VINNIE PAUL On REBEL MEETS REBEL: 'It Helped Me Feel Like I Was Working With DIMEBAG Again'

Eden Munro of Vue Weekly reports:

REBEL MEETS REBEL, the band fusing outlaw country singer David Allan Coe with three fourths of PANTERA, means a lot to drummer Vinnie Paul.

The band's self-titled album has been part of the healing process for Paul, who lost his brother and band mate, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, during a tragic shooting two years ago. The REBEL MEETS REBEL album had already been recorded, so it was a natural step for Paul to release it on his own record label.

"It's something that helped me feel like I was working with him again," Paul explains over the phone from Texas. "And it's something that I know he really had a burning desire to get out for people to hear, because he was really proud of it, and I know it's something that David [Allan Coe] really loved and cherished and is very happy that it's finally seen the light of day."

Sessions for the album took place over a four-year stretch starting in 1999, with the musicians recording whenever they were all in in Dallas with some time to kill between their respective tours. For Paul, part of the magic of the album is that they did it on their own — without any record company people, managers or producers lurking about and trying to get them to conform to some preconceived and easily marketable notion.

Every time the band went into a session, they started fresh, letting the vibe lead the way, as they put together a few songs. Though Paul admits that the musicians were intimidated the first time they got together with Coe — Paul says that he and Abbott grew up on a steady dose of Coe's music at home — it was the country renegade himself who put them at ease.

"He came in the studio and we didn't know where to start and he just said, 'Dude, just get on the groove and go,'" Paul laughs. "So we started into 'Nothin' to Lose', which is probably the most metal sounding track on there. We started into that thing and we just kept going and we said, 'what do you think?' and he said 'I fucking love it, just keep going. I'm writing some words over here.' As soon as we finished the music he's, like, 'it's my turn, give me the goddamned mic.' We give him the mic and he starts singing and we just looked at each other and went, 'wow, this is just fucking cool.'"

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