Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal

by Jon Wiederhorn

  REX BROWN: This type of music is intense shit. It drains you, man. And if you can’t go any further, you can’t go any further. At that point, we were starting to become unhinged.

  VINNIE PAUL [2003 interview]: It wasn’t a “one for all, all for one” thing, the way it used to be. It was me and my brother in one bus and then Phil and Rex had their thing. I don’t know if he was using [heroin] the whole time, but it got to the point where I didn’t know which Phil was gonna show up to the gig. One night he would walk in and be a fucking animal. The next night, I’d walk backstage and he’d be lying in the corner and he’d say he was tired or his back hurt. I will never take anything away from that dude from when he was at the top of his game, but where he’s at right now, yeah, I think he’s much less than subpar at what he does, and I have a hard time watching him when I see him on MTV talking about Superdope Ritual [sic] or whatever they’re called, and he can’t keep his fucking eyes open.

  PHIL ANSELMO: I felt like heroin couldn’t kill me, man; there was no way heroin was stronger than me. Come to find it could kill me and did, and no fucking way is anyone stronger than heroin. Heroin—definable, evil. You’re a liar. The most wretched liar. I’ve had friends whose wives had just miscarried and they’re racing to the hospital to be with their wife and their stillborn child . . . but they need to stop off at the junkie house and get a quick fix. I’ve had friends at other friends’ funerals who have overdosed and died, and they’re lying in the cold fucking earth at twenty, and they’re going back and forth to the car, shooting up. Not pissing on their friend’s grave, fucking opening the coffin up and ripping the corpse apart. Man, I’ve [overdosed and] died three times and been brought back each time. And it was still a hard thing to give up.

  RITA HANEY: There was an incident [when Pantera was] in Australia in 2001—and that’s why Darrell started compiling footage—because he wanted to show it to Philip and go, “Dude, look at you. What are you doing?” It was an interview where he was so out of it and he said so much shit that they got [Phil’s friend] Jimmy Bower [Eyehategod, Down] to run into the room and steal the tape recorder from the press guy because Philip had made such a fool of himself in the interview and he didn’t even know what he was saying. Darrell came back and said, “Dude, we actually had to steal that guy’s shit. I bought him a whole new recorder because I felt bad, and I told him I didn’t know who did it.”

  VINNIE PAUL: We all flew out of New York City six hours before 9/11 happened. We landed in Dublin, Ireland. I got off the plane and I had never felt such a cold vibe in my life. I didn’t know what was going on. I went to my hotel, got checked in, and my tour manager called and he said, “Are you watching TV?” I said, “No, what, do they have the Cowboys game on?” He said, “Turn it on.” I turned it on. The second plane flew right into the tower, and I went, “Wow, what fucking movie is this?” He went, “This ain’t no fucking movie, dude. This is happening. The tour’s canceled.” We were stranded there for fourteen days before we got to fly home. During that time, I didn’t speak to Phil once. He turned into a recluse and went into his room. We came home. Two weeks later he called me up and goes, “I got all these side bands I want to put out. If you don’t want to help me get them out, I quit the band.” I said, “What are you talking about, dude?” He said, “Elektra’s not gonna help me do this, and if you don’t help me, I quit.” I’m like, “All right, I’ll do what I can for you.” I did everything I could to get the guy squared away. We’d been doing Pantera for twelve goddamn years and we already agreed to take six months to a year off. Next thing I know, Phil’s off doing Down. There’s no communication. We went a whole year without being able to get in touch with Phil through his management. He was talking shit about us every night on Ozzfest. His attitude was totally destructive.

  RITA HANEY: They tried to help Philip every step of the way. They called Sylvia Rhone at Elektra, and said, “Hey, let the dude go ahead. We’ll take six months off and then you’ll have your new Pantera record.” Vinnie sent Down a brand-new drum kit. Darrell sent Down a PA, monitors, everything they would need for a studio. And he was leaving messages on Phil’s machine saying, “Hey man, I was just trying to see if you got the equipment we sent.” They were that supportive. That’s another reason why later on when they found out Phil was doing heroin again and talking shit about them, Darrell started wondering, “Did I help the demise of my band by supporting him?” I said, “No you didn’t! All you did was just love him.” But he felt betrayed.

