VINNIE PAUL On DIMEBAG: 'We Had The Greatest Chemistry In The World'

UK's Metal Hammer magazine is hard at work on an extensive, once-in-a-lifetime tribute to late PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. If you wish to get involved, all you need to do to be a part of it is to send a simple picture of of yourself — whether it's your Dime/PANTERA tattoo, you and Dime or just you flippin' the horns, send us your photos to [email protected]. The pictures can be digital, and can even be taken on your mobile phone!

Metal Hammer recently spoke to Dimebag's brother and partner in music, Vinnie Paul, about the magazine's upcoming tribute and when he and Dime first discovered a mutual love of music. "Once we started on music we were inseparable," he said. "Before that he was quite a bit smaller than me," Vinnie explained. "The first record I ever owned was KISS' 'Alive'. After that it was VAN HALEN, and then 'Cat Scratch Fever' by TED NUGENT. Music had me hooked after that. I'd already started playing the drums. My dad was a musician which was no bad thing, it was always around the house. We were like a team. Inseparable. We thrived on music and learned as much as we could and couldn't wait to get together and play."

And as Vinnie goes on to describe, that was a bond that was to last right to the end. "It's incredible," he said. "We had the greatest chemistry in the world. We always knew where each other was going, especially musically, when we were writing or playing live or just having fun. We never felt in competition with each other. A lot of kids when they're growing up get a lot of pressure from their parents about getting good grades and stuff. We were a team. We worked together and never felt that competition that other kids do."