A new level, of confidence, and power
I'm sure you've all heard the news by now. Here's my own personal tribute.
June 4th, 1994 - I was two weeks shy of my 12th birthday, and was somewhat young to be frolicking in the mud at Heavy Metal festivals. But I'd had a road-to-damascus style conversion to that very genre a year previously (mainly thanks to seeing Sepultura and Carcass videos on ITV's Raw Power), and I had to have a piece of the action somehow. And so it came to pass that I spent most of the day listening to the Monsters Of Rock festival on Radio 1. Third on the bill were a band that I was unfamiliar with but that I understood were extremely highly respected amongst circles of the metallic persuasion. That band were Pantera. Bruce Dickinson, then working for Radio 1 but now back in his rightful place as vocalist with Iron Maiden, interviewed them just before they took the stage. The band were two and a half weeks into a year-long tour, and Phil Anselmo had injured his knee. Were they giving up? Were they fuck. Phil soldiered on, and his band gave a performance the likes of which I'd never heard before in my life. How thoroughly unrepentant was "Fucking Hostile"? How downright anthemic was "Walk"? The Pantera poster from that month's Mega Metal magazine went straight on the wall above my bed, and my life would never be the same again.
As a sidenote, the first two CDs I bought in Coventry when I first came to University here in the autumn of 2000 were "Vulgar Display Of Power" and "Far Beyond Driven" by Pantera.
Fast-forward to December 8th 2004 - the animosity between Phil Anselmo and "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott has become too great for Pantera to continue, and so they have split. Phil is happy amongst the ranks of his new project, Superjoint Ritual, but is still smarting from the wounds that the Pantera split has inflicted on him and is firing verbal bullets at his former bandmates, going so far as to suggest that "Dimebag deserves to be severely beaten". Dimebag, meanwhile, is touring with his own new band, Damageplan. Playing a gig at the Alrosa Villa Club in Columbus, Ohio, he encounters Nathan Gale, a man who is so far off his rocker that he claims to have written Pantera's songs and has plans to sue. These plans, however, never come to fruition, as Gale decides that what he really needs to do is walk up to the stage and shoot Dimebag in the head. Gale then takes out two fans and the band's head of security before being shot and killed by the police.
Who will the blame be placed on? The club's lack of security? America's gun laws? Heavy Metal music for causing violent behaviour in people? Frankly, at this stage, I don't give a shit. All I know is that Dimebag was an incredible guitarist, was (judging by the Pantera DVD I own) an exceptionally nice guy, and will be sorely missed.
Thanks to James, Rob and Matt who attended my own personal memorial party for Dimebag last night. Special thanks must go to Matt and James for collecting money from all of us and going out and buying a bottle of Southern Comfort so that we could take shots as a tribute, and also to James for providing doughnuts and fun-sized Mars bars. Alcohol, weed (on the part of Matt and Rob, anyway) and Heavy Metal. Dimebag would have been proud.
"DIMEBAG" DARRELL ABBOTT, 1966-2004. R.I.P.
June 4th, 1994 - I was two weeks shy of my 12th birthday, and was somewhat young to be frolicking in the mud at Heavy Metal festivals. But I'd had a road-to-damascus style conversion to that very genre a year previously (mainly thanks to seeing Sepultura and Carcass videos on ITV's Raw Power), and I had to have a piece of the action somehow. And so it came to pass that I spent most of the day listening to the Monsters Of Rock festival on Radio 1. Third on the bill were a band that I was unfamiliar with but that I understood were extremely highly respected amongst circles of the metallic persuasion. That band were Pantera. Bruce Dickinson, then working for Radio 1 but now back in his rightful place as vocalist with Iron Maiden, interviewed them just before they took the stage. The band were two and a half weeks into a year-long tour, and Phil Anselmo had injured his knee. Were they giving up? Were they fuck. Phil soldiered on, and his band gave a performance the likes of which I'd never heard before in my life. How thoroughly unrepentant was "Fucking Hostile"? How downright anthemic was "Walk"? The Pantera poster from that month's Mega Metal magazine went straight on the wall above my bed, and my life would never be the same again.
As a sidenote, the first two CDs I bought in Coventry when I first came to University here in the autumn of 2000 were "Vulgar Display Of Power" and "Far Beyond Driven" by Pantera.
Fast-forward to December 8th 2004 - the animosity between Phil Anselmo and "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott has become too great for Pantera to continue, and so they have split. Phil is happy amongst the ranks of his new project, Superjoint Ritual, but is still smarting from the wounds that the Pantera split has inflicted on him and is firing verbal bullets at his former bandmates, going so far as to suggest that "Dimebag deserves to be severely beaten". Dimebag, meanwhile, is touring with his own new band, Damageplan. Playing a gig at the Alrosa Villa Club in Columbus, Ohio, he encounters Nathan Gale, a man who is so far off his rocker that he claims to have written Pantera's songs and has plans to sue. These plans, however, never come to fruition, as Gale decides that what he really needs to do is walk up to the stage and shoot Dimebag in the head. Gale then takes out two fans and the band's head of security before being shot and killed by the police.
Who will the blame be placed on? The club's lack of security? America's gun laws? Heavy Metal music for causing violent behaviour in people? Frankly, at this stage, I don't give a shit. All I know is that Dimebag was an incredible guitarist, was (judging by the Pantera DVD I own) an exceptionally nice guy, and will be sorely missed.
Thanks to James, Rob and Matt who attended my own personal memorial party for Dimebag last night. Special thanks must go to Matt and James for collecting money from all of us and going out and buying a bottle of Southern Comfort so that we could take shots as a tribute, and also to James for providing doughnuts and fun-sized Mars bars. Alcohol, weed (on the part of Matt and Rob, anyway) and Heavy Metal. Dimebag would have been proud.
"DIMEBAG" DARRELL ABBOTT, 1966-2004. R.I.P.