PHIL ANSELMO SAYS HE FEELS BAD THAT FORMER BANDMATE, VINNY PAUL, “NEVER REACHED OUT [TO HIM]”

Phil Anselmo has discussed his current feelings for former Pantera bandmate and brother of Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul, who has continued to refuse a reconciliation with his former singer since Dimebag’s tragic death in 2004.

“I feel bad for Vince,” Phil tells Revolver. “People should pity the guy. I wasn’t there when Dimebag was murdered, but he sure as fuck was. That’s his flesh and blood, murdered right in front of him. It’s a shame that Vince never reached out to Rex [Brown, former Pantera/Down bassist] and I. I think the healing process would have been beneficial to him, instead of his knee-jerk reaction to fear, and his therapy through tit bars and whiskey.”

“One guy can’t break up a band,” he adds of Pantera’s demise. “After we broke up, why was Rex with me and not with Dimebag and Vince? You have to understand, it goes all four ways when a band breaks up. Yes, I made mistakes. Yes, there was a lack of communication on both sides and some of it is my fault — a lot of it is my fault.”

“Two mornings ago, the first thing I thought of when I woke up was Dimebag. I think about Dime a lot. Last year was very rough. I don’t know what it was about last year, but I got into a severe depression about the loss of Darrell and what it meant and how huge it is. How heinous it is for him not to be here and to go out the way he did.”

“Dimebag was a lifer,” Anselmo continues. “He was meant to be this guitar hero. He was born for it. We would have made amends. I would like to think he would be proud of me for pulling myself out of the muck, the abyss. I’m not a believer in the afterlife. I think this is our shot. But I guess, in an atavistic way, you hope that the fallen one’s mighty spirit is looking down and smiling on you. I just choose to remember the positive things. He was almost like the perfect counterpoint to me. We may have clashed to a certain extent, but we would always find a happy medium, It was a vital relationship that I miss greatly.”

“Pantera had an almost supernatural freakin’ alchemic chemistry, not of this world,” he added. “I have not felt it since. Down has its own chemistry, but it’s not Pantera.”

source: metalhammer.co.uk.

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