PHILIP ANSELMO: ‘I Know DIMEBAG And VINNIE PAUL Would Want The Legacy And The Name Of PANTERA To Go On And On’

This past February, at least two months after he first approached Charlie Benante about taking part in a new PANTERA tour, singer Philip Anselmo spoke to The Pit about what he thought the band’s late guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott would say about PANTERA‘s legacy. He said: “Dimebag and Vince always wanted this band to be a legacy band, to be massive, to be our own conduit to success, simply put. I think Dime and Vince — I know Dime and Vince — would want the legacy and the name of PANTERA to go on and on and on and in everybody’s damn face. I know that for sure. Abso-fucking-utely, dude. That would be their biggest dream.”

Last month, it was reported that Benante and guitarist Zakk Wylde, along with PANTERA‘s surviving members, 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.

Last week, Benante was asked during an appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” when he first got approached about taking part in the PANTERA tour. The ANTHRAX drummer said: “Oh, man. December [of last year]. End of December. I was talking to Philip, and then he just mentioned this. And I said, ‘Oh, yeah, sure. Whatever.’ And then it became real about January [or] February.”

He repeated those same sentiments a few months later, telling PlanetMosh in a separate interview: “Without Dimebag Darrell, there is no [PANTERA] reunion. And that’s all there is to it. We were a very influential band, and we touched millions and millions of people with that band, but it’s over. People really have to come to grips with that, and that’s all there is to it. If all of us were still here, then the possibility would truly be there, but since it’s not, you know… It’s selfish of the fans to want something that they can’t have. And they don’t ever understand that, and I get it. There’s things I want in this world too. You know, people in fucking hell want ice water, but they’re not gonna get it. So… Anyways, I’m glad that the people who have decided to follow me in HELLYEAH do, and hopefully more of them will. And the ones that wanna live in the past are gonna live in the past.”

Up until his passing in June 2018, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag‘s death.

Dimebag‘s longtime girlfriend Rita Haney in 2011 called on Vinnie and Philip to settle their differences in honor of Dimebag.

Vinnie, who is Dimebag‘s brother, and Anselmo had not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie suggested that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag‘s killer.

Source:  www.blabbermouth.net