Exclusive Interview: Revolver Magazine journalist Jon Wiederhorn on the value of honoring PANTERA

It has been five years since the tragic passing of Pantera guitarist and chief songwriter Darrell Abbott AKA Dimebag Darrell. Every year since his death, metal and guitar-centric magazines pay tribute to his life and accomplishments with old interview clips, new interviews with surviving members of Pantera, and even anecdotes from fans.

This year, however, Revolver Magazine has taken things a step further and devoted an entire section of its latest issue to discussing the magical, perfect storm that went into the creation of Pantera’s 1992 breakthrough album, Vulgar Display of Power. Spearheaded by senior writer Jon Wiederhorn (whose additional credits include talent coordinator and panelist for AOL Noisecreep's "Creep Show' Podcast, Noisecreep writer, freelancer for Inked and Guitar World, former editor in chief of MTV's Headbanger's Ball Blog, and ex- associate editor at Rolling Stone), the magazine painstakingly compiled new interviews with everyone imaginable who had anything to do with the inception of the album to paint a living memorial to one of heavy metal’s iconic guitar personalities.

Read on as we sit down with Wiederhorn and discuss what it was that made Dimebag and Pantera such revolutionary entities.

For a journalist who has covered Pantera’s history and the passing of Dimebag Darrell a number of times in the past, how did you manage to come up with a fresh perspective on a well-worn story?

Well, what we wanted to do was not to revisit the same side of the story; you can read that anywhere. So we had some discussions at Revolver and came up with an idea not only to keep the story fresh, but to also honor the band and Dime as a person and a musician. So, we decided to do a full oral history of the Vulgar Display of Power album – everything that went into the album, everything that went on behind the scenes, original concepts that led to the creation of the album, the artwork for the album, and anything we could think of pertaining to the album to give a complete account of the band at that time and why it was so important.

What was it about Vulgar Display of Power that made it so iconic? To me, Cowboys From Hell was a much more dynamic and diverse album.

I think the guys really put their foot down with Cowboys From Hell. Their writing became more aggressive, and Phil Anselmo was really working to find his voice within the band. I don’t think Dimebag really came into his own as a songwriter and a player until Vulgar. This is not to say that he wasn’t great on Cowboys. Of course, “Cowboys From Hell” was amazing as a song, and “Primal Concrete Sledge” was just a brutal and punishing number. But as a whole, the album wasn’t really cohesive.

I don’t think the band really consolidated their strengths until Vulgar, and Phil really came into his own, streamlining his voice with lyrical intensity in harmony with Dimebag’s guitar playing, as well as the interaction between Dime and Vinnie, and the bolder contributions of Rex. Maybe Vulgar is less multi-dimensional than Cowboys, but Cowboys really was all over the place – it didn’t have a core essence of intensity about it, which is exactly what Vulgar did have.

And like I said, Phil was really trying to find himself as a vocalist, so Cowboys really didn’t express a communal vibe. Whereas, with Vulgar, he really reached within and erupted with a great sense of aggression and energy of the music.

Is Phil still looked upon with dagger eyes from Dime’s family, or has everyone been able to move past that?

Yeah, well, one of the real accomplishments from Revolver’s perspective of this article, and something I am proud of, is that we were able to get both Vinnie and Phil to participate in it. I know a lot of fingers were pointed at Phil for the way Pantera fell apart and he is also looked upon as being partly at fault for the death of Dime. And of course, there was that Metal Hammer article, which I’m sure everyone has read, where Phil was quoted as saying that Dime should be beaten with a stick or something like that.

And when you’re a grieving brother, you’re trying to make sense of things and trying to find reasons or ways to put physical blame on anyone. And I think Phil became the vessel for the family’s distress. And although he did say those inflammatory things about Dime, Phil was still crushed by his death and is still hurt by it today. And I think this whole episode helped Phil on his quest to become sober and become less standoffish and hostile of an individual. I think he was very happy to be able to contribute to the article, and I think he really would like to mend his relationship with Vinnie and the family.

Rita Haney, Dimebag’s longtime girlfriend was able to put things into a little more perspective. Even though she is still very angry with Phil, she recognizes that he was very important to the evolution of Pantera, and she recognizes that he and Dime were very close at one point. She’s even talked to him since then, not intimately, but she has crossed paths with him. And I think she would be quicker to maybe forgive, move on, and perhaps re-establish a bond than Vinnie would. So much damage has been done between them.

That having been said, there’s no way Pantera can ever reunite without Dime. It’s a real shame, because I think maybe, had this not happened, that fences might have been mended and we would have had a Pantera reunion eventually. But it was really exciting to go back in time and commemorate a fun time in metal history and somewhat rekindle the fun times that band had together.