  PHIL ANSELMO: Once you start using, drug addiction is past, present, and future. You remain addicted. When someone says, “I’ve kicked drugs,” well fine, but for how long? That’s the question that would probably loom in any addict’s mind. I’m an extremist. With me it’s all or nothing. Sometimes it takes a certain getting somewhere in your brain to live the moment. In order to do [Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow] I had to torture my soul. No matter how cheesy it may sound, it’s the fuckin’ truth.

  RITA HANEY: We got stories about how Down were at Elektra to play the record for the label and they were completely ridiculous and wasted, saying things like, “We’re the next Led Zeppelin. We don’t need the Abbott brothers. We’re gonna be huge.”

  VINNIE PAUL: Phil has no respect for anything and perceives other people to be less than he is. After hearing him talking so much shit, I looked at Dime and we went, “You know what? I think this might be the end of this. We better start doing something because the only thing we know how to do is play music.” So any kind of rumors about a Pantera reunion back then are total bullshit. Maybe the other guys thought there was gonna be one, but me and Dime were done.

  PHIL ANSELMO: Truth be told, me and the boys hadn’t talked in a while, I had been doing Superjoint, wasted out of my mind. Superjoint was on its last legs and I knew this, then I heard about [Vinnie and Dime’s new band] Damageplan. I called up Vince. He said, “I don’t know if Dime wants to talk to you, man. He’s pretty angry. You’ve been out there doing Superjoint, we’ve been sitting here for over a year wondering what the fuck is going on.” He said, “You can try and call Dime back, but I don’t know.” So I called Darrell. I said, “Sorry I haven’t been in touch. Happy to hear you’re jamming, man. What’s going to happen with Pantera?” He said, “I’m not worried about that anymore. I got this new shit going on.” I said, “Really? So, no more Pantera?” He said, “Man, you’ve been doing this and that.” I said, “Yeah, I know what I have been doing. Here’s the question once again: No more Pantera?” He said, “Nope.” He was doing Damageplan and that was the last time I spoke to him.

  Pantera or no Pantera, metal remained in a state of flux through the nineties. Old-school heroes like Dokken, Ratt, and Queensrÿche could barely fill clubs, while others, like Skid Row and Lita Ford, left the industry for years. For Iron Maiden, who longed to return to stadiums, the only way to move forward was to return to the past. In 1999, vocalist Bruce Dickinson rejoined the band after a six-year absence, and Maiden released the progressive return-to-form Brave New World, which they followed with a triumphant reunion tour.

  BRUCE DICKINSON: It was [manager] Rod [Smallwood] who took me aside and said, “How do you feel about getting it back together?” [I told Rod,] “Well, you know there are a couple of things that concern me, but 90 percent of things I think are massive opportunities.”

  STEVE HARRIS: I’ve always had the view that you don’t look back. You look forward. The thing is, we know Bruce and we know what he’s capable of, and you think, “Well, better the devil you know.” We got on well professionally for, like, eleven years, and so . . . after I thought about it, I didn’t really have a problem with it.

  BRUCE DICKINSON: I told him, “This is why I left.” I can’t remember exactly what I said, but at the end, I said, “Does that make sense?” He went, “Well, yeah.”

  As Maiden was regrouping with Dickinson, Rob Halford was collaborating with Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor and John Lowery (aka John 5) on the indust
rial metal band 2wo. Additionally, in 1998, Rob Halford, then forty-seven, dropped a bombshell during an interview with MTV news producer Jim Fraenkel—although most of those who knew him were hardly surprised.

  ROB HALFORD: I think that most people know that I’ve been a gay man all of my life, and that it’s only been in recent times that it’s an issue that I feel comfortable to address, and an issue that has been with me ever since recognizing my own sexuality. A lot of homophobia still exists in the music world—in all kinds of music. . . . I think it’s difficult for everybody, you know, in making the decision to come forward and be who you are, based on peer pressure, especially if you’re a teenager. That’s where a lot of the anxiety begins, and so maybe people like myself and others that do step in front of a camera and let the world know. Maybe it’s of some help when there’s an individual that’s been successful, that’s been able to achieve dreams and visions and goals in life and not let the issue of sexuality be something to hold them back, so I think it’s an important thing.

