ZAKK WYLDE Says Current Touring Band Is 'Not PANTERA': 'PANTERA Is DIME, VINNIE, PHIL And REX'

In a new interview with The Mistress Carrie Podcast, Zakk Wylde spoke about the decision to tour with a reformed version of PANTERA, also featuring surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass),alongside Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) on drums. The lineup has reportedly been given a green light by the estates of PANTERA's founders, drummer Vincent "Vinnie Paul" Abbott and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott.

Asked what he would have said a few years ago if somebody had told him that he would one day be the guitarist in PANTERA, Zakk said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, [it's] the PANTERA celebration. It's not PANTERA. PANTERA is Dime, Vinnie, Phil and Rex. So that's PANTERA. But no, it's a beautiful thing honoring the guys every night. Everybody's having a blast. Everyone that comes down to the shows either — you have the PANTERA faithful taking a trip down memory lane, and you've got all the younger, like Phil always calls it, the new blood. And it's amazing every night how many… It's just a testament to what the fellas created. Because we've got so many young people that have never seen PANTERA before."

He continued: "For me, for my situation, I never got a chance to see LED ZEPPELIN. So, if ZEPPELIN got back together, and you had, I mean, right now with Jason [Bonham] playing the drums, 'cause I never got a chance to see it. So, it's that kind of situation. So it's all the younger kids coming up hearing that their older brothers listened to it or their dad or whatever, and now they're at the gig to hear this music live. So, to me, it's truly a beautiful thing every night we play honoring the guys."

Regarding how his opinion of Dimebag as a guitar player has changed as a result of having to dissect his parts, Zakk said: "I already knew my buddy was great. I already knew Dime was great. But then the more I was learning this stuff, I was, like, he's even greater than I ever thought. But, no, learning all the stuff or going through actually learning the songs, it's just, aside of Dime's great technique and his chops and everything like that… I mean, to me, his legacy is — I put it more like Tony Iommi, where what Tony created with [BLACK] SABBATH was basically its own entire genre of music. So PANTERA, they're the gold standard of that genre of music, whether it's 'power groove' or whatever, what Dime called it. The LAMB OF GOD guys are amazing, but they're cut from that cloth, that style of music that PANTERA forged, and all the bands that come after that. I mean, it's just kind of like PANTERA, what PANTERA created in their genre is the same thing as THE BEATLES, THE [ROLLING] STONES, ZEPPELIN and SABBATH, all the bands that we love, where they're the benchmark of that style of music. So, yeah, that's why I always tell everybody, it's not so much how fast Dime was and everything like that; it's what he wrote. And that's his legacy, to me."

Asked what it's like to play the opening riff of the classic PANTERA song "Walk" every night, Wylde said: "It's truly amazing. Phil always says it every night. When we're, doing the shows with METALLICA, he goes, 'I think a lot of people don't know who we are, don't know who PANTERA is, he goes, 'but once that riff starts. They go, 'Oh, yeah, I've heard this song before.' It's an iconic riff, for sure. Totally."

Earlier in the month, Zakk was asked by Joshua Toomey of the Talk Toomey podcast what goes through his mind when the curtain falls down as he and his bandmates launch into the opening riff of "A New Level" every night, Zakk said: "Oh, it's awesome. I love every second of the show — from the beginning to the end, man. Obviously, when we're doing 'Floods', I get pretty choked up doing that one, especially the end bit, the outro of Dime's, 'cause it's just me by myself. I don't see the video screens that are behind me, but, obviously, when I've seen the footage of it, it's just, like, 'Wow.' There's just pretty much not a dry eye in the house on that one. Yeah, I definitely get choked up doing that one, when we do 'Floods'.

"Everybody in the camp, everybody's just all great people," Zakk continued. "I mean, we've all known each other — the fellows in the band, we've known each other, but as far as the whole camp and the crew, we've all known each other from various tours and things. So it's like one gigantic family out there. So, I mean, the whole vibe, it's just a beautiful thing."

