# Jimmy Bower
**Jimmy Bower** (James Joseph Bower III, born 1968) is an American multi-instrumentalist from New Orleans, Louisiana, best known as the drummer and a founding member of the Southern metal band [Down](https://www.edgepedia.org/down-band) and the guitarist and a founding member of the sludge metal (slow, heavy, sludgy blues-based metal genre) band [Eyehategod](https://www.edgepedia.org/eyehategod)[1](https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Jimmy_Bower/17129). He is a central figure of the New Orleans sludge metal scene, and across three decades he has also played with Crowbar, Superjoint (formerly Superjoint Ritual), Corrosion of Conformity, and his own short-lived Mystick Krewe of Clearlight[1](https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Jimmy_Bower/17129) • [4](https://clrvynt.com/jimmy-bower-interview/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1968, New Orleans, Louisiana[1](https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Jimmy_Bower/17129) |
| Main roles | Drummer and founding member of Down; guitarist and founding member of Eyehategod[1](https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Jimmy_Bower/17129) |
| Other bands | Crowbar (drums, mid-1990s two-year stint), Superjoint, Corrosion of Conformity, Mystick Krewe of Clearlight[2](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/biographies/how-crowbar-got-an-unlikely-late-career-boost-from-tiktok) • [4](https://clrvynt.com/jimmy-bower-interview/) |
| Down tenure | Drums 1992–1996, 1999–2002, and 2006–present, spanning NOLA (1995) through Volume V (2026)[1](https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Jimmy_Bower/17129) |
| Eyehategod albums | In the Name of Suffering (1990), Take as Needed for Pain (1993), Dopesick (1996), Confederacy of Ruined Lives (2000), EYEHATEGOD (2014), A History of Nomadic Behavior (2021)[9](https://eyehategod.fandom.com/wiki/Jimmy_Bower) |
| Musical start | Began on snare drum in 3rd grade; took up guitar at 18 in the band that became Crowbar[6](https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2011/07/15/brief-interviews-with-nihilistic-men-vol-1-jimmy-bower-eyehategod-down/) |
## Early years and musical background
Bower grew up in New Orleans, a city he describes as a natural music hub where jazz was essentially created and the blues began just north in [Mississippi](https://www.edgepedia.org/mississippi)[6](https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2011/07/15/brief-interviews-with-nihilistic-men-vol-1-jimmy-bower-eyehategod-down/). His earliest musical education came from country records: his father played [Willie Nelson](https://www.edgepedia.org/willie-nelson), Hank Jr., David Allan Coe, and [Merle Haggard](https://www.edgepedia.org/merle-haggard), the music then called outlaw country[6](https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2011/07/15/brief-interviews-with-nihilistic-men-vol-1-jimmy-bower-eyehategod-down/). He started drumming in 3rd grade on snare drum, played in a high school jazz band where a teacher pushed him into improvisation, and cites Bill Ward's work on the first three Black Sabbath records, Vinnie Appice, and John Bonham among his drumming influences[6](https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2011/07/15/brief-interviews-with-nihilistic-men-vol-1-jimmy-bower-eyehategod-down/).
He did not pick up guitar until age 18, when he was in the band Slugs with [Kirk Windstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/kirk-windstein) and Todd Strange, the group that would evolve into Crowbar[3](https://metalplague.com/jimmy-bower-interview/). He has said he learned guitar because, while drumming, he was hearing different parts in his head; when Eyehategod recorded its first album he had been playing guitar for about six months[6](https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2011/07/15/brief-interviews-with-nihilistic-men-vol-1-jimmy-bower-eyehategod-down/). His guitar style remains rhythmic and built on simple power chords, which he attributes to a percussionist's approach[6](https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2011/07/15/brief-interviews-with-nihilistic-men-vol-1-jimmy-bower-eyehategod-down/).
## Crowbar and the New Orleans scene
Bower drummed in Shell Shock, the band fronted by Mike Hatch, and after Hatch's death in late 1988 he and Kirk Windstein continued under a series of names, including The Slugs, before settling on Crowbar[2](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/biographies/how-crowbar-got-an-unlikely-late-career-boost-from-tiktok). Windstein credits Bower with shaping the band's sound: working on the song "Waiting In Silence," Bower began hammering out the slow drumbeat that defined the group's grinding style[2](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/biographies/how-crowbar-got-an-unlikely-late-career-boost-from-tiktok). Bower had left by the time Crowbar released its first album, *Obedience Thru Suffering* (1991), replaced on drums by Craig Nunenmacher, though he rejoined for a two-year stint in the mid-1990s[2](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/biographies/how-crowbar-got-an-unlikely-late-career-boost-from-tiktok).
New Orleans in the early 1990s became a hotbed of underground metal, with musicians regularly moving between bands; Bower's own path, from Crowbar to Eyehategod and back, is a typical example of the scene's interconnection[2](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/biographies/how-crowbar-got-an-unlikely-late-career-boost-from-tiktok).
## Eyehategod
Bower is a founding member and guitarist of Eyehategod, the band most closely identified with the sludge metal label[1](https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Jimmy_Bower/17129). The band's name was coined by its first singer, Chris Hilliard[5](https://themetalden.com/rocket-interviews-jimmy-bower/). Bower has described the band's sound as a heavy blues band and dislikes the "sludge" tag, recalling that when journalists asked what the band sounded like he compared it to trudging through a pool of peanut butter, from which someone derived the word[5](https://themetalden.com/rocket-interviews-jimmy-bower/). In a contemporary account, he summarized the band's stance as "Fuck speed metal": while the local heavy music around them was fast and thrashy, Eyehategod slowed everything down and made noise[11](https://hugoribeiro.com.br/area-restrita/Mudrian-Stories_Behind_25_Extreme_Metal_Masterpieces.pdf).