  MARK McGRATH (Sugar Ray; TV host; DJ): Before Rob came out, I didn’t know he was gay. One day, I was at Riki Rachtman’s [Headbangers Ball] barbecue. Riki’s parties had a mix of the real metal dudes and the guys that were kinda new, like Alice in Chains and [Faster Pussycat’s] Tamie [Downe]—but also Rob Halford. Back then as a joke, I used to wear daisy dukes, heavy metal jean shorts, rolled up, with my nuts hanging out. Then I see Rob Halford, and I’ve never met him before, so I am over the moon. I went to him with such enthusiasm—I looked like “Play the Game”-era Freddie Mercury, I go, “Rob, I’m such a big fan.” I’m overly friendly, touching him. [Film director and McGrath’s best friend] McG is there with me. We were hustling, trying to get a record deal. So I gave Rob my number, told him if he ever wanted to hang out. . . . He took it that I was cruising him, so he started calling my number, which was the house hotline for my band the Shrinky Dinks. First message was [in British accent] “Hello Mark, it’s Rob here, I’m currently in Phoenix but I’m promoting the Fight record right now, and I’m going to Los Angeles, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.” He said, “I’d like to fly you out to Phoenix so we could see each other.” The way he said “so we could see each other,” I went, “He’s gay!” I look at McG, and he goes, “You gotta go. Now! It’s Rob Halford. He’s the Metal God.” I was too freaked out. He left a few messages, but he speaks so eloquently, I almost turned gay. I wish I had a gay inclination, ’cause it would have been Rob Halford if I was going to get down with a dude. Believe me. I felt bad if I misled him in any way. I was like, “Why would he think I’m gay? Oh, the shorts and the touching and the phone number.”

  IAN HILL: We used to call it the worst kept secret in heavy metal. We knew from day one that Rob was gay, and it was left up to him whether he wanted to come out or not.

  ROB HALFORD: Unless you’re a gay person, you can’t really explain why you need to [come out]. I let myself out of jail. For those people who live in that straight world, who have no connection with gay people or the culture, they were probably surprised. But I think many of those people went, “I don’t think it’s important. It’s the music that matters.”

  KERRY KING: I wanted to be in denial, but shit, you can only hear it so many times. He’s hanging out with a certain type of guy every show. Yeah, it just had to be made public. I personally don’t fucking care for fucking homos of either sex, but as long as they ain’t in my face, fine. It wouldn’t be a problem if they weren’t so fucking petty about getting it in the public. If you want to go fucking suck a dick, go suck a dick, but I don’t need to know about it.

  ROB HALFORD: [Before I came out] they had their girls, and I had my right hand and a bottle of Dermalube and a porno mag [laughs]. It’s fucking sad, man. No one was willing to face the truth. I was scheduled to do a photo shoot with Cheryl Rixon, who was a Penthouse pet of the year, on the roof of a hotel near a swimming pool. Cheryl was in this skimpy little tits-and-ass bathing suit and I was in full-on leather S&M gear. I loved it. I never got a boner, but it was hysterical. Of course, the implications of the picture are enormous. It was a difficult time. It’s part of being in the closet. It’s difficult, but my music helped me survive all that.

  CHERYL RIXON: I did the shoot with Rob by the pool at the Parker Meridien in New York. We had a blast. We were really comfortable together because I knew he wasn’t sexually attracted to me.

  While Halford was busy with Fight, 2wo, and his eponymous solo band, his former bandmates hired singer Tim “Ripper” Owens, from an Ohio cover band. The 2001 film Rock Star, which starred Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston, was based on an article about Owens that appeared in the New York Times. At first, Priest were consultants for the movie, but they backed out when they realized the screenplay didn’t accurately reflect their story. Owens sang on two Priest albums, the thrash metal–inspired Jugulator in 1997, and the slower, more straightforward Demolition in 2001.

  TIM “RIPPER” OWENS (ex–Judas Priest): At one point in high school my whole room was nothing but Judas Priest stuff. I wouldn’t allow any other band pictures on my wall. Then fifteen years later, I’m in the band. I [auditioned with] “Victim of Changes.” I sang the first line and Glenn Tipton said, “Okay, Owens, you got the gig.”

  IAN HILL: We went through thousands of tapes and videos trying to find someone to fill Rob’s very large shoes. We didn’t find anybody until [drummer] Scott [Travis] came along with a videotape of Tim singing with a cover band. We thought, “At last we have someone who can not only handle the notes that Rob hits, but he knows the songs. He’s singing them already.”

