Zakk Wylde says that he is “beyond honored” to take part in the upcoming PANTERA tour.
This past week, it was reported that Wylde and ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante, along with PANTERA‘s surviving members, singer Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, will tour as PANTERA, headlining a number of major festivals across North America and Europe and staging some of their own headline concerts.
According to a report by Billboard, Wylde and Benante‘s involvement in the project has been approved by the estates of PANTERA‘s late co-founders, drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott and guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.
Zakk discussed his participation in the PANTERA celebration tour while speaking to Matt Pinfield and Jose Mangin of Danny Wimmer Presents at this weekend’s Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival in Mansfield, Ohio. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “When Vinnie was still alive, when the fellows were all talking about doing it, I just always told ’em, I said, ‘Of course I would… If you asked me, why would I not do it? I’m gonna honor Dime.’ It could be like Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell asking Eric Clapton if he would go out and honor Jimi [Hendrix] and Eric playing Jimi‘s stuff and singing Jimi‘s songs and they’re going out as the ‘Jimi Hendrix celebration.’ And he’s gonna honor his buddy and he’s gonna play his songs. I think it’s a beautiful thing. It’s like when we do the ‘Dimebash‘ [events in honor of Dimebag], it’s a celebration of Dime‘s greatness. It’s a PANTERA celebration — that’s what it is… You’re celebrating Vinnie and Dime‘s greatness and you’re celebrating all the mountains that PANTERA conquered and crushed.”
Zakk was quick to reiterate that PANTERA‘s upcoming tour will not be anything but a tribute to the music created by the band’s classic lineup.
“Obviously, it’s not PANTERA,” he said. “PANTERA is those four guys — it’s Phil, Rex, Dime and Vinnie. But it’s just like when [LED] ZEPPELIN went out with Jason Bonham [son of late LED ZEPPELIN drummer John Bonham] playing, it was phenomenal. It told Jason, I was just, like, ‘Dude, you crushed it, man.’ It’s a great thing just to hear them play that music again.”
Wylde added: “I’m beyond honored to be a part of it.”
Benante and Wylde have both voiced their appreciation for PANTERA‘s musical legacy on a number of occasions in recent years. Back in June 2018, just one day after the death of Vinnie Paul, Benante told SiriusXM about the first time he met the PANTERA drummer: “The very first time, it was the first time we ever were in Texas. And those guys [PANTERA] were there. We played at this club, and I believe PANTERA were the opening band. A mutual friend of ours, who everybody knows now — Rita [Haney, longtime girlfriend of Dimebag] — she kind of was the conduit to grouping us together to become friendly. We’ve known those guys since 1985, and just the two of them, Darrell and Vinnie, after you met those two, it was like you had a friend in Texas, both of them, and they just made the experience so much better, and you immediately bonded. So throughout the years, we just remained friends.”
Benante went on to draw a parallel between PANTERA and another legendary rock band which featured siblings who achieved notability together.
“I always equated Dime and Vinnie as, like, Alex and Eddie from VAN HALEN; I always thought PANTERA was like VAN HALEN reborn,” he said. “They had a guitar player, who was a hero. The drummers were fucking awesome, but the thing about Vinnie that, I think, not a lot of people know — maybe they do — but from a technical side of things, Vinnie made those PANTERA records sound like that. He was the guy behind it all who was turning the knobs, EQing shit so that his kick drum wasn’t fighting with Darrell‘s fucking chunky guitar. He was a lot of the brains and the glue that held that band together and, basically, pushed that band.”
In 2019, Anselmo, who has spent the past few years playing a PANTERA-centric set with…
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