Tag: damageplan

Protective Fence Erected Around Graves Of Pantera Legends Dimebag And Vinnie Paul

source: Blabbermouth  December 27, 2020

Protective Fence Erected Around Graves Of Pantera Legends Dimebag And Vinnie Paul

A protective fence has been erected around the graves of legendary Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and his brother, Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, presumably to guard them from vandalism.

Several recent photos and video clips of the graves at the Moore Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Arlington, Texas — taken before and after they became fully enclosed by the metal fence — can be seen below.

Vinnie Paul’s grave marker at Moore Memorial Gardens was officially installed in May 2019. That same day, two pictures of the gravesite were released via Pantera’s social media, along with the message: “We ask that you please be respectful when visiting the brothers’ graves.”

A message engraved on Vinnie Paul’s grave marker reads: “Don’t ever think it’s not a good time, if you do think it’s not a good time. A good time is a good time, a bad time is a bad time, and a wonderful time is irreplaceable. Hellyeah!”

After it was reported back in 2010 that Dimebag’s grave was vandalized, Vinnie Paul was asked by Artisan News if the person responsible for causing the damage had ever been apprehended. “Nah, nah,” he replied. “But it’s just a real disrespectful thing. I don’t understand why somebody would wanna scratch their name in somebody’s tombstone or anything. But fans are rabid, man; they do unheard-of things. I just wish they would respect him and let him rest in peace and just leave it at that.”

The Pantera and Hellyeah drummer was buried on June 30, 2018 next to Dimebag and their mother, Carolyn. He was laid to rest in a custom “Kiss Kasket” provided by Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. The casket was offered as a gift at Vinnie’s family’s request. Vinnie was also buried in some of his trademark clothes, including his hat, shoes and flannel.

Speakers at the service included former Grim Reaper guitarist Nick Bowcott and SiriusXM DJ Jose Mangin. Also appearing at the event were original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley, Disturbed’s David Draiman, Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, Anthrax’s Charlie Benante, Fozzy’s Chris Jericho and Rough Cutt’s Paul Shortino.

Vinnie’s brother was buried in the original Kiss Kasket prototype in 2004 after his untimely death. The coffin featured the faces of the four founding members of Kiss, the Kiss logo and the words “Kiss Forever.” Both Abbotts were huge fans, especially Darrell, who was shot dead by a gunman in December 2004.

A public memorial for Vinnie Paul was held on July 1, 2018 at Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas.

Vinnie passed away on June 22, 2018 at his home in Las Vegas at the age of 54. He died of dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, as well as severe coronary artery disease. His death was the result of chronic weakening of the heart muscle — basically meaning his heart couldn’t pump blood as well as a healthy heart.

Not long before his death, Vinnie laid down the drum tracks for Hellyeah’s sixth album, “Welcome Home“, which was released in September 2019.

Dimebag and Vinnie Paul formed Pantera in the early eighties in Texas. The band recorded four independent albums before their 1990 major label debut, “Cowboys From Hell”, introduced a heavier sound and made them a favorite with metal fans. 1994’s “Far Beyond Driven” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 without benefit of a commercial hit single.

The group splintered in 2002 following the departure of volatile lead singer Philip Anselmo. Dime and Vinnie, as they were known to their fans, regrouped with Damageplan, releasing the band’s debut album, “New Found Power”, in February of 2004. The group was touring in support of the record at the time of Dimebag’s murder.

Dimebag’s death was a devastating blow to the close-knit hard rock and metal community. He was known to his fellow musicians for his hospitality, friendship and partying spirit, and was a legend among fans and peers for his powerful, innovative and unmistakable playing style.

After 16 years, I finally got to visit Dimebag Darrell at the cemetery

Posted by Threasa Zimmerman on Friday, December 25, 2020

Will Pantera’s Pre-‘Cowboys From Hell’ Albums Ever Get Properly Reissued? Original Singer Weighs In

source: Blabbermouth October 1, 2020

Will Pantera’s Pre-‘Cowboys From Hell’ Albums Ever Get Properly Reissued? Original Singer Weighs In

Former Pantera singer Terrence Lee “Terry” Glaze says that he hopes the band’s early albums can receive a proper release one day.