And until I did these interviews, I didn’t realize how close Phil and Dime were at a time. Dime actually got his nickname “Dimebag” from Phil. They both used to smoke weed a lot, and Phil got a lot of his weed from Dime. Dime was always willing to share, no matter how much or little he had, and at one point, I guess it was Phil who christened him “Dimebag” instead of his former nickname “Diamond.” It was a sort of a revealing moment, and what was cool about the interview was that you could tell there was a lot of love there between the guys and fond remembrance; and certainly a lot of crazy anecdotes. Dime was almost larger than life, and he really loved life, and he lived it to the fullest, and is a true guitar hero.

And you could tell on the band’s albums when they were having fun and when they were experiencing tension.

Yeah, even on Far Beyond Driven, there was a sense of camaraderie and zest among the band. But when Great Southern Trendkill came out, it was obvious that Phil’s voice was more prominent in the band. There’s an interesting article in the new issue of Guitar World, where the band’s old manager said that Dime and Vinnie had such a love for life and sharing their music that they wanted nothing more than to maybe follow in Metallica’s footsteps and become these huge musical giants, but Phil was almost afraid to go there. He didn’t want to become mainstream, because he came from a hardcore underground background and was much more comfortable there.

And it seems to me with Vulgar, you really had the best of both worlds – because you had riffs that were just unbelievably crushing, yet the songs were really catchy. And that album came, it seemed, right before that disparity developed.

And it’s a testament to that catchy aesthetic that Pantera was able to, at a time when most metal bands had to resort to 500-1000 seat clubs, pack arenas with no radio and little mainstream press visibility.

Yeah, Pantera really did carry that torch aloft for thrash metal at a time when metal was becoming more and more taboo and passé, and the kids’ enthusiasm and faithfulness to the band was undeniable. And at a time when alternative and grunge rock like Alice In Chains and Nirvana were taking over the airwaves, you still had Pantera and Metallica; though Metallica was transforming and embracing the idea of becoming a radio rock band, and Pantera was really left alone to hold the thrash metal crown.

So, in your opinion, how was it that Pantera was able to maintain and grow its massive following, while a band like Testament, which had been around just as long, plowed through year after year (on the same record label), and never reaching that apex?

I think it was a combination of talent and the time they had to build up into the machine they became. And it also had to do with visibility. I remember back in 91-92, when the alternative grunge rock thing was just starting to take off, and we were always struggling with finding someone to put on the cover. I mean you could put someone like Art Alexakis [from Everclear] on the cover, but what was that going to do to your credibility and your sales? We tried it and we did okay with it, but certainly we had a lot more luck when we put Dime or Kirk Hammett on the cover – these icons of guitar mastery.

Alex Skolnick is also a brilliant player, but he never had that kind of exposure, that “godly” presence and wasn’t really an icon in the public’s eye; whereas Dime was a larger than life figure, part of which was his own doing, writing incredible songs and coming up with amazing solos. I think that really endeared the band to a diehard audience, so when Far Beyond Driven came out as metal was falling by the wayside, you still had those diehard Pantera fans who would buy it during its first week of release, which catapulted it to #1.

The interesting thing about metal is that it is made up of fans who are truly devoted to the bands that are their favorites. And I think that is the reason why a lot of thrash bands were able to survive through the ugliest part of the 1990s – and even bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, even though they switched vocalists and had to play smaller venues. There was still a love there and an awareness that kept circulating in the metal underground.

That’s one of the reasons why Slayer is still a major presence on the scene – they really didn’t skip a beat, although they, too, dipped a little bit in popularity when Dave Lombardo was out of the band. And that really says something about the longevity of metal; sure it is going to dip and wane in time with the mainstream, but you will always have these diehards who keep the spirit alive.

Is it fair then, in the grand scheme of metal, to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Dimebag year after year over the innovations of Chuck Schuldiner?

Hmm, well, that’s a different kind of a thing. Dimebag was on the mainstream conscience, and he was a hero and recognizable – it would be like if something tragic would happen to James Hetfield. He would be honored to the point of martyrdom. Chuck Schuldiner was an amazing and influential character who helped sway over a very underground style of music, and he was influential to many different types of musicians, but he didn’t really have a mainstream connection.

It would be like if Kurt Cobain didn’t decide to commit suicide, and instead, you have Doug Martsch from Built To Spill do so. Would you still have that impactful, generational moment that killed grunge, so to speak, and changed the landscape of the music industry? Probably not.

I think part of the magic of Dime was that he was able to draw in this audience of fans who might not have otherwise been interested in this style of music - and all the way through this new wave of followers who are into metalcore or deathcore or whatever you want to call it, which are now popular. I think the guys in Bleeding Through, the guys in Atreyu and Trivium were serious followers of Pantera. And it just shows the tenacity and ability that Dime and the band was able to pass on to later generations.