PHILIP ANSELMO Lands Publishing Deal For Autobiography

According to Metal Sucks, Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA, ARSON ANTHEM, SUPERJOINT RITUAL) and BloodyDisgusting.com writer Corey Mitchell have secured a deal with Jeremie Ruby-Strauss, senior editor at Simon & Schuster's Gallery Books imprint, for Anselmo's autobiography, which will tentatively be titled "Mouth For War: Pantera, Pain, & Pride - Heavy Metal Highs, Drugged Out Lows, & The Battle For My Life". Corey will co-author the book, which is described as "a no-holds-barred look inside of Philip's brain, his history with PANTERA, the loss of his best-friend, Dimebag Darrell, and an unflinching examination into the downward spiral of pain and drug addiction that nearly cost him his life." A 2014 release is expected.

In a 2010 interview with MetalSucks, Anselmo stated about his upcoming autobiography, "Well, as opposed to what most people may figure or think or imagine that I'm going to write about, this is not a book that's in any way, shape or form really like your average rock book. It's not a pissing contest when it comes to the death of my guitar player. [correcting himself] The murder of my guitar player. Honestly, it's coming from my perspective of being a guy that has fought through chronic pain his entire career, and what it's like to be in my situation with all the pitfalls, all the crooked fucking doctors out there, all the things that can go wrong. It's well documented how many things have gone wrong in my career. So, it's kind of my take on that, and a lot of the lessons I've learned from pain — chronic pain itself. You can win or lose, straight-up. Anyone who deals with chronic pain can attest that it fucking creeps into the mind, y'know?"

He continued, "There is going to be some [discussion of my music]. If I didn't talk about some of the music career, I think it would be a little bit of a fucking gyp for the fans. People want to know certain things. Of course, yeah it's going to be about it, but then again, I've been carrying pain around with me since I was 24. I've been through major back surgery. I've had knee surgery. I broke both my wrists. I've broken my ribs twice. All of my fucking fingers, two of my toes, I've had a hernia. Man, you name it. I'm like a fucking football player. Once again, pain comes with every step of my fucking life — chronic pain. There are ways to fight it, and there are ways to submit to it. I'm going to show both sides of that, and hopefully shed some light on the drug world, the evils of the drug world, the helpful drugs, certain doctors, and hopefully shed some light on how you can cope with chronic pain through a regimen and through will power — unabashed, undivided motherfucking will power. There's a strength there that needs to be untapped. I'm going to give a couple of keys, and it's up to people to find their own locks and unlock that motherfucker."

Anselmo's former PANTERA and DOWN bandmate Rex Brown last year signed a deal with Da Capo Press to write a memoir. Due in 2013, "Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story Of Pantera" is described as a "starkly honest and revealing" book about Rex's time in one of the most influential and enduringly popular bands in heavy metal history, offering Brown's shocking personal insight into a band that had swapped the grimy clubs of Texas for arenas around the world but whose story would ultimately be touched by tragedy.