HELLYEAH's VINNIE PAUL Remembers RONNIE JAMES DIO, PETER STEELE, PAUL GRAY

Cameron Edney of Soundwave Touring recently conducted an interview with drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott (HELLYEAH, PANTERA, DAMAGEPLAN). A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Soundwave Touring: Only a few days back Chad [Gray, HELLYEAH singer] flew home for a family emergency, forcing you to cancel the Rock Am Ring performance… How is Chad doing, I assume you're back on track now with the tour….

Vinnie Paul: Oh, yeah. Chad's wife had some surgery and some life-threatening complications came along with it. The smart thing to do was to be with her, 'cause your family always comes first! He joined up with us a few days ago and we've been rockin' ever since!

Soundwave Touring: The new HELLYEAH album, "Stampede", is completed and due for release in a few weeks time! The tracks I've heard kick ass, dude. How did you push each other musically to get the best results possible for the new album?

Vinnie Paul: Well, we did it similar to the first record; we record everything as we write it, so everything has that very spontaneous, dangerous edge to it. The main difference this time was that we actually recorded the record in my house instead of doing it at Dime's recording studio where we did the last HELLYEAH record, the DAMAGEPLAN album as well as the last couple of PANTERA records. We did it Rick Rubin style — we set up the drums in my living room where I have a fifty-foot ceiling, so the drums were really nice and ambient. We put the guitar amps up into the game room and turned one of my bedrooms into a control room, and we put video monitors around so we could all see each other! It really felt like we were at home, literally. All the guys stayed at my house, [and] we would eat, sleep, and fuckin' jam together, did a lot of barbecueing together, a lot of drinking together and I think that vibe really comes through in the music.

Soundwave Touring: How has the response been from family and friends that have heard the finished product?

Vinnie Paul: Oh, they love it, man. I think that with any band their second album really solidifies what they're all about and it's usually their defining moment so to speak. With PANTERA I thought that "Vulgar Display Of Power" really set the tone for what the band was all about from that point on and I feel that way about "Stampede". I think this record will really solidify what we do and what we're all about… hopefully we'll have a long career ahead of us!

Soundwave Touring: Tell us about the different factors surrounding the material on the new album!

Vinnie Paul: Well, I think this is a very diverse record! We never wanted to pigeonhole the band into being just a metal band. We all come from a really strong metal past and we wanted this band to be much more diverse. We want HELLYEAH to be as heavy as anything we've ever done before but at times we want it to be bluesier, more southern, deeper, more emotional. It's one big roller coaster ride, it goes fast, it goes slow, it's a great combination of all the influences we've been a part of and listened to. I feel really good about it man!

Soundwave Touring: Vinnie, now that the album is completed, looking back over the writing and recording process is there anything you would have liked to have done differently?

Vinnie Paul: Nah, man, I think you put your best foot forward every time you make a record, and if you didn't think it was good in the first place you wouldn't have finished it or put it out. We all feel strongly about it and we're really excited about it and I think it stands on its own and really defines what HELLYEAH is all about!

Soundwave Touring: As the years have gone by, we have seen you be part of some amazing bands and projects! You also have Big Vin Records up and running… What else would you like to achieve musically? Are you interested in producing other bands, signing new bands to the label?

Vinnie Paul: Oh, yeah. Right now I've put the label on hiatus because I've dedicated all my time to HELLYEAH and I wouldn't be able to do anything proper with it, but I would be interested in signing another band or two once this album and touring cycle is done. I love producing; that's my way of being more than just a drummer, I really feel like I can help to shape and create the songs, so that's something that I'm really excited about and as far as the rest of it goes… playing live, nothing else beats that!

Soundwave Touring: There has been so many highlights in your career. What would you say have been your greatest achievements to date?

Vinnie Paul: I'd say the one thing that is the most stellar that ever happened was in 1994 when we put out "Far Beyond Driven". The record debuted at No. 1 in the United States of America and it just fuckin' floored everybody in the music industry. They were saying, "Who the hell is this band PANTERA?" we knocked out BONNIE RAITT, we knocked out ACE OF BASE, we knocked out all these bands they thought would have a number one record, and then all the press came out and said PANTERA — an overnight success! We were saying, "Bullshit, man; we've been playing in fuckin' nightclubs for seven years where nobody knew us and then another four years with 200-plus tour dates as well as making records." We had the greatest fans in the world. It was something that I'll never forget it was a huge accomplishment.

Soundwave Touring: The metal community are still in mourning with the recent passings of the great Ronnie James Dio, TYPE O NEGATIVE's Pete Steele and SLIPKNOT's Paul Gray. It is certainly a very sad time for all metal fans around the world… Having been in the company of these amazingly talented artists over the years, what fond memories do you have from the precious time you have been able to share with them?

Vinnie Paul: Well, Ronnie James was just a fuckin' amazing human being! We did the first Golden Gods Awards that were held in the United States together and we filmed this skit, I got to spend about four hours with Ronnie just hanging out at his house. Not only was Ronnie one of the most amazing fuckin' singers to have been in heavy metal, but he was just a great fuckin' super-cool dude! Same goes for Peter Steele, a fuckin' amazing dude! My favorite tour that we ever did together was PANTERA and TYPE O NEGATIVE on the "Far Beyond Driven" tour; they were just fuckin' amazing. Paul Gray… we just seen him four days before he passed and he looked like he was doing great and things were going well… He was always a super-energetic dude and he was part of a groundbreaking landslide band… SLIPKNOT is just fucking amazing! They're all huge losses and I think that all of us are still a little numb; it takes a long time before you really realize that they are no longer with us. The cool thing is they left us a lot of fuckin' great music to listen to and a lot of great memories!

Read the entire interview from Soundwave Touring.