DIMEBAG DARRELL Says He Tried To Help PHILIP ANSELMO Beat His Drug Problem

January 24, 2004

Former PANTERA guitarist Dimebag Darrell has told Guitar World magazine that he tried to reach out to ex-PANTERA singer Philip Anselmo and help him with his alleged drug problem, but that he was rebuffed before he could make a difference. Asked about a recent magazine interview in which Phil claimed that Dimebag had "changed" and that the guitarist had a problem with him that he didn't understand, Darrell said, "If you look at the [PANTERA] home videos, you can see that I'm the same dude in '3 Watch It Go' [the group's last home video, released in 1998] that I was in the first video shot some eight years earlier. And I still am today. I still have the same love for life in my heart, and my drive is still there for the same reason — the love of music, the love of playing guitar and the love of jamming for people and interacting with the fans. And my brother's the same way.

"Anyone who's heard Phil's recent radio interview, which is all over the Internet, or seen him hosting on MTV speaking three octaves down, hardly able to talk or keep his eyes open, knows what his real problem is. For some time now, he's obviously been around people that accept that, as opposed to being around me and Vinnie, who have a different standard level. I tried to get through to him and help, because I truly love the dude, but it's impossible to connect with someone in that state, and that's when I became the enemy in his mind.

"Some people like to compare hard drugs to people who like to party on alcohol. But look, man — one's legal and one's illegal, and there's a reason for that. Sure, I've been a drinker since day one, and I ain't perfect, but I've never missed a show and I've never played a half-assed one because of it. For the record, I've never, ever snorted cocaine, I've never, ever done crank, I've never, ever smoked crack, and I've never, ever done heroin. It just plain grosses me out. I've seen too many motherfuckers go down in flames because of that shit."

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