PHILIP ANSELMO Talks About Early Influences, Songwriting In Video Interview

Scion A/V has posted a video interview with Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA, SUPERJOINT RITUAL, ARSON ANTHEM) in which he talks about his early influences and approach to performing and songwriting.

"I went from being a kid-kid, listen to everything from THE BEATLES through KISS, Peter Frampton, JETHRO TULL classic rock, classic stuff into immediately, it seemed like, IRON MAIDEN and stuff like that," he said. "The first IRON MAIDEN record and then, obviously, the first METALLICA record.

"It was awesome growing up in New Orleans because there were great metal bands, there were great hardcore bands, there were great thrash metal bands in the middle '80s and what-not. But then, take me out of New Orleans and I moved to Fort Worth in 1987 and there's a scene there, too. And Texas absolutely has a different sound. Honestly, I got the best of both worlds groove of New Orleans meets the intensity of Texas. That's the best education I could have, the best experiences I could have.

"I had the question asked of me before, 'What do you like better singing or playing guitar?' If I'm gonna be totally truthful, if that microphone's in my hand, I'm loving it. When the guitar's in my hand, I'm a little nervous, but I'm still loving it.

"I'm a songwriter. I don't think I was ever, ever, ever interested in learning anyone else's music, because A) it was, in my mind, too tough, too tedious; but B) I just wanted to write my own songs, man. What I'm doing here is trying to create something new.

"I'm releasing my solo project just under 'Philip H. Anselmo' because I'm just one musician.

"What I've tried to do is take traditional and ball it up and reshape it. It's not too far removed from the genuine article. It's gonna be metal to the naked ear. I'm still developing lyrically what I want to say, because I think that's the important thing. It's a moment of inspiration and a month of work. This is a fucking breath of fresh air. That's what I'm striving for."

Anselmo in early 2010 announced plans to write an autobiography, which is being co-authored by MetalSucks' Corey Mitchell. He explained at the time that the book would "[not] in any way, shape or form [be] like your average rock book. . . 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. . . 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 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."