PHILIP ANSELMO Talks PANTERA, Current Metal Scene, BP Oil Spill

Hard Rock Hideout recently conducted an interview with DOWN/ex-PANTERA frontman Philip Anselmo. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Hard Rock Hideout: Why do you think PANTERA fans are so loyal to the band to this very second?

Anselmo: I think it's the camaraderie we always had with the audience. We did not want to have character as a band that was untouchable or inaccessible. I was always talking the shit to [late PANTERA guitarist] Dimebag between songs on stage. We wanted the kids on stage with us! Hell, I'd hand the kid who came up on stage the microphone and let him sing and scream into it! It never bothered us. Our interaction with the kids back then was an impressive sight. Damn, you can see it for yourself by just going to YouTube and looking up any live PANTERA videos. The videos don't lie and seeing is believing!

Hard Rock Hideout: What is your greatest memory of Dimebag the person, not the musician?

Anselmo: As a person, there were so many of them. He and I were such creative forces that there would be this butting of the heads that would be healthy. I was this hot-headed motherfucker who wanted the money riffs, wanted the music more loose and I wasn't wild about guitar solos. Twenty years removed, little did I know that Dimebag was to become the hero he is today. The machine-like tightness was a staple of PANTERA. I was on this underground trip, with this trio of musicians who were the most talented I've ever been surrounded by. The versatility and tightness between Vince [Paul Abbott, drums] and Rex [Brown, bass], Rex and Dime was like nothing I've seen before or since. When it came time to execute the vocals, we all got along.

Hard Rock Hideout: What is missing in the metal scene today?

Anselmo: What do you think is missing in the metal scene today?

Hard Rock Hideout: Just that true feeling that was in the air years ago.

Anselmo: You're right on, there are no scenes anymore. Years back it was fuckin' magic, man. I'm not saying one time period is better or worse here, only bands are more visible on computers now than on stage. There are not many gigs. There are a lot of MySpace pages where bands flaunt their stuff. If you want to hear a band's music, you have to visit their MySpace page. Today's teens and twenty-year-olds could only wish to experience that scene feel. Texas had a great fuckin' scene! New Orleans, too. You could just stop in one weekend, out of the blue, to matinee shows. There was a clique of people and it was familiar to us. The general consensus about music today, is that it's lacking a bit of originality. It's PANTERA meets ALICE IN CHAINS and it's the same formula being used in hundreds of bands. That's why I started my own label, Housecore Records. I weeded out certain bands that are hitting those certain notes.

Hard Rock Hideout: Do you have any commentary on the BP oil spill in the gulf?

Anselmo: It makes me examine mankind once again. By all rights, I can't speak for anyone else but me. I'm just another ignorant man figuring my way through life. With all due respect to what other religions other people follow and what they consider to be their god, If I'm going to call anything god, it's this planet underneath our feet. When you stab god in the chest, like a human so much blood is in the body. There's only so much oil in the Earth. I know people down in the Gulf, the locals, who have been living off the industry of fish for generations and they are hurtin'. Any food place around the world that imports from the Gulf are gonna be hurtin'. I think there's a fact that people in America are not allowed a loud enough voice. If there was a reasoning here, there would be pamphlets in the mailbox asking if it's OK to drill a mile into the Gulf, into the Earth. You drill one mile into the Earth here and tell everyone it's foolproof, who's the fool when it breaks? We stabbed god in the heart and it makes me look at mankind like we are a conquering, vicious, breed of life on Earth. We need to take a step back and look at what we have done. We only have one planet. There should be a law of man, a law of mankind, to respect the Earth we live on.

Read the entire interview from Hard Rock Hideout.

Philip Anselmo shout-out to BLABBERMOUTH.NET: