PHILIP ANSELMO: Before I Die, I Would Love To Make Peace With VINNIE PAUL

RockConfidential.com recently conducted an interview with former PANTERA and current DOWN singer Philip Anselmo. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

RockConfidential.com: What do you remember about writing the material that ended up on "Cowboys From Hell"?

Anselmo: I knew I was with a group of guys that were slightly apprehensive. I think they thought your average thrash metal band kinda did things the easy way out, like with the out of key leads that everybody was doing — trying to sound like SLAYER. What they weren't doing was the riff work that SLAYER was doing. I loved it. I bought every motherfucking thrash record possible back then. I lost a lot of it during Hurricane Katrina but I still have a bunch of it. I could understand where the other guys were coming from. They still wanted things to be tasteful — in a classic metal sense. There was a lot of "bend, don't break" between all of us. All of that creative headbutting always turned out for the best, especially in the early days.

RockConfidential.com: What do you think about the demos that are included in the special edition of "Cowboys…"?

Anselmo: I don't think the guitar has the edge. I have different feelings about the demos. A lot of bands that demo first, nine times out of 10 you're gonna have guys in the band that fall in love with the demo. That can be counter-productive, especially when you have to re-cut the whole fucking thing. The best thing about it was working with [producer] Terry Date and doing that grunt work to get that guitar sound and that drum sound. The fact that "Primal Concrete Sledge" came out of nowhere … it was the last day of drum tracks. Vinne Paul [Abbott, drums] just started messing around with that drum pattern. I looked at Dime [late PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott] and said, "That's pretty fuckin' badass, man!" I'm lookin' at him and lookin' at his guitar and lookin' at him and said, "Fuckin' play something!" (laughs) He just started chuggin' and next thing you know it fell into place. That shows where we were at mentally as musicians, heading out of the recording process for "Cowboys From Hell" and moving into what would become "Vulgar Display Of Power". "Primal Concrete Sledge" was definitely the road map to where we were headed — "Vulgar Display Of Power".

RockConfidential.com: Is there still a lot of bad blood between the PANTERA guys? You're all contributing to this anniversary release of "Cowboys…" How are things right now?

Anselmo: Me and Rex [Brown, bass] have always been cool. We fought through a lot of the hard times together. I think about Vinnie Paul every day. I think about Dimebag every day, at least 25 times if not more. I wish things were cool between me and Vince, but I know him. If he's got his mind made up that I'm the bad guy, then that's just how it rolls. Anyone that knows me and knows us that was there will let you know that if we were all thrown into the same room together that my biggest hopes would be to come out with a mutual understanding and as friends, without the hatred. I sympathize with Vince constantly. What he went though I wish on no man. There is no room in this world for anyone — including me — to judge what he is going through. We all take our own path in life. Life is extremely short. All those old adages and analogies are all fuckin' true or we wouldn't have heard them time and time again from all the old-timers. Now here I sit at forty-fuckin'-two, and although that's not old by a 50-year-old's standards — I'm not 22 anymore. Before I die — and we'll never know when that will be — I would love to make peace with Vince. I would love for that to happen. But, as we sit here today, there really hasn't been any contact. As far as working together on this fuckin' awesome 20th-anniversary release of "Cowboys From Hell", we all mediate through this lovely young lady named Kim who has worked for the band for many years. That's how we're working. There's no hostility or anything. It's all smooth sailing. Maybe one day… it's a shame.

RockConfidential.com: Philip Anselmo as a songwriter, musician, frontman — even the Phil Anselmo character — can be larger than life. Philip Anselmo as a real person may be one of the most misunderstood people on the planet. What do you think?

Anselmo: If I am then I guess it's my fault. I put myself in that position. I probably said the wrong things at the wrong time. I probably punched the wrong dude in the face a long time ago. Once again, I'm 42. We all make mistakes growing up through life. If people were to sit down and talk to me – especially the people who fuckin' have this opinion, like I'm their next door neighbor — I know for a fact that they would definitely change their tune. Fuck, man. I'll give you the shirt off my back. I'm easy. I listen to BLACK SABBATH and I puff a little weed. I'm cool and laid back, man. (laughs)

RockConfidential.com: Will you be touching on all that personal and more emotional stuff in your book?

Anselmo: Absolutely. I'm nowhere near finished, but I'm proofreading constantly. I'm pretty sure it comes across the way I want it to. I'm truthful as a motherfucker. Loyal as a dog. I can't help it. I'm not gonna live my life in the dark, man. Take a look at humanity. There's a lot of people out there that have done a lot of fuckin' crazy things. The human is a strange, complex fuckin' being. Not a damn one of us is perfect in every sing way, every day. We're still learning and relearning lessons and all kinds of shit. We're gonna make mistakes 'til we fuckin' hit the dirt. (laughs) Nobody's got it all figured out. That's where you gotta let some things bounce off of you.

Read the entire interview from RockConfidential.com.

Philip Anselmo shout-out to BLABBERMOUTH.NET: