VINNIE PAUL Discusses Possibility Of PANTERA 'Reunion' In New Video Interview

Cindy Scull of the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas radio station 97.1 The Eagle Rocks conducted an interview with HELLYEAH/ex-PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott on his 48th birthday (Sunday, March 11). You can now watch the chat in two parts below. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow.

On the possibility of a PANTERA "reunion" with someone like Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) filling in for Vinnie Paul's brother, late PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott:

Vinnie: "I spent two hours with Zakk, sitting down — a really great talk about… [Zakk] calls [Dimebag] 'the old man.' I mean, [Zakk] and my brother were so tight. If [a PANTERA reformation] ever were to happen, [Zakk] would be the guy [to step in for Dimebag]. But I honestly think, out of respect for my brother, we should just leave the 14 amazing years PANTERA had be. We're all happy doing our own thing. We have to continue living and do other things. But the 20th anniversary of [PANTERA's classic second major label album] 'Vulgar Display Of Power' is coming — that was our best record ever. There's a new song on [the upcoming 20th-anniversary reissue of 'Vulgar'] nobody's ever heard [called 'Piss' that goes] 'You're just piss in the wind.' It's totally Phil [Anselmo, former PANTERA singer] — his attitude, everything that PANTERA was all about. I'm really proud of it. I'm really excited to see it [come out]."

On the lack of commercial radio support for PANTERA:

Vinnie: "When we came out, we weren't on the radio, we weren't on MTV, we weren't on anything. But we sold out every show we played. And everybody was there to see the best heavy metal band in the world. We were that. We were from Texas and proud of it."

On why "Piss" never made it to "Vulgar Display Of Power" even though it was recorded during the same sessions:

Vinnie: "We never, ever believed in excess. We always wrote the ten or eleven songs, and we made sure the ten or eleven songs were the best songs they could be. At that point back in the day, there were record producers and labels [telling you], 'You've gotta write 40 songs, dude, and then you pick the 10 best ones.' I was, like, 'If you write 40 songs, you've got 30 shit songs, and you're gonna put the 10 best ones on the record, so why not write 10 really great songs?'

"I don't know why this song didn't make it on the record. I'll be totally honest with you… After I heard it, it, to me, had the same exact sound and vibe of that record, but maybe it was a little more groovy than the rest of the stuff. And when I say groovy,' I mean, when you hear it, you're gonna die because it's so amazing."

February 25 marked the 20-year anniversary for PANTERA's "Vulgar Display Of Power", a landmark album widely acknowledged as one of metal's most enduring and influential masterworks. Recorded by singer Philip Anselmo, guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, bassist Rex Brown and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, the album has been certified double platinum by the RIAA and features several of the group's most iconic songs including "Walk", "Mouth For War", "This Love" and "Fucking Hostile".

To celebrate, Rhino channels the album's relentless blitzkrieg of musical aggression onto a two-disc Deluxe Edition. The CD includes the original album remastered and "Piss", a recently discovered unreleased track from the recording sessions. The DVD contains an unreleased live performance filmed in Italy in September of 1992 plus the three official music videos from the album.

Due out May 15, 2012 from Rhino, the CD/DVD set will be available at retail outlets, including Pantera.com and Rhino.com, for a suggested list price of $19.98. A version of the release will also be available digitally.

The collection features the debut of "Piss", an incendiary blast of vintage PANTERA from the original recording sessions. It remained lost until Vinnie Paul rediscovered the track while going through the band's vault.

Along with the unreleased song, "Vulgar Display Of Power (Deluxe Edition)" also features unreleased video of the quartet performing six songs at the Monsters Of Rock show in Reggio Emilia, Italy on September 12, 1992. The set list draws almost exclusively from "Vulgar" ("This Love", "Rise", "Mouth For War"),but also includes the title track from their previous album, "Cowboys From Hell", and a melding of "Vulgar"'s "Hollow" and "Cowboys"' "Domination", which was a live staple of the band. Video of PANTERA performing live during this era is extremely rare, making the DVD one of the few ways to see them in their prime.

"Vulgar Display Of Power (Deluxe Edition)" track listing:

CD

* "Mouth For War"
* "A New Level"
* "Walk"
* "Fucking Hostile"
* "This Love"
* "Rise"
* "No Good (Attack The Radical)"
* "Live In A Hole"
* "Regular People (Conceit)"
* "By Demons Be Driven"
* "Hollow"
* "Piss" - Previously Unreleased

DVD

* "Mouth For War" - Live In Italy
* "Domination/Hollow" - Live In Italy
* "Rise" - Live In Italy
* "This Love" - Live In Italy
* "Cowboys From Hell" - Live In Italy
* "Mouth For War" - Video
* "This Love" - Video
* "Walk" - Video

Dimebag Darrell was co-founder and lead guitarist for PANTERA. When PANTERA broke up in 2003, Dimebag and his brother Vinnie Paul formed DAMAGEPLAN. On Dec. 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by Nathan Gale. He was 38 years old.

Interview part 1:

Interview part 2:

"Piss" audio clip: