GEORGE LYNCH: 'DIMEBAG's Playing Was Imaginative, Soulful And Technical'

Former DOKKEN guitarist George Lynch has posted the following message on his official web site:

"I remember the first time I met Dime was back in the mid-'80s.

"PANTERA played with DOKKEN a lot in Texas. There was a chain of hard rock venues called Cardi's and we would frequently share the stage with PANTERA. This was without Phil and they were more of a hair band and Dime wasn't called 'Dime' yet and his playing was more in the [VAN HALEN] vein.

"I remember him and his band standing right at the front of the stage during our set and rocking out. He was just a skinny kid back then. He went on after us and just tore it up. I knew he was a special player that night. We talked a lot about gear. I remember he really liked the Randall RG-100s I was using and planned on checking them out.

"I've run into him a few other times over the years. LYNCH MOB did some dates with them in the early '90s and we partied pretty hard. I remember thinking how can he drink this much and still play his ass off like he does.

"I saw Dime and Vinnie at the NAMM show last year in Anaheim and they invited my daughter Mariah and I into their limo to listen to their new project, DAMAGEPLAN. That blew us me away.

"I guess there was a lot of bad blood between Phil and the brothers. I wonder if there was any connection between what happened to Dime and that running feud?

"Dimebag's playing was imaginative, soulful and technical. His music was brutal and unrelenting as was the manner in which he died.

"There's no use in trying to make sense of the tragedy, just appreciate what he gave us in his life.

"Events like this make me long for the good old days when our rock stars just O.D.'d and slipped away quietly into oblivion."