PHILIP ANSELMO Says PANTERA Would Eat METALLICA Alive

PANTERA/SUPERJOINT RITUAL singer Philip Anselmo has once again slammed METALLICA over their apparent refusal to take out more extreme metal bands on tour with them, saying that if Lars and Co. were to play a show with SUPERJOINT RITUAL or PANTERA, "we would crush 'em."

Anselmo had previously challenged METALLICA to a road duel, head-to-head on any stage, telling an interviewer last month, "Heavy metal lies in the underground and if they're worried about... why in the hell would METALLICA be worried about ticket sales? Bring out some fuckin' good bands." METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich responded to Anselmo's challenge by saying, "Is he that desperate to tour? I love all these challenges. 'The ol' step it up...', and adding that Anselmo "has a tendency to talk a lot of horseshit most of the time."

Speaking to Pitriff.com by phone last week, Anselmo addressed Ulrich's remark, saying, "Like I'm desperate for shows! I've been touring now with SUPERJOINT for 8 months or 9 months. We're going on a year, and we've been together since ninety fuckin' three. Give me a fuckin' break! I'm Philip Anselmo. I'm not some newcomer to the game. There's no fuckin' way METALLICA would do that, nor would they play a fuckin' show with PANTERA in the fuckin' States, because they know what would fuckin' happen. We would fuckin' eat them alive! That's the end of the fuckin' sentence. We would crush 'em."

In the same interview, Anselmo was asked if there was any chance down the road that he and the rest of PANTERA could get past their issues and record another album.

"Man, it's not really my thing," Ansemo responded. "Some people can say I'm the one that started all these side bands. But look, I'm a fuckin' musician. To limit yourself to one fucking band and one form of music to me is just treading shallow water. You need to plunge in fucking deep. There's a lot of different forms of heavy music itself, and it doesn't all need some form of heavy guitar. I've played all kinds of music. That's just how I am and that's just what I do. I'm not the one that fuckin' totally fuckin' wanted to end the name or the working relationship with PANTERA. That was those other guys. They wanted to end it, OK. Who am I to argue besides Philip Anselmo."

When questioned if one of the reasons he left PANTERA behind was that he didn't get to write a lot of guitar parts and music for the band, which he has the ability to do, Philip said, "I wouldn't think so. After we worked together for so many years, meaning me and PANTERA, it's not that I didn't write anything at all. It's just that Dimebag Darrell's guitar style is so different than mine. It was hard for me to bring him something that I wrote on guitar all the time. I wrote the opening and main riffs for 'Mouth For War' and shit like that. As far as most of anything else, I would have to hum out the line or something like that, or think of a groove here and there. They were good at that anyway. What I gave them in my opinion was the top of the line underground heavy metal lessons. That's what I brought."

Regarding PANTERA guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul's decision to launch a new band (provisionally named NEW FOUND POWER) with a new singer and bassist and stay away from using the name PANTERA for their current project, Anselmo said, " I think they know as well as I that [using the name PANTERA for their new band] would have never worked. There's no fuckin' way that any crowd could stomach some other guy getting up there and mocking what I do and singing songs like 'Walk' and shit like that. They couldn't get away with that. They knew it. So, they decided to do something different. We'll see how different it really is. I've got an idea though, but that's just my idea." Read the whole interview here. Audio of the interview can be heard at this location.