Vinnie Paul talks about Pantera's Legacy

On March 11, 1964 in Abilene, Texas, Heavy Music history was made when Vincent Paul Abbott, also known as "Vinnie Paul", was born with a pair of drum sticks. No really, when you think about successful drummers within Heavy Music that have defined not only the style of playing but also the attitude, Vinnie Paul reigns supreme. Whither you know Vinnie from his legendary performances with Pantera, Damageplan, or Hellyeah. One thing is for sure, Vinnie has always put the pedal to the Metal.

It all started when Vinnie and his brother Darrell Lance Abbott (RIP), also known as "Diamond Darrell", started jamming out to bands like Deep Purple, Van Halen and Kiss. After many jam sessions, the Abbott brothers recruited Donnie Hart on vocals, Terry Glaze on guitar, and Tommy Bradford on bass, and started a band called Pantera's Metal Magic (which eventually became Pantera).


Once the band started picking up steam, singer Donnie Hart left the band and Terry Glaze took over vocals, leaving Dimebag as the only guitarist. Later that year bassist Tommy Bradford quit the band and was replaced by Rex Robert Brown, also known as "Rex Brown". Once the line up was locked Pantera became an underground sensation, specially after being part of regional tours that took them beyond Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

After releasing "Metal Magic" in 1983, which was produced by Dime and Vinnie's father Jerry Abbott, they worked very hard at getting their music exposed to the masses. During the next few years, Pantera released Projects in the Jungle (1984), and I Am the Night (1985). As we all know, all these albums didn't have the same punch as their later albums, mainly because singer Terrence Lee was missing that punch in your face style of vocals. After Pantera decided to switch gears, they parted ways with Terrence Lee and recruited Philip Anselmo. The band released a slightly heavier album in 1988, titled "Power Metal.


Pantera soon decided that they needed to change their musical style and become an engine of aggression and to single-handedly save Heavy Metal, this is when they ripped off the spandex and decided that "these magic clothes don't play music; we do. Let's just go out there and be comfortable—jeans, t-shirt, whatever—and see where it goes." After the release of "Power Metal", Dimebag auditioned for Megadeth, got offered the gig, but he didn't accept it since his condition was that if Megadeth wanted him in the band, they had to also recruit his brother Vinnie.

You may think that Pantera got their "break" really easily since they were such an original hard working band, but the reality is that the band was turned down 28 times! In a leap of faith, everything changed for them when Hurricane Hugo stranded ATCO Records representative Mark Ross in Texas. His boss Derek Shulman asked Ross to go check out Pantera, who he had been interested in signing after receiving numerous amounts of home videos produced by the band. Ross went to see the band at a birthday party, and after a few songs he had no question that ATCO had to sign Pantera! At the end of 1989, the band recorded "Cowboys From Hell" (its major label debut) at Pantego Studios.


"Cowboys From Hell" proved that Pantera had smartly switched gears into a Heavier and more ass kicking sound, that would win them millions of fans worldwide. After the release of the album, Pantera were asked to perform in front of over 500,000 people at the "Monsters of Rock" in Moscow, Russia. The event was a celebration of the new freedom of performing Western music in the former Soviet Union.

From that moment on Pantera became one of the hardest working bands in Heavy Music history, and released legendary albums such as "Vulgar Display of Power" and "Far Beyond Driven", which hit number 1 on the Billboard Charts.

During the production of "The Great Southern Trendkill", it became evident that the band was having internal problems. The personal relations within the band were an all time low, so Anselmo decided to record vocals for this record at Trent Reznor's studio in New Orleans while the rest of the band recorded in Dallas. Once this furious album was released, the band managed to keep their focus on the music and to tour the world non-stop. In a turn of events, on July 13, 1996, Philip Anselmo overdosed on heroine while at a Texas hometown gig.

From that moment the media took out their magnifying glass and had a feast with all the chaos surrounding the band. After many feuds with the media, specially from Anselmo, the band decided to use their stage as their weapon. They definitely proved this with the release of "Live 101 Proof", which also included two studio tracks.

At the turn of the century, Pantera released "Reinventing the Steel" and once again toured the entire world. After a year and a half of successful touring, which included co-headlining Ozzfest 2000 with Black Sabbath, the band came to a halt on September 11, 2001 due to the terrorist attacks in the United States. At the time, Anselmo told his band members that he was going to go take care of his health issues, but ended up reforming Down and Superjoint Ritual

After a few years of waiting for Anselmo to rejoin the band, who was busy on the road with Down and Superjoint Ritual, Dime and Vinnie decided to start Damageplan. At first glimpse, the fans were very confused about the new band, and were desperately waiting for the reunion of Pantera. After lots of hard work, and when they were finally starting make some noise, on December 8, 2004, Dimebag was shot and killed while at a gig at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio. This would be the end of Pantera!


Here is an EXCLUSIVE interview with drumming legend Vinnie Paul, in which we discuss the legacy of Pantera. This interview took place in Los Angeles at the "Black Carpet", at the 3rd installment of Revolver Golden Gods Awards. Grab a black tooth and enjoy!


We want to thank Pantera, Vinnie Paul, Revolver Magazine & all the fans! This piece is dedicated to DIMEBAG (RIP)! \m/

Related links:
Official Pantera site
Damageplan
Hellyeah