Glaze was the frontman of Pantera during the band’s early’-’80s “party metal” phase and sang on the group’s first three LPs: “Metal Magic“ (1983), “Projects In The Jungle“ (1984) and “I Am the Night“ (1985). After leaving Pantera, Glaze formed the band Lord Tracy.

Glaze discussed possibility of Pantera’s early albums being re-released during an appearance on the debut episode of “Drag The Waters: The Pantera Podcast“.

Asked if he thinks the Pantera records he sang on will ever be properly reissued, Terry said (hear audio below): “It would be amazing to share that music with the rest of the world. I think everybody would really be interested in listening — especially listening to Darrell’s [‘Dimebag’ Abbott] guitar playing. With with the loss of Darrell and Vince [Paul Abbott, drums], I guess it would come down to their father [Jerry Abbott] and Rex [Brown, bass]. I don’t have possession of the master tapes, and with Vince gone… It’d be a great thing for the fans — I’d love to be part of that — but as of right now, I haven’t spoken to Jerry Abbott or Rex about it.”

Glaze went on to suggest a possible new Pantera box set featuring the three albums he performed on plus 1988’s “Power Metal“, which marked the recording debut of his replacement, Philip Anselmo. “Put all four together in a box,” he said. “The rhythm section and the guitars — bass, drums and the guitars — are consistent through the whole project. And you could see the growth through them. It’d be really cool. I would love to help out in that in any way I could. But we’ll see. Hopefully someday.”

During the same chat, Glaze was asked if he left Pantera on good terms or if he was done dealing with the Abbott brothers. He responded: “A lot of times, when you hear those things, where they’ll say ‘musical differences,’ I don’t remember any musical differences. The two hours of the day that we were on stage was the best — but you hear that from a lot of touring bands. It was the other 22 hours of the day that was tough to get on. Ultimately, there were four guys in the band, plus their father was the manager, and three of the five had the same last name. And they never split their vote, so you didn’t really have any say. And so that ultimately started to wear, and ultimately, I just chose to go in a different direction. But I loved the music and I loved playing all of them, especially Darrell.”

Back in February 2018, Glaze said that the last time he saw Vinnie was when he attended Darrell’s funeral in December 2004, just days after the Pantera guitarist was killed while performing with Damageplan at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag was shot onstage by Nathan Gale. He was 38 years old.

In April 2010, Glaze rejoined Brown on stage in at the debut gig from Rex’s then-project Arms of the Sun in Dallas, Texas. They performed a couple of early Pantera songs — “Come-On Eyes” from 1985’s “I Am The Night” and “All Over Tonite” from 1984’s “Projects In The Jungle”.

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/41234603?utm_medium=widget&utm_term=episode_title&utm_source=user%3A8464783

Dimebag’s Week on Metal Graveyard: Ohio Club Where Dimebag Was Murdered Could Be Turned Into Affordable Housing

source: Blabbermouth    July 24, 2020

Ohio Club Where Dimebag Was Murdered Could Be Turned Into Affordable Housing

According to Columbus Business First, the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, where Pantera and Damageplan guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott was murdered more than 15 years ago, could be turned into affordable apartments.

Plans are afoot to build a $38 million, 180-unit complex on the site where Dimebag and three other people were killed by a 25-year-old ex-Marine named Nathan Gale.

Although Cleveland-based developer NRP Group was granted a zoning variance from the city of Columbus to support the proposed housing development, the project must still gain tax credit financing from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency before it can proceed.

Last December, Alrosa Villa was listed for sale for $1,295,000.

On the night of December 8, 2004, Gale charged onstage at the packed nightclub and opened fire on the band and crowd, before being killed himself by police officer James D. Niggemeyer, who arrived on the scene minutes after Gale began his rampage.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Gale seemed to deliberately target Abbott, leading to speculation that the young man, who had a history of mental illness, held a grudge against Abbott and his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul, for the break-up of Pantera in 2002. Columbus police closed their investigation in October of 2005 without establishing a motive for the shootings.

Dimebag’s death was a devastating blow to the close-knit hard rock and metal community. He was known to his fellow musicians for his hospitality, friendship and partying spirit, and was a legend among fans and peers for his powerful, innovative and unmistakable playing style.

Vinnie Paul sued Alrosa Villa over his brother’s death. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 2007 for what was described at the time as a nominal amount.

“What happened here on Dec. 8, 2004, was a tragedy for everyone and our hearts go out to the victims and their families,” Alrosa Villa manager Rick Cautela said in a statement issued after Vinnie Paul’s lawsuit was dismissed. “There is nothing we could have done to stop it.”

According to The Columbus Dispatch, the lawsuit said the Cautela family, which owns and operates Alrosa Villa, was negligent in not stopping Gale from entering the club with a gun and ammunition.

Gale jumped a fence surrounding a patio outside the club as Damageplan began playing its first song. He then walked through the crowd and entered the stage from behind a stack of amplifiers. He pulled a handgun and shot Abbott in the head, then turned the gun on those who tried to intervene.

Damageplan crew member Jeffrey Thompson, club security guard Erin Halk and audience member Nathan Bray also were killed. Band manager Christopher Paluska and band technician John Brooks were wounded.

The carnage ended when Niggemeyer entered the club through a rear door and fatally shot Gale as Gale held a gun to Brooks’s head.

Vinnie Paul died in June 2018 at the age of 54 in his sleep at his home in Las Vegas. The official cause of death was dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, as well as severe coronary artery disease. He was buried next to his brother and their mother, Carolyn, at Moore Memorial Gardens cemetery in Arlington, Texas.

Dimebag’s Week on Metal Graveyard: A Wild Photo History With Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown

source: Rolling Stone

Pantera: A Wild Photo History With Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown

By

Pictures to feature in ‘A Vulgar Display of Pantera’ book by photographer Joe Giron

See photos from throughout the history of Pantera with commentary by Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown.

Joe Giron

“These photos have brought back so many memories,” former Pantera bassist Rex Brown says, looking at pictures taken from the upcoming coffee-table book A Vulgar Display of Pantera. “It’s like half your life right there.”

The book, which comes out September 13th and features a foreword by Brown, contains 400 pages of photos by a person Brown calls the “fifth member of the band,” Joe Giron. It chronicles each step of the group’s history, from its origins as a Texas club band in the mid-Eighties – when singer Terry Glaze was their frontman and guitarist Dimebag Darrell went by Diamond Darrell – to their final tour in 2001 when they were supporting Reinventing the Steel. It presents arresting photos from several turning points in the band’s career – including their tours with Skid Row and White Zombie and their performance in Russia just after the fall of communism – and shows their playful side both on and offstage.

The photo above was taken in 1990 on the Santa Monica Pier around the time the group put out its major-label debut, Cowboys From Hell. “We were serious about the music and at other times we were a bunch of cutups,” Brown says in reaction to the shot.

“There is myself and one Dimebag Darrell with the tip of my mohawk and his hair entwined as one,” says Phil Anselmo looking at the same photo. “At that age we were probably thinking, ‘I hope this is the last picture, because it is absolutely Beer:30.’”

Pantera broke up a couple of years after their final tour and brothers Darrell and Vinnie Paul went on to form Damageplan. Darrell was killed onstage during a concert with the latter group in 2004. Now, Anselmo is fronting a number of bands including Down and Scour. Brown is working on a solo album – which he likens musically to Foghat, Tom Waits and Tom Petty – that will feature a number of guests including members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. And Paul is playing drums with Hellyeah.

Here, Anselmo and Brown look back on Pantera’s history.

Pantera With Original Singer Terry Glaze (1985)

Joe Giron

Rex Brown: Look how skinny Dime is. We weren’t a glam band. We had to put on that kind of stuff to play the clubs.