Regarding whether there were any PANTERA songs or parts that took him longer to figure out than the rest, Zakk said: "What I just found really awesome was Dime's… I mean, the reason why we're still talking about Dime's greatness and everybody, and all the guys that we love, whether it's King Edward [Eddie Van Halen], St. Rhoads [Randy Rhoads], Jimi Hendrix, I mean, all the guys, it's what they wrote. Aside of Dime's great technique and how amazing he was and how fast he could play and everything like that, it's what he wrote, just like with Randy and Eddie and everybody. I mean, all the guys that we love. But Dime's writing, like his chord choices and everything like that, it's just, like, 'Oh, wow. That's definitely really cool.' So, a lot of unexpected pre-choruses and things like that. It's, like, 'Oh, wow. I wonder what made him go there,' like really interesting chord choices. But, yeah, for sure.

"Going through, learning the whole catalog and learning deeper cuts and everything like that, I was, like, 'Wow. This one's pretty cool,'" he continued. "I mean, even the pre-chorus to 'Walk' or just the opening riff — a lot of a lot of the chord choices would end up becoming… They're dissonant, where that's obviously what Dime's going for, is the dissonance, whereas opposed to something would be like if it was a more ear-pleasing chord choice, but it would sound routine, and you could just tell Dime was going for… 'No, that's what everybody expects us to go. So, let's go here. Everyone expects us to make a left turn. So, let's make a right.' So, it's, like, oh, 'Wow, that's definitely interesting.' So, yeah, that's what I found, learning all the material and everything like that. So, for sure. So that, to me, is what puts Dime in that league with all the guys we love, whether it's Jimi Hendrix, whether it's Eddie and Randy. It's his writing."

This past April, Zakk told Ultimate Guitar about touring with the reformed PANTERA: "I feel [Dimebag] all the time. Even when we were getting ready to do the [PANTERA tour in 2022], [the early] rehearsals, and they were just figuring out how we were gonna do this, there'd be signs all over the place, whether [it was] a license plate that would be, like, '333' [three being Dimebag's favorite number], or I'd run into like a Dimebag license plate in the middle of nowhere. It was just, like, him just pushing this thing along, willing it to happen. So he's just always around. When we were in New York, just like signs, when we just did [a headlining show at] the [Madison Square] Garden [in February 2024], my wife Barbaranne was, like, Check this out.' Something came up and it just reminded us of Dime, and I was like, 'Wow, that's crazy.' Or we would look on our phone and it would be '333'. It's just these signs everywhere. And I could see Dime just doing it, going, 'I hope these idiots realize it's me sending these signs.' [Laughs]"

The reformed PANTERA is headlining a number of major festivals across North America, South America and Europe and staging some of its own headline concerts. They are also supporting METALLICA on a massive stadium tour in 2024.

It was first reported in July 2022 that Anselmo and Brown would unite with Wylde and Benante for a world tour under the PANTERA banner.

During a recent appearance on "Drinks With Johnny", the Internet TV show hosted by AVENGED SEVENFOLD bassist Johnny Christ, Zakk was asked how he, Philip, Rex and Charlie all "came together to decide that this was the right time, the right group to pay homage to the mighty PANTERA". The guitarist said: "Well, BLACK LABEL [SOCIETY] and DOWN, we did some shows together in 2014, we did a tour, and it was great. 'Cause I've known Phil [who also sings for DOWN] and Pepper [Keenan, DOWN guitarist] and all the guys, and Jimmy Bower [DOWN drummer], Father Bower Power, over there for a while. It was just a bunch of friends going out doing shows together. And we did some PANTERA stuff then, and then Father Rex came out and we jammed 'I'm Broken' and stuff like that, and it was a lot of fun. And it's always been rumored for years. I just said that's always on the fellas. Me and Charlie are buds, and we'll be here to support our friends, whatever they wanna do. So when Phil called me up one day, he was, like, 'Zakk, you wanna get together and do this? We're thinking about me, Rex and Charlie and yourself, and we'll go out and pay tribute to Dime and Vinnie.' I was, like, 'Of course. I always said I would be there for you guys when you felt the time was right to do it.'"

