PHILIP ANSELMO: If PANTERA Were To Reunite For One Show…

Natalie Perez of Natalie's World recently conducted an interview with former PANTERA and current DOWN singer Philip Anselmo. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.

On where he would like the show to happen if PANTERA were to reunite for one night only:

Anselmo: "Well, see, that's a complex question because, first of all, [late PANTERA guitarist] Dimebag is not alive anymore, and that fact is a gigantic thing. And really, there would have to be a lot of sitting down and going over a lot of very important elements between myself and the other members of PANTERA — choosing a guitar player [to play the gig] and whatnot. It's a completely hypothetical situation, really, [but] I guess, a knee-jerk reaction, or answer, to that question would be, why not where it all started? Why not play where everything began, really, which is Dallas, Texas. I don't see why any other city would make much sense. But still, once again, it's not fair to the East Coast or the West Coast, [because] PANTERA fans are everywhere. So that's a tough question for me to answer. But I guess… Hypothetically, I'd say Dallas, Texas."

On whether fans can expect to hear more previously unreleased material from PANTERA in the future:

Anselmo: "Honestly, PANTERA was not a band to waste a lot of time with demoing. So as far as demos and stuff go, actual PANTERA demos, I am not sure if there are any that actually exist. Unless I'm proven totally wrong, and my mind is completely blank, which I don't think it is, I don't think that we have any more demos, so to speak — like unheard demos or unknown songs. With all of the re-releases of our older records, in 20-year intervals, in my opinion, this next one ['Far Beyond Driven'] will be pretty pure and straight to the point. But in the same sense, there are recordings that I have that just Dimebag and myself had done in the past that, actually, I think, would surprise other people, because they've never heard it before. And whether I ever let go of that stuff, I would have to give that a lot of consideration. I would have to probably take the right avenues to do such a thing. But we used to demo things together a lot, just for the kick of stuff. And it wasn't under the moniker of PANTERA; it was just really me and Dimebag, or Dimebag and a bunch of his friends, and a bunch of my friends coming together as one and just doing music for the sake of doing music. So I've got quite a library of that type of stuff. But whether or not it's going to be released, your guess is as good as mine."

On whether he ever gets tired of being asked about PANTERA:

Anselmo: "Not really, no. Because if that's the question that people have, it's a legit question. And I'm not the type of guy to shrug off anything. I'm wide open like a friggin' book and I have nothing to hide or anything to be ashamed of or overly secretive about or anything like that. So when it comes to PANTERA, I'm a wide-open book and I respect the friggin' question and I'll give my best answer. So, once again, if it's a PANTERA fan or if it's anybody that does this, if anybody wants to dwell on PANTERA, it's, in my opinion, once again, very, very valid. So I'll do my best to answer correctly and try and add a little bit of insight as well. It makes things special for the person asking, to give them a little background to the story and stuff like that. Because I love meeting people and I love talking music. And if it's PANTERA they wanna talk about, so be it."

On whether he ever feels too overwhelmed emotionally to sing the PANTERA classics:

Anselmo: "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No. No. Not at all. [We spoke] about the 'Metal Masters' [clinics] earlier, and we definitely do some old PANTERA songs and really… All that does for me is, it makes me remember the old days, and that's something that's very enjoyable. PANTERA is not the first band to have a tragic circumstance, we're not the first band to break up, and we're not the first band to go through problems or anything like that. So, to me, a lot of my memory is great memories of PANTERA. I really enjoy playing live and doing the shows, because our audiences were so fucking incredible, and the power coming off the stage was so fucking wonderful. It's tough to beat. To me, it just brings back great memories."

On whether DOWN has anything new in the works:

Anselmo: "Well, we just wrapped up our touring for the 'Purple' EP, and actually, we already have a lot of ammunition for the next EP in the works. And I think we start heads-down work on that sucker in November. So I'm looking forward to that. And really, I think in November we can knock it out, and I think it's not too far-fetched to think that the next EP would be coming out within the first three months of 2014."