Philip Anselmo: My first reaction is, “My God, look at these beautiful women.” It’s a picture of Pantera with their old lead singer Terrence Glaze, who himself was a very talented man in his own way and his own style. He has an excellent voice.

Brown: Back in those days in Texas, you really couldn’t play anywhere unless you had some following and you had to fit in with the trends that were going on. In the Eighties Texas club days, it was all about cover songs. I was probably 19 or 20 when this photo was taken. I think Dime was 17.

Anselmo: This is what I was walking into when I joined. This was the band I was stepping into, and yep, I had to play by the rules, too, because I needed to belong early.

Brown: The look is just a sign of the times. When I got in the band, I was like, man, I’m not wearing things like that. Then finally jumped into a pair of camouflage pants and a bullet belt and it was, “No you got to wear this.” No, I don’t, but I did anyway.

Pantera Welcome Phil Anselmo to the Band (1987)

Joe Giron

Anselmo: Sweet Jesus. Let me say once again, my first gut reaction is, “Who are these beautiful women?” My second gut reaction would be, “Yup.”

Brown: That’s probably one of the first pictures we have with Philip in the band. We still had the fucking stupid looking hair. I mean, look at Vinnie on the right. What the hell? All of us had those stupid shades on. It’s almost Steel Panther–ish.

Anselmo: Dimebag is pouring a beer in his mouth, wearing a jean jacket that has stuff I wrote on his jacket. I was so desperate to get these fellows on the right path that I bespoiled his denim jacket, for which I was berated at first but then lauded later, by scribbling in black ink, “Kreator, Slayer, and Celtic Frost.” He did get mad at me, I will say that, but he forgave me. But he’s pouring beer into my hands as I am posing like Bon Jovi in a black leather jacket, with bullet belts wrapped around my hips and no tattoo across my stomach. What a debacle that is. And then there’s Rex looking like Rex, and then there’s Vince looking like Roseanne Barr with a beard with black gloves on.

Brown: That was taken in Dime’s mother’s living room. He put some black tarp behind it and put some lights up and we took some pictures. That’s just the way we were. We didn’t like fancy joints or anything like that. We just tried to get the raw emotion.

Fishing, Pantera-Style (1988)

Joe Giron

Brown: This is a boat Vinnie had in Arlington, Texas, where we lived and we’d go fishing with a case of beer and have some fun. Good ole boys. We used to catch 10-pound large-mouth bass. It was insane. I don’t know how he got this boat, but I remember that it sunk. He didn’t put the plug in. Anyways, Joe [Giron] is even scared to get on the boat. Anyway, it was just some old dive boat with a terrible motor on the back. We watched it sink. As it sank, I said, “Vinnie, did you put the plug in?” He goes, “No,” as the plug starts bobbing to the top. Apparently not.

Cowboys From Hell Unwind (1989)

Joe Giron

Anselmo: I’m sure we’re absolutely joking around completely. I am very tanned. Dimebag has rolled his eyes back in his head showing the whites of his eyes. Vince is wearing a Prong shirt; he always loved Prong. And Rex is in a King’s X hat; we’ve known the King’s X guys for a very long time. This picture was taken probably in the midst of or towards the end of the touring cycle for Cowboys From Hell.

Brown: That was Cowboys at our home base club, the Basement in Dallas. We shot three videos in one day that day: “Psycho Holiday,” “Cemetery Gates” and “Cowboys From Hell.” The videos that were coming out in those days were real glitzy, glamorous shit, so we wanted to show what the band was all about: the fans and jumping offstage and shit like that. We all just kind of changed pants or whatever the fuck between songs. The pants in that picture … I think my friend turned me onto those pieces of shit and they were fucking comfortable as hell. This is the wrap picture for the day, and I was trying to get comfortable after shooting for, shit, 12, 13 hours of the day.

The Iron Curtain Falls (1991)

Joe Giron

Brown: This is literally two weeks after the coup happened. I don’t know why Vinnie is wearing shorts, because I remember it was cold as fuck that day. The rest of us have leather jackets and he’s sitting there with a Cowboys shirt and shorts.

