CHARLIE BENANTE Wants Current PANTERA Lineup To Release Live Album, Addresses Pushback Over Band's Revival

In a new interview with Hot Metal, Charlie Benante was asked about the possibility of the reformed lineup of PANTERA — featuring surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass),alongside Benante (drums) and Zakk Wylde (guitar) — making new music. He said: "There was some talk — but nothing, really.

"I would love to release a live album of this lineup so we can document what we did and just have it," he added. "I think that would be a great thing."

Charlie also talked about the pushback he and the other musicians in the current iteration of PANTERA have received for using the band name for their touring project, despite the fact that original guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott was murdered in 2004 and Darrell's brother, original drummer Vinnie Paul, died of heart disease in 2018. Wylde refers to the project as "PANTERA celebration" in interviews.

Benante said: "I feel I was put in this PANTERA situation for a reason and that's why I embraced it so much and that's why I love it so much, because it's something bigger than the band. And I wish people nowadays would be more caring and loving towards us all, you know? Not just musicians, but to each other. Stop being so rotten about things, because I'll tell you this much: [in] 10 years' time, a lot of this stuff is gone. So if you don't enjoy it now, that's it: it's done.

"I think in the beginning of the whole thing there were naysayers and all I would say is 'just come [to one of the shows]'," he explained. "If you like it, great. If you don't like it, okay. You never have to come again. But the thing is, the people who were coming were bringing their kids who never saw PANTERA before. This isn't the same. Dime and Vinnie are not there, but we are just playing these songs that need to be played again, and it's giving people smiles on their faces again and it's a great thing."

Asked about PANTERA's plans going forward, the 63-year-old drummer, who has been a member of ANTHRAX since 1983, said: "I don't really know. I know we have a few shows this summer and then maybe some shows next year, but that's as far as it goes."

In a July 2024 interview with Brazilian music journalist Igor Miranda, Zakk was asked about Charlie's previous comment that there had been talk of the current lineup of PANTERA releasing a live album. Zakk said: "Yeah, whatever the fellas wanna do, we knock it out. Let's be real — it's a live album every night. People with their phones and everything are recording it anyway, so it doesn't [matter] to me. You go up there and you play to win every night."

Back in March 2023, only three months after he played his first show with PANTERA, Benante opened up about his participation in the band's return during an interview with Consequence. Speaking about some of the criticism he had received for his involvement with PANTERA, Charlie said: "I don't go [online] looking for [people's negative comments about it]. There's people that send me, 'Hey, did you see this?' And I'm, like, 'Why did you send me this? Why ruin my day?'

"I think the people who do these things, these comments, I don't even think they realize how much of an effect that they could have on people," he continued. "And whether or not you hate the situation, or whatever it is, why can't you find some sort of restraint? Why do you need to say this thought that you have? Can't you just hold it in and maybe be, like, 'I'll keep my thoughts to myself.' No, they've gotta tell you. I've never seen more of it in my life than I [did] in these past couple of months about just people judging."

Regarding his personal approach to playing the parts originally written and recorded by Vinnie Paul, Charlie said: "I just spent a lot of time on Vinnie's parts and more importantly the tone that Vinnie had because I wanted it to sound like PANTERA. That was my thing. And my drum configuration is different from the ANTHRAX one because I wanted to challenge myself to play those parts like he played them in that configuration, which, to me, was more important than anything. But yet people still have to find some problem in that."

According to Benante, the initial rehearsals for the PANTERA comeback tour were "an emotional thing" for Philip and Rex "too, because they hadn't played as a group, those two hadn't played together in a long time, playing PANTERA songs. Yeah, they played [together] in DOWN, but this was an emotional thing for them," Charlie said. "And I remember after the week of rehearsals that we did, saying goodbye was weird, because it was an emotional thing; we really kind of bonded, the three of us. Zakk wasn't there at the time. But for me, I knew I had done something right."

Last October, Charlie told the "Metal Sticks" podcast about how he landed the gig with PANTERA: "I was very, very close to them throughout the years and especially close to Darrell, Dimebag. And I think Philip and Rex really wanted to do something again with the legacy that that is PANTERA and just celebrate the life and the music of them. Philip called me and said, 'Would you be into doing this?' And they didn't want anyone else [to play drums]. It was always me that they wanted to do this, which I felt very honored by that. And I just jumped at it, and I'm, like, 'Yes, I wanna do this.' Because the love that goes back for me with these guys, it goes back a long, long time ago. I mean, I met Darrell and Vinnie — God, like, 1985. So we've known each other since then. And I just loved hearing that I was the only choice that they wanted for this position."

Reflecting on his live debut with PANTERA, Charlie said: "The first show we did was Mexico City. That was December of '22, I believe. Man, [I] was so nervous. And playing Mexico City, they are so passionate there… So I was very nervous. It was 52 degrees outside. We were freezing. The intro came on and started, and I'm just, like, 'Okay, this is it. Let's go.' And then once we kicked into the first song, I kind of settled down. But you know, man — the first show of a tour, you're jittery. You just don't know what to expect. And then I was so happy that I just kind of settled in and just kind of rode it out, and it was just beautiful."