  RIPPER: At the time, there was never any intention of getting Rob back. Their intentions were, “Rob’s doing his thing, we’re gonna do ours.” But as time goes on, you see the wheels turning. You start thinking, “Uh-oh, here it comes.” [In the early 2000s] Judas Priest was starting to get a lot of good offers to reunite with Rob. I got an e-mail that read, “Listen, we decided to get Rob back.” Even though it was an e-mail, it was still handled in a good way.

  Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell’s new band, Damageplan, featured ex-Halford guitarist Patrick Lachman on vocals along with bassist Bob Zilla (Hellyeah). They released their debut album New Found Power in 2004. The music was less abrasive and confrontational than Pantera’s, but it maintained the group’s trademark groove and blended midtempo thrash with some more accessible elements. It also featured some high-profile guest stars.

  VINNIE PAUL: We got some special appearances from Corey [Taylor] from Slipknot and Zakk Wylde. Dime fuckin’ loved Zakk, man. They had some of the best times together. One time, Dime and Zakk were doing a cover for Guitar World, and Zakk had only heard a little bit of the music from the Damageplan album. So Dime goes, “Zakk, man, come down to the studio and check this shit out.” He heard it and went, “Yo, bro! I wanna play lead on this motherfucker right there.” He had, like, ten minutes before he had to go to the airport. He said, “Go get my guitar out of the car.” He comes back and starts fucking shredding. He heard the song “Reborn” twice and he played it twice and he smoked.

  PATRICK LACHMAN (Damageplan, Halford): We all started doing shots and next thing you know Dime says, “You want to hear the diversity in the record?” He puts on “Soul Bleed.” Zakk’s people are going, “Zakk, you gotta go, you’re gonna miss your plane.” And he says, “Yo, I gotta go and sing backups on that, real quick. Turn the microphone on.” He wound up missing his plane.

  Damageplan’s album came out February 10, 2004, to mixed reactions. Some Pantera fans were stoked to hear the Abbott brothers rocking again, but many felt it wasn’t brutal enough and missed Phil Anselmo’s vocals. Anselmo, who was admittedly often under the influence at the time, took stabs at the Abbotts in the press. At first, Vinnie and Dime turned the other cheek; however, they soon started returning the jabs. Vinnie Paul remains convinced that Anselmo’s venomous tirades contributed to Dimebag Darrell’s murder on December 8, 2004, by schizophrenic ex
-marine Nathan Gale, a Pantera fan who, it was alleged, blamed the Abbotts for Pantera’s breakup.

  Dime, who was performing onstage with Damageplan at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, was shot three times in the head by Gale. Also shot and killed were Jeff “Mayhem” Thompson, the head of Damageplan’s security; Erin Halk, a club employee who tried to stop Gale while he was reloading; and Nathan Bray, a Damageplan fan who was administering CPR to Darrell. The band’s drum tech, John “Kat” Brooks, was shot, but survived; Damageplan tour manager Chris Paluska was injured, but also survived. The bloodbath ended when undercover police officer James D. Niggemeyer entered through the back of the club and killed Gale with a shotgun round to the face. In the aftermath of the shooting, accusations flew, and more than eight years after the tragedy, Anselmo and Vinnie Paul Abbott still hadn’t spoken to each other.

  VINNIE PAUL: We were two shows away from the end of the tour and we were really looking forward to going back for Christmas, blowing up New Year’s Eve, and getting to work on the next Damageplan record. We played the demos all the time on the bus. The night before all this shit happened, we played Buffalo, New York, and we always liked to go gambling. We finished the show, and we were like, “Man, we’re gonna run up to Niagara Falls and gamble. Let’s go.” Dime was like, “Man, I’m too smoked. We got two shows left. I wanna just take it easy and kick some ass and go out strong.” I’d never seen Dime turn down a night of gambling. So me and Mayhem went gambling and had a blast. About two-and-a-half hours later, we called the bus to come pick us up and as soon as we hopped on I figured everybody was gonna be asleep. But there was Dime sitting in the front lounge with half a dozen people, partying. I was like, “Dude, I thought you were smoked and going to sleep?” He was like, “Dude, I couldn’t let these people down, man. They wanted to fuckin’ party, so I brought them on the bus.”