PHILIP ANSELMO Says He 'Forgives' DIMEBAG's Girlfriend For 'Any Pointed Remarks'

Former PANTERA and current DOWN vocalist Philip Anselmo was interviewed for the 200th issue of U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine, which coincided with the five-year anniversary of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott's (PANTERA, DAMAGEPLAN) passing. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metal Hammer: Do you remember exactly where you were when you heard that Dimebag had been shot on stage?

Anselmo: I do now. I was laying down upstairs in my house. Matter of fact, I was sleeping. The phone rang and I picked it up and I didn't remember for about two years who had told me the news. And it ended up... I remembered and found out years later that it was Rex [Brown, former PANTERA and current DOWN bassist]... two years later... and I guess it was numbing, and yes, I was laying down upstairs... I was in a lot of pain and then the ultimate pain dropped the fucking hammer on the world.

Metal Hammer: Rita [Haney, Dimebag's longtime girlfriend] said [in a 2008 Guitar World interview]: "If Phil hadn't quit PANTERA, Darrell wouldn't have been playing in that shithole where that guy [Nathan Gale] could get to him." How do you respond to that?

Anselmo: Well, look, you know... Little do people know, and I guess they will know now, that it was in London where Rita and I reunited for the first time. Anything that's been said before, once again, you're in pain, in chronic pain, and pain can come in all sorts — pain to the mind, pain to the soul, pain to the heart... You know, Rita's made it her life to keep his memory alive and she's not shy about admitting that, so I forgive her for any pointed remarks like that. You know, that's not a sensible thing to say, necessarily, but it harks back, for me, to when I was hurting so much and all of my anger was focused on the wrong things, focused on the wrong people, aimed at the wrong people. I think I just became a fantastic target because I'm the most visible target, but since we've [Rita and I] talked, I think there's a common peace. She knows, and I know, that there's love between her and I as friends. There's a different kind of closeness. When you play in a band with someone for so long, it's a marriage. You wake up next to these people, brush your teeth in the same sink, shit in the same pool... you live with these people every day, chained at the ankle, so she understands that as well, I believe. And I understand her, and it was a meeting of peace. And these angry articles, these angry words everyone has read, just let them know and let it be known that it's a shame that our anger has to be so public, because anger is but a moment and it will pass. And there's other things that do last a lifetime, and that's the healing part, and it's so much better and so much more productive to heal together, to heal on the same side, instead of against one another, and I think we've come to that point and it's a much better point to be at.

Metal Hammer: You weren't welcomed to [Dimebag's] funeral. Do you think that was fair?

Anselmo: Sometimes I still feel a little anger and a little regret. Sometimes I feel like I should've just walked right in [to Dimebag's funeral], because I don't think a damn person would've done a damn thing.

Metal Hammer: Would you have said something?

Anselmo: Yes, of course.

Metal Hammer: Like what?

Anselmo: I don't know. I can't answer that question because that was that time. I would've hoped, today, now, hypothetically, I would've hoped to have said something that would restrain people's mouths and opinions and brought us together, so that that day, that sad, sad day, from that point on, it could have been through healing together, which once again I point out has been a lot more productive from the beginning.

Metal Hammer: Are you speaking about Vinnie [Paul Abbott, former PANTERA drummer and Dimebag's brother] now?

Anselmo: I'm talking about everybody. I'm talking about Vinnie, I'm talking about everybody in the entire PANTERA camp, I'm talking about the road crew, I'm talking about Rita, I'm talking about all of them, because I love all of them. Because I'm 41 years old and I think back to those days and those were my people. Those were my people and I was theirs. There's love in my heart. That's all I can say.

Metal Hammer: So you clearly regret things that have been said, like in Metal Hammer, for example [referring to a 2004 interview in which Anselmo said of Dime, "Physically, of course, he deserves to be beaten severely."]?

Anselmo: I regret that Metal Hammer printed those things in such a way that it sounded serious, like a serious threat. I regret that interviewers, not just Hammer interviewers, several different magazines and their interviewers, before the recording would even start... they would tell me horror stories about how Vinnie and Darrell had said this, that and the other about me, and they hated me and they tore me up and they fuckin called me this, called me that, and they'd wind me up before we even started. Now there's no way on Earth that you can read something that's said, once again hypothetically, it's hard to place emotion within black and white. When you say something, it comes across point blank, when you're reading it in black and white, you know? I regret buying into these motherfuckers' wind-up schemes more than anything. That's my fucking regret.