Asked if he had a lot of rehearsal time with the other guys in PANTERA before they played their first show, Charlie said: "Yeah, for me, what I did, as soon as I knew I was doing it, I took, like, four songs, and every week I would approach four songs, just working on those four. Next week I would do the next four, because I just wanted to know every little nuance that Vinnie played in the songs. And a lot of times I was overplaying; I was doing way more than I should be doing. A good friend of mine, Thomas Lang, I was with Thomas and I was talking to him about it, and I'm, like, 'I feel like I'm overplaying.' And he listened and he's, like, 'Yeah, you are. You're overplaying. It's more simple than you think it is.' So that kind of put me in a different state of mind and then I just started to flow and just learned Vinnie's little nuances and just his little tricks that he would do. And that was it. Because the most important thing is I wanted it to sound like PANTERA. I didn't want it to sound like me playing PANTERA. I wanted, when people closed their eyes, [I wanted them to think], 'Oh, it sounds like PANTERA.' And that was my goal."

In December 2022, Benante, who has spent more than four decades playing in ANTHRAX, told Jonathan Montenegro's "My 3 Questions To" series about how long it took him to learn the PANTERA material that he is currently performing during the reformed band's run of shows: "I know these songs, and, of course, I've loved these songs for so many years. For me, I knew the songs, but maybe some of the songs I didn't know the little details in the songs, as far as the drum parts went. So I really started to dissect each song and approach it that way. I've seen Vinnie play these songs so many times, but sometimes when you record a song and then you start to play it live, it starts to take on a different — it becomes something different sometimes when you play it a live way. So sometimes they would even speed it up a bit. So I was trying to get these songs to a place where it's almost in the middle — somewhere like the studio version and somewhere like the live version. Because when you're playing live, the adrenaline is pumping. You're human, and we're not playing to a click or anything. So I always wanted to keep that groove going, 'cause Rex and I, we look at each other and we feel and we connect. And the connection he had with Vinnie is the same type of connection that I wanna have with him."

Benante told "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" about how he prepared for the PANTERA live performances: "When I talked to Philip back in — it was, like, the end of December [2021] about this, that day, I hung up the phone and I immediately started to get my head into PANTERA mode and just figure things out. Because I knew these songs, but I didn't know how to approach playing the songs, how I'm gonna do this. And the one thing I wanted to do is I just wanted to play it like Vinnie. When the fans hear it, when anybody heard it, I wanted them to be able to close their eyes and I wanted it to sound like Vinnie."

Charlie also talked about his musical chemistry with Rex, saying: "That's the thing. I didn't know how we would kind of come together and when we would make the connection. But I've gotta be honest with you, when I went down to New Orleans in September [2022] and it was just me, Rex and Philip. And after the first day, Rex and I, we had such a connection, and he said to me, he was, like, 'Dude, when I close my eyes, I feel like it's Vinnie up there.' So that made me feel so good when he said that. And Philip said the same thing too. So I was so happy about that. Because, honestly, I really did my homework. We're talking these tiny little nuances — things that maybe people wouldn't hear — I'm putting 'em in there because it's important to me to deliver it just like Vinnie would."

As for his drum setup for the PANTERA show, Benante said: "It's a totally different configuration [to what I play with ANTHRAX]. I'm playing more like Vinnie's kit, the way Vinnie played it. I wanted to play a kit like that because it gave me a bit more of a challenge. And I can't add more drums to it, because I just wanted to have the two toms in the front — floor toms — so I'm just sticking totally to the way he had it, and I wanna play it exactly like he had it and it sounds exactly how he had it too. So that's how I approach this."

Charlie went on to say that he doesn't understand all the negative comments that have been directed at him and the other members of PANTERA for trying to keep the band's legacy alive.

"This was never a reunion," he explained. "How can it be a reunion without Vinnie and Dime here? Sometimes people will send me something, and I see things online, and it's so disrespectful to both Darrell and Vinnie, and it's totally disrespectful to us too. And it's just, like, 'Man, if you don't wanna come, you don't have to come.'

"One of the first things I said to Philip on the phone, I said, 'This, to me, is more on an emotional level than any other level.' This means a lot to me personally, to go out there and represent those guys and represent the PANTERA name," he continued. "And that's all I'd ever want for me. I don't care about it financially and stuff like that; this, to me, I had to do this. I didn't wanna see anybody else playing these songs but me up there."

Reflecting on his initial conversation with Anselmo about taking part in the reformed PANTERA, Charlie said: "I was so excited about it. I said, 'Thank you for thinking of me.' And they were, like, 'There was nobody else.' And that made me feel really good. Because they knew my relationship with Darrell and they knew my relationship with Vinnie. And I loved those guys, and I love these two guys just as much."

Up until his passing, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag's death.

Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. When PANTERA broke up in 2003, they formed DAMAGEPLAN. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.

Vinnie passed away on June 22, 2018 at his other 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 — basically meaning his heart couldn't pump blood as well as a healthy heart.

Image credit: Drumeo