The band's studio albums with Bower span *In the Name of Suffering* (1990) through *A History of Nomadic Behavior* (2021)[9](https://eyehategod.fandom.com/wiki/Jimmy_Bower). The 2021 album was the band's first without longtime second guitarist Brian Patton, leaving Bower as the sole guitarist; he has said the band now writes as a four-piece and that the missing second guitar is an adjustment that will simply never be filled, since they do not plan to recruit another player[3](https://metalplague.com/jimmy-bower-interview/).
## Down
Down, formed with Pantera vocalist Philip H. Anselmo, guitarists Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein, and Bower on drums, recorded its debut *NOLA* in 1995[1](https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Jimmy_Bower/17129) • [3](https://metalplague.com/jimmy-bower-interview/). Bower has drummed for the band across three tenures, 1992–1996, 1999–2002, and 2006 to the present, appearing on *NOLA* (1995), *Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow...* (2002), *Down III: Over the Under* (2007), the live *Diary of a Mad Band* (2010), and the *Down IV* EPs of 2012 and 2014[1](https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Jimmy_Bower/17129).
He describes Down's writing process as collective: everybody brings riffs to the table, much as in Eyehategod[3](https://metalplague.com/jimmy-bower-interview/). In 2011 he told *Rhythm* magazine that the band had seven songs written for an EP series and would begin recording drum tracks that August[7](https://www.musicradar.com/rhythm/jimmy-bower-on-hitting-the-studio-with-down-485314). After a long hiatus, Down signed to [Nuclear Blast](https://www.edgepedia.org/nuclear-blast) and began tracking its first new album since 2007 in 2025, scheduled for 2026 release[8](https://stg.lambgoat.com/news/48630/down-begin-tracking-first-new-album-since-2007/); the album, *Volume V*, with lead single "Blood Oath," was announced in 2026[1](https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Jimmy_Bower/17129).
## Superjoint and other projects
Bower played guitar in Superjoint Ritual, later renamed Superjoint, alongside Anselmo, contributing to albums including *Use Once And Destroy* (2002)[4](https://clrvynt.com/jimmy-bower-interview/) • [12](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/CMJ/2002/CMJ-764-2002.pdf). He has also done time in [Corrosion of Conformity](https://www.edgepedia.org/corrosion-of-conformity) and led his own short-lived project, Mystick Krewe of Clearlight[4](https://clrvynt.com/jimmy-bower-interview/). More recently he joined En Minor, a mellow project led by Anselmo in which Bower plays drums with brushes, an approach he says he takes from [Don Henley](https://www.edgepedia.org/don-henley)[10](https://echoesanddust.com/2020/02/jimmy-bower-from-eyehategod-down/).
## Style and influences
Bower names the blues, particularly [John Lee Hooker](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-lee-hooker), as his core influence, along with outlaw country and the Melvins, whose *Gluey Porch Treatments* he calls hugely important for the New Orleans sound[6](https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2011/07/15/brief-interviews-with-nihilistic-men-vol-1-jimmy-bower-eyehategod-down/) • [3](https://metalplague.com/jimmy-bower-interview/). He prefers writing off the cuff: Eyehategod riffs often come from taped half-hour improv jams rather than material composed at home[6](https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2011/07/15/brief-interviews-with-nihilistic-men-vol-1-jimmy-bower-eyehategod-down/). As a drummer he describes himself as a rock drummer focused on groove and feel rather than technical display, and he considers drums the most important part of a band because they determine how the music moves[3](https://metalplague.com/jimmy-bower-interview/).
## References
1. [Jimmy Bower, Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives](https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Jimmy_Bower/17129)
2. [How sludge metal legends Crowbar have suddenly become bigger than ever, Louder Sound](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/biographies/how-crowbar-got-an-unlikely-late-career-boost-from-tiktok)
3. [Jimmy Bower Interview, Metal Plague](https://metalplague.com/jimmy-bower-interview/)
4. [Jimmy Bower on 'White Power,' Superjoint and the N-Word, Clrvynt](https://clrvynt.com/jimmy-bower-interview/)
5. [ROCKET Interviews Jimmy Bower, The Metal Den](https://themetalden.com/rocket-interviews-jimmy-bower/)
6. [Brief Interviews with nihilistic men, Vol. 1: Jimmy Bower (Eyehategod/Down), Decibel Magazine](https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2011/07/15/brief-interviews-with-nihilistic-men-vol-1-jimmy-bower-eyehategod-down/)
7. [Jimmy Bower on hitting the studio with Down, MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/rhythm/jimmy-bower-on-hitting-the-studio-with-down-485314)
8. [Down begin tracking first new album since 2007, Lambgoat](https://stg.lambgoat.com/news/48630/down-begin-tracking-first-new-album-since-2007/)
9. [Jimmy Bower, EYEHATEGOD Wiki](https://eyehategod.fandom.com/wiki/Jimmy_Bower)
10. [Interview: Jimmy Bower from Eyehategod / Down, Echoes And Dust](https://echoesanddust.com/2020/02/jimmy-bower-from-eyehategod-down/)
11. [Precious Metal: Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces (excerpt)](https://hugoribeiro.com.br/area-restrita/Mudrian-Stories_Behind_25_Extreme_Metal_Masterpieces.pdf)
12. [CMJ New Music Report, October 2002 (Superjoint Ritual review)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/CMJ/2002/CMJ-764-2002.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Rock, metal, and popular-band musicians › Heavy metal › Heavy metal rhythm sections and instrumentalists › Heavy metal drummers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license