PANTERA’s REX BROWN Says VINNIE PAUL Indirectly Blamed PHILIP ANSELMO For DIMEBAG’s Death

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Gibson TV, the award-winning global online network of the iconic American guitar maker, has premiered the show’s fifth episode titled “Icons”, a long-running series of interviews featuring some of the artists, producers and industry pioneers of the world’s most iconic music. .

In the new episode of “Icons” dropping today, Gibson TV sits down with famed multi-instrumentalist, solo artist and PANTERA member Rex Brown. In this intimate look at his musical journey, which was filmed in December 2020, Rex dives deep into his musical influences ranging from James Jamerson, John Entwistle, KISS and ZZ TOP, while sharing personal stories surrounding his childhood, legacy of PANTERA and Suite.

Addressing the PANTERA breakup and the rift between vocalist Philip Anselmo and the Abbott brothers, PANTERA “Dimebag” guitarist Darrell Abbott and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, including a 2004 Metal Hammer interview in which Anselmo said about Dimebag, “Physically, of course, he deserves to be beaten badly,” said Rex: “The Phil Yeah thing, it just got gnarly [between them] We don’t talk about that shit in the fucking press, guys.”

Dimebag was shot and killed in December 2004 onstage in Columbus, Ohio by a troubled schizophrenic who believed members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts. At the time, Dimebag was playing with DAMAGEPLAN, the band he and Vinnie Paul formed after splitting from PANTERA in 2003.

Until his passing, Vinnie remained on silent terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag’s death.

Brown told Gibson TV that Anselmo’s comments were unfairly tied to some of the guitarist’s shooter motives.

“[Vinnie] would have nothing to do with the Phil period,” Rex said. “He thought that was why his brother died. I don’t agree with that. I think he was a weirdo who had already planned and premeditated everything he was going to do.”

Rex also discussed his personal relationship with Vinnie Paul towards the end of the drummer’s life.

“Vinnie and I would trade jokes on Let Me Just Say It Like This. I know he loved me and I loved him,” Brown said. “That’s all I need to know.”

Agents who searched the apartment of the Dimebag murderer found no “computers, magazines or compact discs” linked to DAMAGEPLAN or PANTERA. However, a compact disc player found inside the Pontiac Grand Am that the killer drove to the Columbus concert where Dimebag was killed contained a DAMAGEPLAN CD.

Several witnesses to Dimebag’s murder, including members of the band and crew, have suggested that the shooting may have been prompted by PANTERA’s breakup or a public dispute between Dimebag and Anselmo. But investigators quickly dismissed the theory, saying there was “no evidence leading detectives to believe [the murderer] was communicating with Phil Anselmo or anyone else. . . for the purpose of injuring Dimebag Darrell Abbott.” Columbus police closed their investigation in October 2005 without establishing a motive for the shooting.

Philip discussed his breakup with Vinnie Paul in a 2011 interview with High Times. At the time, he said:[Vinnie] pinned down the guilt [for Dimebag’s murder] on the wrong guy. He pinned the fucking guilt on the wrong guy. And I’ll tell you what: I blame myself. And I’ll say I spoke with the police officer [Columbus, Ohio cop James D. Niggemeyer] who blew that motherfucker who killed Dimebag blew him, the guy who killed him. And I asked him the hard question. I said, ‘Tell me: did he deliberately shoot Dimebag?’ And he said ‘Yes.’ And I got a little choked up. And I thought I was sure I knew what was coming out of his mouth when I said, ‘Why? Why did he shoot Dimebag? He said, they went back to his apartment, that murderous motherfucker, and he had notebook after notebook stacked notebooks with everything he needed to write how he was going to kill PANTERA for ripping off his songs. Kill PANTERA, PANTERA. Not even once [his writings] name one of us in particular, and if so, it was the four of us, but that was rare. And so I said to this cop, I said, ‘So what you mean is if that was me playing SUPERJOINT [RITUAL] or DOWN that night, that motherfucker would come after me? And he just said “Absolutely”. In fact, he was crying and all he could do was nod ‘yes’. Absolutely.”

In July 2017, less than a year before his death, Vinnie Paul criticized Rex’s memoir as “a bunch of mythology” and again ruled out the possibility of any surviving PANTERA members reuniting. When asked how he was portrayed in Brown’s 2013 book, “Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story Of Pantera,” in which the PANTERA bassist called Vinnie a “strange person” who “has always been about ‘party, party, party'” but “only got fucked one in ten times,” the drummer told syndicated radio show “Rover’s Morning Glory”: “All I All I can say is I’ll refer to Philip’s commentary on Rex’s book. A bunch of mythology, man. We don’t know where he’s coming from with all this. More power to him, man.

Vinnie was also asked about his relationship with Anselmo, whom he hadn’t spoken to since splitting from PANTERA in 2003. Pressed to know if it was true that he indirectly blamed Philip for Dimebag’s death, suggesting that some remarks the singer had made about the guitarist in the press a few weeks earlier might have prompted the guitarist’s killer, the drummer said: “I’m just going to say I have no comment on any of this, man. I am beyond PANTERA. I have done so many other things with my life since then. And I still believe that if you live in the past, you have no future. The radio host, at that time, asked Vinnie if we could safely assume that there was no circumstance in which all of the surviving members of PANTERA would ever reunite. Vinnie replied, “That’s a very good guess. . Yeah, man. [Laughs]”

While it would be unfair to blame the demise of PANTERA directly on Anselmo’s band DOWN, it’s clear that the project along with Anselmo’s many other projects, like SUPERJOINT RITUAL, have become another snowball in the world. avalanche of bad feelings that finally overwhelmed the group. Admittedly, the lack of direct communication between Anselmo and the Abbott brothers also had something to do with it, as did the “he said/they said” volleys that were fired back and forth between the two camps with Brown caught in the middle. through interviews. in print magazines and online publications.

Vinnie died on June 22, 2018 at his home in Las Vegas at the age of 54. He died of dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, as well as severe coronary artery disease. His death was the result of chronic weakening of the heart muscle, which basically means his heart couldn’t pump blood as well as a healthy heart.

Earlier this year, it was announced that Brown and Anselmo would team up with guitarist Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE) and drummer Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.

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