REX BROWN On Rumors Of PANTERA Reunion With ZAKK WYLDE: 'You Can't Replace My Brother'

Jay Nanda of the San Antonio Metal Music Examiner recently conducted an interview with bassist Rex Brown (KILL DEVIL HILL, PANTERA, DOWN). An excerpt from the chat follows below.

San Antonio Metal Music Examiner: Congrats on the 20th anniversary of [PANTERA's] "Vulgar Display Of Power". The CD/DVD [reissue] comes out the day before you guys play here and includes a 1992 show from Italy. Anything you remember from that show or period of time?

Rex: That was the first time I met [then-BLACK SABBATH members] Vinny [Appice] and Ronnie James Dio. Ya gotta remember, we're just four guys from Texas. Before their set, we smoked one, and me and Phil [Anselmo, former PANTERA singer] sat behind Geezer's [Butler, SABBATH bassist] rig and watched Vinny play. You've got Geezer on your back, and that was cool as shit. It's funny it's come full circle 20 years later, and weird that it's coming out, and me and Vinny are playing [here] the next day [with KILL DEVIL HILL]. It's weird, isn't it?

San Antonio Metal Music Examiner: I'll ask you something I asked Phil last September: Which song off that album best epitomizes what PANTERA stood for?

Rex: Oh, Lord. Shit, let me brush the cobwebs out of my head. There are so many on that record that are standout tracks. I don't know. For diversity, I would say something like "Hollow". The crushing end of that song, very mellow at the start. Or you have the crushing "Fucking Hostile". Even though it says "fucking" in it, it was still a hook. That whole record, I don't know, now that I'm doing these interviews and stuff, it just brings back memories of how organic it was even though we just went in and did what we do.

San Antonio Metal Music Examiner: What do you think of the lost song "Piss" that's on the 20th-anniversary edition?

Rex: That was one of those that we… I had one metal part, the verse part, that I was sitting around playing in the studio. Vince [Paul Abbott, former PANTERA drummer] was like, "What is that?" "I don't know, I'm just sitting around doing it." We used that one riff for "Use My Third Arm" off "Far Beyond Driven". It was just one of those tracks that we forgot about. To this day, we're scratching our chins going, "Why didn't we put that on the record?" It still holds up. It's a cool track.

San Antonio Metal Music Examiner: Where do you stand on Vinnie and Phil not having spoken all these years?

Rex: Vinnie's just not open to talking to either one of us. Nothing to do with me. I have no problem talking to Vince. We emailed a couple times, but nothing major. You know, we keep hearing rumors about a reunion with Zakk Wylde on guitar, and that is such bullshit. You can't replace my brother.

San Antonio Metal Music Examiner: Do you have a favorite memory or story of Dimebag you'd like to share?

Rex: There are so many. Where do I start? Over the years, there were so many shenanigans and pranks. Dime always had a camera with him. I called him "the irreplaceable arm." He always had a guitar in one hand and a camera in the other and would capture everything on film. Just pulling pranks. It's all been very well documented in the home videos, and I'm saving some of that for the book. As much as he entertained, you know, he had to have entertainment back.

Read the entire interview from San Antonio Metal Music Examiner.