VINNIE PAUL Wants To Celebrate DIMEBAG's Life By Releasing New Product

Charlie Steffens of KNAC.COM recently conducted an interview with drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott (HELLYEAH, ex-PANTERA, DAMAGEPLAN). An excerpt from the chat follows:

KNAC.COM: Is there a lot of music you and your brother [late PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott] made that's still in the vault?

Vinnie Paul: He was always recording, nonstop. He has the ultimate archive of just fun songs. If something went wrong that day, you know, when I would go to Taco Bell and get screwed, he would write a song about it and just fuckin' lay it down. I don't think a lot of people had the opportunity to see that side or hear that side, so maybe someday that will come out. As far as PANTERA went, we always believed in “all killer and no filler.” When we went to make a record, we made the 10 or 11 or 12 songs that we thought were perfect for the record, and that was basically it. There is a whole selection of DAMAGEPLAN stuff that we were doing. We were really excited about the second record and really felt like we turned the corner and got the fans to pay attention to what we were doing, instead of constantly clamoring for PANTERA at the time. So, that shit should come out someday, definitely. But the next thing is going to be "DimeVision II". It always warms my heart just to see him on video. I feel like I can almost reach out and touch him. He was the ultimate entertainer. He loved entertaining people, man. That was his gift. He loved it. It didn't matter if it was with his guitar or fuckin' pouring shots. Whatever it was, he just wanted to put a smile on people's face.

KNAC.COM: Like skateboarding through a hotel kitchen…

Vinnie Paul: It put a smile on his face. He was the biggest kid I ever knew in my life. I'm the same way, too. Neither one of us wanted to grow up, neither one of us ever wanted to get married, have kids, any of that. It was all about good times. My Dad and I are working on a photo book, which will come out sometime next year. It's a really, really great tribute to him and a good way for people to see him from younger days. I want to sign a couple bands to my label. I got five or six thousand demo tapes in my office, waiting on me. I haven't heard anything special enough just yet, and I want to sign something that really sticks out like a sore thumb, something that's really different and something that could be exciting and create a new wave in music, so to speak. So, I'm definitely going to spend some time on that next year and I've been working on putting a Clubhouse 2 together and putting it in Las Vegas. I don't know how that's going to go, but I'm working on it. There's lots of city council shit you gotta get through to go to Vegas. I don't know if I'm going to be able to pull it off, but I'm working on it. Those are my future plans when HELLYEAH takes a little hiatus, and of course I'll be dying to get back to doing this again, because I love playing music and traveling and everything that's part of it.

KNAC.COM: It's been three years since the tragedy, and aside from a short period where you were keeping it kind of low-key and healing, you're out there really hitting it really hard now.

Vinnie Paul: The biggest tribute you can do is to carry the torch as high as you can and never let it down. I spent eight months so miserable — I don't even want to tell people how miserable it was. I got a really cool letter from Dave Grohl (FOO FIGHTERS, ex-NIRVANA) that said, "I've been through something similar with Kurt [Cobain], and I thought I'd never be part of music again. But music is what healed me." Just those words "music will heal you," that's when I decided, "I need to quit being useless and sad and destroyed, and pick up the pieces and go." From that point on I was able to put it behind me and focus, and just move forward, man. Once I started on the label and started learning a different side of the business, it really helped me. There's not a day that goes by where I don't think about him — I miss him more than anything in this world, but I know that if I was sitting at home and I was fuckin' drunk and on pills, he wouldn't want that. He'd kick my fuckin' ass. So, I think he's proud of me. I know he's proud of me and I know he's proud of all the people who are part of all the things that I'm part of. The support, the love the fans have given us…It something that's never happened, man. It's never happened. There's just no way to explain it. It's one of those things you could say "why" for the rest of your life. Hopefully, I am an inspiration to people. A lot of people lose people and they never regain their heart and are never able to carry on. It is a horrific fuckin' thing to go through, and I get strength from knowing that he wouldn't want me wasting away…period. So, I carry the torch. I go as hard as I can, just like I always did. And, of course, anything I can do to preserve and carry on his legacy and what he was all about, I do. I don't put "DimeVision" out and books to make money. I don't need that shit. I do it to celebrate his life and to help people who are fuckin' fans to have more. Since he's not able to give it to them and I can, that's what I'm going to do.

Read the entire interview at KNAC.COM.