He continued: "But, yeah, we just got together and did the rehearsals down in New Orleans and then we've been rolling ever since. We just did the [Madison Square] Garden and everything like that, with LAMB OF GOD and the guys and everything like that. So it was great. So just looking out every night and seeing people taking a trip down memory lane, the people that have seen the original PANTERA… When Phil says every night, he's just, like, 'How many people, this is their first time ever seeing PANTERA?' And all the younger people that never got a chance to see 'em [raise their hands]. It just really is a beautiful thing.

"I always say it every night, when we were playing the Garden, it's just like if Dime and Vinnie were right there on the side of the stage, I'd go, 'Look at what you guys created.' So it's really special. I think it's just a beautiful thing every night paying honor and tribute to Dime and Vinnie every night, Phil and Rex and Dime and Vinnie, this thing that they created that brings so many people joy. So, I just think it's a beautiful thing every night."

Zakk previously discussed his involvement with PANTERA in a February 2024 interview with Chuck Armstrong of Loudwire Nights. At the time, he said: "Everybody in the whole camp, it's all great people. And it's crazy, because we've known each other for years, but you end up knowing, even with the crew and everything like that, all these people you've known for years — I mean, people that I've been with when I started with Ozzy [Osbourne] and everything like that. So, it's just a great time out there, man, for sure. And then, obviously, celebrating Vinnie and Dime every night, it's just awesome.

"The beautiful thing about music is, all the bands that we love, whether it's ZEPPELIN or [BLACK] SABBATH, THE ALLMAN BROTHERS or Elton John or PANTERA or whatever, everybody has their connection to that music," he continued. "That's the most powerful thing about music. I mean, you hear stuff, it just transports you back to when you were 13 years old, 14 years old, where you were and what you were doing when that music was going on. So, for so many people — it's amazing 'cause Phil always does it at like almost every night, he's just, like, 'How many people saw PANTERA back in the day?' And everybody, obviously, you have all the PANTERA faithful. And then he goes, 'How many people, this is their first time seeing PANTERA?' It's mind-blowing. I mean, I'd say it's almost like 60-40, 70-30 sometimes, where it's, like, 'Wow. That is amazing.'

"I never got a chance to see ZEPPELIN back in the day, so to see… When I went and saw the [Jimmy] Page and [Robert] Plant thing with the orchestra and everything, that was just amazing, because I never got a chance to see them back in the day. So, just the power of the music, to see it live was just… I saw 'em at Brendan Byrne Arena [in East Rutherford, New Jersey in April 1995] when we were working on [Ozzy Osbourne's 1995 album] 'Ozzmosis'. I got tickets and we went down to the gig that night, and it was amazing — 'cause I never I never got a chance to see it back in the day. So, it's pretty much the same, 'cause I know I was getting chills when I was watching it. So, yeah, it's a beautiful thing, man."

Zakk was also asked if he would be open to working on new material with PANTERA. He said: "Nah, I don't think so. Whenever Phil says that and all the younger kids are screaming and yelling, when they put the house lights on and everyone's got their fists up in the air 'cause that's the first time [they're seeing PANTERA live], I just look at like Vinnie and Dime, if they were on the side of the stage, and go, 'See what you guys created.' So it's just, like, yeah, it's awesome. It truly is, man. But, no, I don't think [the plan is] to record [as PANTERA]. I mean, it'd be like if [Eric] Clapton was playing with [drummer] Mitch [Mitchell] and [bassist] Noel [Redding], honoring Jimi [Hendrix], they're not gonna go in and record [and call it] THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE with Eric Clapton. [Laughs] I don't think anything like that. Obviously, if we were ever to do anything, it would be under a different name. Like Jimmy Page, if he was playing with Paul Rodgers and everything, it's THE FIRM; they're not going out as LED ZEPPELIN."

Up until his passing in June 2018, Vinnie remained on non-speaking terms with Anselmo, whom the drummer indirectly blamed for Dimebag's death.

Vinnie Paul and Dimebag co-founded PANTERA. On December 8, 2004, while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot and killed onstage by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of PANTERA were stealing his thoughts.

Vinnie, who was Dimebag's brother, and Anselmo had not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie suggested that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag's killer.