INTERVIEW OF PANTERA ABOUT THE BAND BREAKUP

In a lengthy interview published in the “Xmas 2004” issues of Metal Hammer magazine, ex-PANTERA/current SUPERJOINT RITUAL frontman Philip Anselmo spoke extensively about the breakup of his previous band and the status of all his musical project, among many other topics.

On Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul’s claim that Philip Anselmo left PANTERA without telling them he was leaving:

“Well, they have phones as well. And they went communicating with me. Their way of communication was thought, so they would send their errand girl to call me up and see where my head was at. Now that was pretty offensive, so I didn’t play that game, and time passed. And I don’t let time pass, I have to do something I can’t sit on my ass and just do nothing, I have to do something, and it must be musical. When I don’t use my gift I became defunct and I became clumsy and I become useless. It’s a terrible felling to be that vulnerable.

“When you see your gift, you’re on top of world. You feel worth something, you know? You feel that you have done something, and you have, you’ve created. I’ve done that with many, many, many bands on my own time, and I was always there whenever PANTERA called to do the next record, the next tour, whatever it took, and I was always 100% there.”

On what went wrong with PANTERA:

“Through devotion to and scheduling with PANTERA, a lot of things got pushed to side – and the incarnation of other great bands like DOWN which I was part of took a lot of time and whatnot. Everything has its turn, and when it was SUPERJOINT RITUAL’s turn, I left at the time that PANTERA has done its greatest tour we’d ever don, which was with SLAYER and MORBID ANGEL in the United States. We were in Ireland when the 9/11 terrorist attacks took pace in New York. We were stuck there for seven or eight days and the tour was called off because of turbulence. After that it seemed there was a great….. Distancing.

“I think,more or less, it lies between Dimebag and I. there was never a point when he could not get drunk. Which was pretty much every day. And now I’m hearing its worse than ever.”

“He would attack me, vocally. And just knowing that he was so much smaller than me I could kill him like fuckin’ piece of vapour, you know, he would turn into vapor-his chin would, at least, if I fuckin’ smaked it. And he knows that. The world should know that. So physically, of course, he deserves to be beaten severely.”

“But of course, that’s criminal and I wont do such thing….really, I just let him prattle on. I grew vry tired of it very quick, and whenever it came up, like it has come up today, I just chose to wish them the best of luck. And in all honesty I really wish that they would be men, which is very hard for them, figuring that they were living in their mother’s house until they’re 30 years old. In comparison, I was on the street by choice at the age 15, living anywhere I could-but living, and successfully living, through my will.”

On what it was that caused his friendship with Dimebag Darrell to turn sour:

“I think that theres a lot inside of Darrell…from what I’ve seen of Dimebag in the past, he had some great tragedy in his family, and of course that’s Vinnies family as well. I don’t think that they were ever given or ever allowed time to really heal from that. The anger and the hatred and the drunken nights of just screaming in my face, with me sitting there taking it and holding both of my hands just to not hit the guy…. I grew weary of that. I was sick of being his whipping post, y’know, abd I just politely, or unpolitey, excused myself.

“I think I proved clearly to everybody what I was in PANTERA! And what I was a unique,unbeliveably magnetic frontman that had not been around since the day Robert Plant and OZZY Osbourne. I am one in million….. I hav staying power! I have a devoted following that would do anything for me! Anything that I say. And there’s not many people that can say that, that are in my position.”

“As far as there product that they put out [refering to DAMAGEPLAN- Ed.],our producer that they put out it was obvious that I was very much involved withh arranging the songs, I was very much involved with the integrity of the songs… The integrity and the moulding of the songs, the creating the putting together of the songs. Y’know, it was my job to do sequencing for record, it was my job to lyrically stun the audience. And I think they failed on every account. And the world speaks for it.”

“when you seea group of guys that are not hungry any more… Honestly, between me and the world now in my heart of heart I belive it hurt them more not to receive the money that wew going to get-that we were all going to get-for putting out that me leaving that band. They always feared me. They always were different than me. They always had their circle of friend and I had my circle of friends. Their jealously level was incredible! Y’know, anyone that was close to me outside the band would be treated like fucking serfs or servants by the Abbott brothers. And y’know, that never… that never…. Never worked very well for me.”

On Dimebag’s implication in interviews that Anselmo has return to heroin:-

“what a stupied man. What a shallo,stupid man.how would he know what I do? And by the way, I’ve been fucking bone-sober for three and half years now. Anybody who has seen me on stage, anybody who has seen the shape of my body and size of my arms, and the fucking burning desire in my eyes, knows that I am fuckin’… I drink four beers and I have a buzz now. Gimme a break. I couldn’t even say that in my twenties.”