VINNIE PAUL Releases HELLYEAH Video Message

Former PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott has released a short video message promoting the release of the self-titled debut disc from his new band, HELLYEAH. Watch it at this location.

In a brand new interview with The Dallas Morning News, Vinnie Paul said that he sees the supergroup, composed of members of conceptual-metal titans MUDVAYNE and grip-and-rip alternative thrashers NOTHINGFACE, as a near-divine continuation of what he and his late brother "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott always pursued as musicians: fast, intense, explosive songs and having a good time.

"I was playing with people that I'd never played with before," he said. "I knew that if I'd ended up comparing them to Dime, it would never live up to my expectations.

"But I did it the right way, man. I just took it for what it was, and once we started playing, all of the ominous feelings that was there when we first came in went away."

Regarding working with MUDVAYNE vocalist Chad Gray, Abbott said, "Singers can be a pain, but he was a ... joy. Usually you get all of the music done for the record, and then the singer comes bringing up the rear, and you're waiting on him to get done. Not with Chad ... he was on."

On the band's name, Gray told The Dallas Morning News, "It's rebellious. It means late teens, keggers and chicks and AC/DC and METALLICA. That's what I think when I hear these songs. It's a very youth- ful, making-bad-decisions-and-learning-from-them record. To me, it's summertime when I was 19 years old."

"The other night we were at the SALIVA show, and the singer said, 'Can I get a Hellyeah?' And I'm like 'Thanks for promoting my band, brother!' " Abbott laughed.

"All of these rock singers are gonna have to come up with something else to ask the crowd now, 'cause we done coined it. It's ours. We own it now."