting some fucking other band, you know, branding it with a name and having to have people buy into a whole new name, this is something I wanted to do for the long term and something I can do long term because I don't want any other fucking projects. That's the beauty of having a solo band. I can really do what I want. So, 'Walk Through Exits Only' is one expression of music. We have another EP coming out in October that's really completely different than anything that I've put out. And then we're gonna get even more different and base it off the