Vinnie Paul Will Never Be At Peace With What Happened To Dime

Band Photo: Damageplan (?)

The December 2005 issue of Guitar World magazine (web site) contains an exclusive, in-depth interview with former PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott. In the 10-page cover story (view cover here), Vinnie speaks for the first time about Dimebag's murder, the possibility of a PANTERA reunion prior to Dimebag's death, Vinnie's future plans as a musician, and his favorite memories of Dimebag, among many other topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Guitar World: Dime had a reputation for hard living and hard drinking, but what's less known is that he had a serious side and could be remarkably focused. What are some instances in which you saw this side of him?

Vinnie Paul: "Throughout his career, he was always really focused on everything. Toward the end, about a year before all this happened, he really started to develop the business side of himself. He was so proud of his new line of guitars with Dean Guitars and his new amp with Krank Amplification. He probably took that stuff more seriously than anything. He didn't want his name on a piece of shit. He wanted it to be on something that was special, so when somebody got it, they went, 'Wow, this is the best guitar I've ever picked up,' or this is the most kick-ass sounding amp I've ever played.' Dime was all over it with both companies, and that was something I was so proud of him for.

"Some people have this misconception that the dude was loaded 24/7, but he wasn't. He'd do it when he felt like he needed to do it, and then he would back off for two or three days. In truth, we never really did that much drinking before we went onstage. We'd do two or three shots, just enough to get loosened up, and then mayne a couple more while we were playing. It was when we were done playing, after we'd kick everybody's fucking ass and given them everything they came for, that's when the booze would really start to flow. That's when it was time to take the roof off the fucking place."

Guitar World: In 1996, PANTERA released their darkest and most underrated album, "The Great Southern Trendkill". What's the story behind that album?

Vinnie Paul: "That was the most difficult record we ever made. We weren't falling apart, but the band was starting to go in different directions. Philip [Anselmo, PANTERA vocalist] had some well-publicized personal issues, and that made for a really dark record. At the same time, LIMP BIZKIT was blowing up and rap metal was coming in. There was a whole new scene, and people were like, 'What's PANTERA gonna do? Are they gonna do rap metal, too?' We just wanted to make the ultimate, abrasive album the industry's ever gotten. That was our response. It was the first record we made that declined in sales, but it's a platinum record today, so you can't say it wasn't successful. When it came out then, it was probably our most misunderstood record, but today I see posts on the Internet all the time saying, ''Trendkill' is my favorite album. Goddamn, that record broke the mold.' Well, too bad it took you nine fucking years to realize what we were trying to accomplish at the time! [laughs]"

Guitar World: Tell me about "Reinventing the Steel", which turned out to be the final PANTERA album.

Vinnie Paul: "I think that, next to 'Vulgar', that's probably the best record we made. By the time we made it, in 2000, everything had totally changed and music was — and still is — in a total shambles. So we wanted to make a straightforward, anthemic metal record. We wanted to keep the songs as fresh as we could, with old-school roots and new-school traits, and I think we did a really good job on it. I mean, 'Revolution Is My Name' is probably one of the best songs we ever wrote. The guitar riffs and parts Dime came up with are fucking phenomenal. There's probably five songs in that one song!"

Guitar World: PANTERA's breakup was instigated in part by the events of 9/11. Explain what happened.

Vinnie Paul: "That was pretty insane. We flew to Ireland out of JFK [International Airport] just 10 to 12 hours before that happened, man. We landed, got off the plane and people had all these terrible looks on their faces and we didn't know what the hell was going on. We just got this really weird vibe. We just felt that the best thing for us to do was cancel our European Tattoo the Earth tour with SLAYER and go home. We didn't know who was going to get attacked next. We were stranded there for, like, 10 days, and when we finally got back to Dallas, we just said, 'Hey, let's take a little break from this.' "

Guitar World: A lot of people in the metal community had been hoping PANTERA would get back together one day.

Vinnie Paul: "Let's make this clear once and for all: for any fan out there that believed any of the bullshit said by certain people, there never was going to be a PANTERA reunion, ever. If you were married to somebody for 15 or 16 years and they treated you the way we got treated, you don't go back to them, and we weren't going to do that. When we put DAMAGEPLAN together, we were done with PANTERA, but we wanted to respect the fans that loved the band. We felt as bad for them as we felt for ourselves, but we had nothing to do with it going sideways, and we gave every effort we could to keep it together."

Guitar World: Dime always insisted that DAMAGEPLAN was the real deal and not just a side project.

Vinnie Paul: "Damn straight. It was hard to let go of PANTERA and say, 'That's it. I'm done with this. I'm moving on.' Shit, that was the only life we'd ever known. After suffering what I call the defeat of PANTERA, being knocked down to nothing and having to get back up and go again when you're not 19 or 20 years old is one hell of a fucking effort, and me and Dime put everything into DAMAGEPLAN. And trust me, it took everything we had, and we dug as deep as we could. We were going for it and nothing was gonna stop us from getting there. It was just like in the early days.

"Before all of this happened, we'd already written and recorded for the second DAMAGEPLAN record. From where I stood, it looked to me like our first record, 'New Found Power', was our 'Cowboys from Hell', and the second record was gonna be our 'Vulgar Display of Power' — the record that pushed us over the top and put us on the same plateau as PANTERA. And that's what people wanted from us. Our record label was 100 percent behind us, but unfortunately we never got to see the light at the end of the tunnel, because of what happened."

Guitar World: Will those DAMAGEPLAN demos ever see the light of day?

Vinnie Paul: "Right now I'm still too flipped out to even go in the studio. I've been down there a time or two and it just wigs me completely out. But I guarantee you at some point I will do something with those tracks. Either I'll have some of Dime's favorite singers sing on 'em and turn them into jams, or maybe Pat [Lachman, DAMAGEPLAN vocalist] will sing on them and it'll be 'Damageplan II'. I don't know yet. Right now they're magic that hopefully someday everybody will get to hear, and as long I'm around, I think eventually they will get heard."

Guitar World: What else can you tell us about the night Dime was killed?

Vinnie Paul: "All I want to say right now is that things like this happen to people and sometimes, after six or eight months go by, people begin to talk and they learn more about what happened. I have a hard time believing that some nut-job just shot the best friend that I ever had for no reason. So I'd like to spread the message to anybody out there, that if you know or hear anything about it, please contact the authorities and let 'em know what you know. I just believe that there's something else out there that motivated this guy to do this. And if there is, I hope they get to the bottom of it, 'cause it's something that should've never, ever happened. It's ruined my life and it's taken away so much joy and happiness from so many people. I guess what I'm trying to find is an answer for why this happened. There has to be an answer somewhere, and I hope it comes out someday. I'll leave it at that.

"We also lost another great brother and a great friend, Mayhem [Jeffrey Thompson, bodyguard], that night. He and Dime were really close, and I know wherever they are they're together still. Also I want to send my condolences and heartfelt sorrow to the families and friends of the other two victims, Nathan Bray and Erin Halk.

"I know that Dime will live on forever, though, just like Jimi Hendrix and Randy Rhoads. It just happened way too goddamned soon. The music we made together will be around forever, but the thing that kills me is that we'll never get to do it again. We had so much more that we were gonna put out, and I know that, wherever he is, Dime's real dissatisfied that he didn't get to finish his mission."

Guitar World: Do you know what you plan to do next as a musician?

Vinnie Paul: "I've got to find the right situation. I'm not going to jump into anything, though, because I'm only just now getting to where I can wake up in the morning and just fucking breathe without having a million thoughts going through my mind. By no means will I ever be at peace with what happened, but at least I'm getting to where I can deal with it."

Source: Blabbermouth