PHILIP ANSELMO On His Upcoming Solo Album: It's One Of The Most Intense Things I've Ever Done

Earlier this week, Pablo of the Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station 93X conducted an interview with former PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

On the rumors of a possible PANTERA reunion with Zakk Wylde on guitar filling in for the late "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott:

Anselmo: "Honest to goodness, it's a lot of talk… I'll say this: there would be a number of things that would have to happen before anything like that were to occur. Vince [former PANTERA drummer, and Dimebag's brother, Vinnie Paul Abbott] and I would have to sit down and hash out all kinds of stuff. I have not had that opportunity yet. Rex [Brown, former PANTERA bassist] and I still are very close — we talk, we support each other's music, we're brothers, and all that. However, the Vinnie Paul talk has not happened. That's Vince's choice for right now, and I can't disupute his choice — he's his own man, he makes up his own mind — but I'll leave it like this: my door is wide freaking open. Life is too short, man."

On the idea of getting back on stage and seeing PANTERA fans going crazy to the band's music:

Anselmo: "Of course, when you look at it that way, and just to feel that rush, to play those songs, and to see that particular audience react that way, that would…. Wow, cosmic, to say the least."

On his upcoming solo album:

Anselmo: "Yes, I do have a solo record that is mixed and tracked and all that stuff. All I wanna do is go back and make one more pass on that mix and then get the sucker mastered. I would love to have that out at the end of this year, but if it doesn't happen, because of A) of course, this 'Vulgar Display Of Power' [PANTERA] re-release; I wanna give that time to breathe; and then B) the [new] DOWN [EP], I wanna give that a little time to breathe. If it doesn't happen at the end of this year, I would definitely be looking for that sucker early, early, early, early next year."

"I wrote every note on the record. I wrote every song. Truth be told, I am a creative guitar player. I'm not a technically great guitar player. I've written PANTERA riffs, too. I'll write a riff, but when a guy like Dimebag gets ahold of it, it sounds completely different and probably about 99 to 100 percent better. I have a fantastic guitar player named [Maziar] Marzi Montazeri [ex-SUPERJOINT RITUAL], who… Actually, him and Dimebag had known each other since the middle '80s, late '80s, and I've known Marzi almost as long. And really, Dimebag… He was such a killer, killer, amazing player — we all know this — but Dimebag would show so much respect to Marzi. Just to sit there and watch those two guys jam together back in the old days, or just talk guitars… They just had this amazing mutual respect for one another. So Marzi and I have reunited, and he is really an executioner when it comes to right-hand picking, and his left hand blows mine away completely, and he's a great lead player. And the kid who plays drums from WARBEAST, José Manuel Gonzales, he plays drums on my stuff, too. And I've got a local kid playing bass, named Bennett Bartley. And really, man, I orchestrated the whole thing — my words, my songs — but I let Marzi put his fingerprints, so to speak, all over this whole damn thing. Really, man, it's probably — in my estimation — one of the most intense things I've done, ever. What I love about it is you can't slide it into any one particular slot, but it's just as extreme as extreme gets. So I can't wait to catch some feedback on this sucker."