PHILIP ANSELMO: Every Action I Do, I Think Of DIMEBAG

September 30, 2007

Former PANTERA/current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo has slammed VH1's "Behind the Music" special on PANTERA as "awful," claiming that "they glossed over everything that PANTERA did to and for metal."

The "Behind the Music" PANTERA episode, which had its premiere in May 2006, included interviews with the surviving members of PANTERAVinnie Paul Abbott (drums),Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown (bass) — along with appearances by Guy Sykes (tour manager),Walter O'Brien (manager),Terry Date (producer),about five members of PANTERA's/DAMAGEPLAN's crew, and Rita Haney ("Dimebag" Darrell Abbott's girlfriend).

In the November 2007 issue of Revolver magazine, Anselmo is asked about the song "Mourn" on the new DOWN album, which was reportedly written about late PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott (who was killed by a deranged fan in December 2004). "That's a very hard, hard song for me to really… honestly, the song speaks for itself," Anselmo replied. "It's about feeling isolated from my family in Texas, feelings about the obvious… deep, deep, deep feelings every day. You know, I've been very quiet ever since the incident, but it's all good. Everyone else has aired their laundry, like on VH1. I'm sorry, I thought what VH1 did was awful. They glossed over everything PANTERA did to and for metal, and not once… I'm not realy sure how it was put, but there was a segue or something that described [Darrell's] killer [Nathan Gale] as 'what many feel was a disgruntled fan angry that PANTERA had broken up.' But not once did they go into the psychology of the killing, and how he was dishonorably discharged [from the Marines], that his mother bought him the gun for Christmas because he was depressed, how he had been kicked out of the same club a weekend before for acting strange. He was going to shoot whoever, and it happened to be one of my best friends, one of my brothers, and one of the most beautiful people…

"I decided a while ago that, yes, absolutely there is a proper time to mourn, and that he deserves a celebration of his life, and that's the path that I've chosen. Every action I do, I think of him. Every pushup I do, I think of him. Every time I hit a line, or I'm working in the studio, I can hear him saying, 'You can do better.' So that's what gets me through the hard times, the trying times, is his positivity. And that's what I wanted to do with ['Down III']: to celebrate life."

For more information on Revolver magazine, visit RevolverMag.com.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).