REX BROWN On PANTERA: 'How We Kept Together That Long Is Another Amazing Tale'

BigMusicGeek.com recently conducted an interview with former PANTERA and current KILL DEVIL HILL bassist Rex Brown about his memoir, "Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story Of Pantera". A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

BigMusicGeek.com: While writing, did you find it difficult to keep re-living the more traumatic aspects of you life and career?

Rex: Yes, but at the same time, you deal with that kind of stuff as you deal with it. It still seems like yesterday that I was at the funeral. All the "he said/she said" stuff that went through Blabbermouth... No offense to Blabbermouth — they have to report the news or whatever they have to do — but there was a lot of crap that went on. I never really said anything. I was all about the letting the music do the talking. That was more my credo.

BigMusicGeek.com: Did the writing process help mend your poor relations with [DAMANGEPLAN/PANTERA drummer] Vinnie Paul?

Rex: [DOWN/PANTERA] vocalist Philip [Anselmo] and I have opened our arms up many, many times to Vince and he just doesn't want to have anything to do with it. We all have to get up and put our pants on one leg at a time, ya know? That's just the way he feels. That's fine. It's not fine, but that's just the way it is. I'm not really into taking jabs at him. He just carries this hatred with him that I'm not really crazy about. We all still talk business-wise, about stuff that has to be taken care of. We have to keep the music alive, ya know? During these conversations, I'm like, "Hey, Vinnie! What's going on?' to no reply to Philip and I both. Philip has come out of the woods and said, "Hey, dude! Come out and beat the shit out of me. I don't give a fuck. I had nothing to do with your brother getting killed." That's so fuckin' crazy. That's just something he's going to have to deal with.

BigMusicGeek.com: It's a shame you can't repair the bond you once had with each other. At this point, does he somehow still blame you for Dime's death? It seems odd that after everything that's said in the book he would still be so upset.

Rex: When you read the book, it starts when he goes, "See what you did?" and then, when you get to the very end page, I say, "Look, Vinnie, I have all the empathy in the world for you. That's a tough fuckin' one to deal with. But we're all dealing with it. It's not just you, it's the fuckin' world and everybody else." [Dimebag] was a fuckin' great person, ya know? He was the best man at my wedding and my best friend. It seems like yesterday, but it's been nine years, ya know? We get through it. We get on and we move along and we go through what we have to go through. It's called life, ya know? I just tried to do the best I could at writing a book that was true and didn't have the collaboration with people that may have a different perspective... telling the same story I'm telling, just in their own version. It makes sense, ya know? I don't lie about a fuckin' thing in there. I'm just telling my truth and my experiences. I never believed in talking about it. I just wanted to let the music do the talking, ya know? I'm not old by any means, but I didn't want to be one of those seventy-year-old guys selling a story about something that happened seventy years ago. I think it's relevant now and I just want to get my story out. I' m not doing it for the money. I'm not doing it for anything but just putting my good old truth in somebody else's eyes.

BigMusicGeek.com: Is there any truth to the rumors that PANTERA will reunite with (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY/OZZY OSBOURNE guitarist) Zakk Wylde "filling in" for Dime? I know people are suspect as the story originated from within a blog.

Rex: People actually believe in blogs. They read that and it becomes a myth and then people think that it's actually true. And that's what kills me about some of these editorial social networks. That actually have nothing better to do but give you stuff that's not true, ya know? Something that's really not happening, ya know? They're, like, 'Here comes the three-legged dog." What the fuck? That's not news. Tell me something good, ya know? There's nothing else to tell. I haven't talked to Zakk Wylde about any of this stuff. In fact, I have talked to him about the situation and we just laugh, ya know? No, there's no truth to that. Look, I never say never. Phil and I have opened our arms up to Vinnie many a times and without Vinnie and without Dime, it just ain't right. Especially without Dime, ya know? It'd be a hard place to fill. I was watching a video this fan sent me yesterday. I clicked on the link and checked it out. I don't watch the old stuff. I like to move on with my musical journey, but I went back and watched this thing and it kind of got me teary-eyed, ya know? That's just how badass this band was. That gives me all the more reason to be happy about this book in the way I've written it and the way that people are taking it, ya know? It was true, it was honest and it was fuckin' real. And just like life, it has its good, its bad and its ugly. But that's any rock 'n' roll band's story. How we kept together that long is another amazing tale. It's amazing that we kept together for that long with all the crazy stuff that was going on. From all the addictions to the different personal demons and everything else. And then the tragedy of Dime.

Read the entire interview from BigMusicGeek.com.