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The message, unexpected and awful, arrived late at night, as the previous missive had done 14 years ago. December 8, 2004, to be exact. A supremely talented guitarist and a first-class person, far too young and vital to die, had disappeared. In the case of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, there was extra weight: he was murdered, killed on stage doing what he liked most: playing guitar with his band Damageplan, his brother Vincent Paul Abbott on the drums Dime was 38 years old.
When the notice appeared around midnight on June 22, 2018 – "Pantera drummer, co-founder Vinnie Paul Dead" – it was a punch, a return to this sad night of disbelief over and over again. A decade earlier. Vinnie, the torchbearer of her younger brother – not only for 14 years, but for their entire personal and professional life – was gone. He was talented, fair, hard-working, stoic, and at age 54 he had decades of music and life in front of him.
My first memory of Pantera is a regret: in 1990, as TEAR magazine, the offer came to send a reporter to Dallas for a launch party for Cowboys from hell, The first album of Pantera. As editor, I had resignations, but I chose not to go there and sent a reporter, Tom Farrell – who died five years ago – to represent the magazine and get the scoop. I missed a helluva party.
Over the next few years, I caught up on this spectacular send-off, going to many concerts – some, like the late-tour Las Vegas show with Type O Negative – crazy and incredibly memorable, even through a whiskey and Jagermeister fog. Since the early 1990s, I've interviewed singer Phil Anselmo and Vinnie as often as possible, and bassist Rex Brown and Dime less often, for no other reason than schedules and availability. Some conversations were in person, others on the phone. Once, in New York, Anselmo flipped through a boxing magazine while talking with me; another time, he peed during our interview, which, fortunately, was on the phone. Vinnie has never given me less attention and respect.
In 1994, I was writing for The Los Angeles Times, who, for some reason, had deigned to cover the metal, and they hired me to do much of that blanket. When Far Beyond Driven Started at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, I wrote that the album was "not for the low ear," the caller "really ruthless" and "fierce and dynamic. " That's exactly what I want from my metal, and why Pantera was and remains one of my top three metal bands. That, and the Texas / South penchant that permeate their manners and their music, particularly well presented in Rebel Meets Rebel, the country-metal project that the Abbott brothers (with Brown) did with David Allan Coe.
The rebel meets the rebel, "the rebel meets the rebel"
Vinnie, although I can not claim to have an insider knowledge, has always struck me as a man-man, a stoic and straight guy of Clint Eastwood – but unlike these lone heroes, Vinnie still had her sidekick in Dime. The first dynamic of Pantera could be difficult, as told me Terry Glaze, a former singer. In disagreements, it would often be two against the world – the Abbotts – and in some cases at the time, three, when the father-producer / supporter Jerry Abbott (who has the anguish of killing the two sons before him) led the group. But Pantera was at his best musical and personal when he was four against the world, which was usually the case.
My last discussion with Vinnie goes back two years. I had an incredible honor: I was asked to write the cover notes for the reissue of their 1996 album, The big trend of the south. I had to interview Vinnie, Rex, Phil and several staff members of the label and studio involved in the group during this period. At the time said for me to speak Vinnie by phone, I was on the street in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, among other appointments. I tried to find a quiet bench, and I conducted my interview there, while the kids were playing around me.
Vinnie said that the manufacture of Trendkill Always seemed "very close, very familiar" and told a tale about the album's title. "It was one of the last things that happened, because the record company mistakenly took the title of" The Great Southern Trendkillers. "We were late on the deadline and they almost insisted for us to call it so. It was like "No, that's called" The Great Southern Whore Trendkill "and you're going to change it, c & # 39; is like this: "The record company never really had any influence on us; it was always us four and [producer] Terry date. Whenever they tried to impose us or do something, we were not at all in agreement and rather against it. I'm sure this record frightened them to death, too, but they did have it, and the highest one was number four on Billboard, of which our previous one was number 1. Still, if you get to the Top 10 and you are a heavy MTV not paying attention to you, and the mainstream rock is not paying attention, to have that kind of success, it's huge. "
Trendkill It was a very hard album to make – Anselmo recorded in New Orleans, isolated because of drug problems – while the rest of the band were working in Texas, in the new Chasin & Jason Studios on the property of Dime. The brothers were not angels, but, they were anti-hard drugs while enjoying their whiskey and their pot. Unlike Anselmo, they were not driven by demons. The lyrics of "Suicide Note Pt. 1" did not sound for Vinnie. Yet when we talk about the album twenty years later, Vinnie was direct about anger at Anselmo, but wary for the posterity of the cover notes: "Nah, I do not need to paint it as too dark of a period of time, but it was really hard to make the record, do the tour and get through it all at that time. "A true gentleman.
Pantera, "Slide the waters"
As for the industry's congratulations, Vinnie was also very neutral: "We have been nominated for four Grammys, and have never won one. We were beaten by Rage Against The Machine, Deftones, Soundgarden and someone else [editor’s note: Tool, in 1998]but none of these bands are heavy metal bands, so that was one more thing that meant the industry was not aware of heavy metal, let alone Pantera. It was one thing I wanted to win because my mother; she did not know much about music, but the Grammys were special to her. I always have the four nominations hanging on the wall in my house to remind me that I've never won.
But the scary love of fans, peers and the unshakable fraternal fellowship – that they have modeled on the Van Halen brothers Alex and Eddie, the heavyweight, rock-solid drummer and incredibly innovative and fast guitarist – and the Seven official albums of Pantera Anselmo is a legacy that few can match. Nobody has ever had a bad say about Vinnie, and rightly so. He was really one of the few "good guys". Messages from musicians of all genres have collapsed – Sebastian Bach cried in a video, Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) praised Vinnie's kindness; the magician Criss Angel tweeted that he "missed" his Vegas boyfriend; Howard Stern, sidekick and drummer, Richard Christy, rightly called him "John Bohnam of Metal". Then, in the early 90s, I met and dragged a few members of Alice in Chains while they were away from a household name. What did they want to do? Watch a video at Pantera's house in which they were presented. Jerry Cantrell could not have been more excited.
Oh, and this Vegas show and the shenanigans that ensue? More than 25 years ago, and still a participant in biz music said, "This was the most rock and roll weekend of my life, hands up." Another remembers, " The show at Thomas and Mack Center [in Vegas] was the last show of the tour. After which Pantera was banned from the hall because of the toilets that the Type O made them undergo as an end of turn. Risk of fire. "
One of my memories of this deliciously debauched and very metal weekend: at the MGM Grand Hotel, after the show, the bands and their entourage – label people, journalists, photographers who were all fans – were hanging out at the casino. I remember Vinnie, in boxers and cowboy boots, feet resting on a blackjack table. Also, Vinnie walked through the casino, her model / girlfriend Penthouse warmer than hell on her arm. It was a guy who had everything to have fun, not letting himself go to an attitude other than freshness and kindness.
In the book I co-wrote with Jon Wiederhorn, Stronger than hell: the definitive oral history of the metalVinnie glanced at the big picture, observing, "My life has been a gigantic comic book, and on the other hand, it is a gigantic book of laurels and d & # 39; incredible achievements, and on the other hand, a book full of horror. stories. It's a big book. "And now, unfortunately, the book is closed.
I feel broken by the passage of such good people who have given the world a musical outlet for anxiety and suffering, finally sowing transcendence through their music and their attitudes. As the words of "I'm Broken" go: "I wonder if we will smile in our coffins / While our loved ones are crying the day / The absence of our faces / Live, laugh, eyes awake / Is it too much for them to take? "Yes, yes it is. Thank you for everything, Vinnie.
Vinnie Paul best songs: Pantera and Beyond
Vinnie Paul: Pantera Playlist and Beyond
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