DIMEBAG DARRELL Says PHILIP ANSELMO And REX BROWN Took PANTERA For Granted

DAMAGEPLAN guitarist Dimebag Darrell (ex-PANTERA) recently spoke to SMNnews.com about the group's upcoming second album, the possibility of a PANTERA reunion and Dimebag's plans to record a guitar album with Zakk Wylde (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and Kerry King (SLAYER). Several excerpts from the interview follow:

On the upcoming DAMAGEPLAN album:

Dimebag Darrell: "Well, dude, our first record kinda goes all the way out to left field and covers a spectrum of everything. Now we've been out for while, been over the world, people are digging what we are doing, we're going back to the old school. We aren't gonna hide our fuckin' influences, and our sound. We just wanted people to know it's not PANTERA. Next time we are gonna be blatant about Vinnie and Dime and the drums and the guitars. It's gonna be a thorough ass-kickin', and extremely brutal."

SMNnews.com: Yourself and Vinnie [Paul, drums] have written everything from ballads to all out thrash... how important is musical creativity to you now and what direction do you see DAMAGEPLAN going in the future since you've now established yourselves and have seen what works, and what doesn't?

Dimebag Darrell: "Well, we never wanted to limit ourselves with DAMAGEPLAN, that's why we went for the broad spectrum. We do have a wide variety of influences. There's enough bands out there that sound the same, and most can only do what they do, whether it's thrash, or it's just ONE thing, we are musicians, we won't put that behind us. We will express the musical and melody side of things, going more BRUTAL this time. I'm glad to let it all hang out [laugh] — crank that fucker!"

SMNnews.com: Now, as an obvious fan, and lover of everything PANTERA has done, and you lads as individuals have done, for the fans, say in the next few years, could you ever forseeably see a PANTERA reunion? Not now, but if the time, and money was right, say, five years down the road, what do you say to that?

Dimebag Darrell: "No way. Not for the money, not for the time, not for nothing man. The fucking people gotta get over it. I'm not Nostradamus, I can't even tell ya what will happen tomorrow, and all that shit is definitely hypothetical. I'm not broke or anything, I'm not doing it for time or money — none of that fuckin' bullshit. Shit, I mean the way things went down were just so fuckin' sour."

SMNnews.com: I've read so much bullshit about someone saying this, and someone saying that, and I find it incredibly hard to believe that what I read is absolute truth. In 100% truth, reality, and honesty if you could send out a message to Phil [Anselmo, former PANTERA singer] and the fans that says what you want it to say, with the guarantee it will get press word for word and verbatim, what would it be?

Dimebag Darrell: "Yeah, man. I totally agree with ya on that bullshit thing, it's so true. But for a message… It would be, Vinnie Paul and Dime Darrel never ever, EVER turned our backs on the PANTERA fans, we planned on PANTERA lasting a lifetime and we were there 150% of the time. No side projects, nothing BUT PANTERA, every fuckin' day and night, and the other two dudes took it for granted and walked away, and left us in the cold, left us hangin', and left the fans hangin'. I ain't biting off at the other dudes, but just have the common courtesy to call us and my brother and tell us that you are trying to do bigger things than PANTERA or whatever, that you want to leave the band. The feelings were just no common courtesy, and I don't understand the whole fuckin' thing. Then I hear the bad-mouthin' that Phil is doing. I didn't do anything to the guy, man. And I hear he's falling asleep in interviews. You know man, it's just something you can't control. I'll tell ya, that's what I learnt 'bout hard dope — they're gone, they are never comin' back. That shit will ruin you. Some people stay the same, but man, most are just gone. That's the brutal reality of it. It's like a fuckin' wife going back on ya, but as far as mine and Vinnie's credibility, it hasn’t been scarred a bit. If the fans wanna hear a PANTERA song, we make them motherfuckers whole, we want them to know that we never left."

Read Dimebag Darrell's entire interview with SMNnews.com at this location.