Anselmo: We were in the middle recording Vulgar Display of Power, and we were asked to play in Russia when the U.S.S.R. dissolved. They decided to show how the government had changed by having this big rock event, which AC/DC headlined, Metallica played as co-headliner and the Black Crowes played. We opened the show, and this is a picture of us in our younger days standing with the Russian police force. Believe it or not, it was them who prompted the picture-taking. At first we were very intimidated by this group of people, because they were very violent towards their citizens whilst the show was going on. But I guess one of the head guys made eye contact with me and made this hand gesture like, “Take a picture.” And I was like, “Absolutely, sure.” So we drug everybody over there, and we took a picture with these nice fellows.

Brown: They wanted to get in a photo. It was new to them. These guys didn’t know what was ahead of them the day after, I guarantee it.

Joe Giron

Anselmo: This would be our first trip to Japan ever.

Brown: That’s at our favorite noodle shop in Roppongi. It was around the corner from the hotel. They were open 24 hours. All you could hear were slurps.

Anselmo: I recognize our main interpreter, the guy who took us around. His name might have been be Spike or something. Totally awesome guy. And then I see our bloated, disgusting … Oh, we’re still recording? Good. Our bloated, disgusting and reprehensible manager from back in the day, stuffing his face full of whatnot. There’s Rex with his mouth full of noodles, with a Coca-Cola nearby. Vince Paul is looking directly into the camera, whilst I’m obviously turned toward him, engaged in some type of back-and-forth banter, whilst wearing a shirt I have never seen me wear ever, to my knowledge. It’s a purple striped shirt, purple and black shirt. I don’t know where the hell I got that shirt. And I’m sitting next to some strange gentleman. All I can remember whilst looking at this picture is this being our first trip to Japan, which was incredible and awesome. I just didn’t realize, nor did I remember that our absolutely grotesque manager was present at the time.

Pantera and Skid Row Get Kissed (1992)

Dimebag’s Week on Metal Graveyard: Childhood Home, Dimebag’s House And Final Resting Place

source: Blabbermouth May 24, 2020

Pantera Texas Video Tour: Childhood Home, Dimebag’s House And Final Resting Place

Scott On Tape recently uploaded a 32-minute travel video featuring visits to several important Pantera-related sites in the Dallas, Texas area, including the graves of “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and his brother Vinnie Paul Abbott, their childhood home, and Dimebag’s house, where his legendary studio was located. Check it out below.

Dimebag, one of the most beloved and respected musicians in hard rock, was shot onstage during a Damageplan concert on December 8, 2004 at the Alrosa Villa club in Columbus, Ohio by a 25-year-old ex-Marine named Nathan Gale. Gale murdered a total of four people and wounded three others before being killed himself by police officer James D. Niggemeyer, who arrived on the scene minutes after Gale began his rampage.

Dimebag and Vinnie formed Pantera in the mid-eighties in Texas. The band recorded four independent albums before their 1990 major label debut, “Cowboys From Hell”, introduced a heavier sound and made them a favorite with metal fans. 1994’s “Far Beyond Driven“ debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 without benefit of a commercial hit single.

The group splintered in 2002 following the departure of volatile lead singer Philip Anselmo. Dime and Vinnie, as they were known to their fans, regrouped with Damageplan, releasing the band’s debut album, “New Found Power“, in February of 2004. The group was touring in support of the record at the time of the shootings.

Dimebag’s death was a devastating blow to the close-knit hard rock and metal community. He was known to his fellow musicians for his hospitality, friendship and partying spirit, and was a legend among fans and peers for his powerful, innovative and unmistakable playing style.

Vinnie Paul died in June 2018 at the age of 54 in his sleep at his home in Las Vegas. The official cause of death was dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, as well as severe coronary artery disease. He was buried next to his brother and their mother, Carolyn, at Moore Memorial Gardens cemetery in Arlington, Texas.

How Vinnie Paul and Pantera Revolutionized the Art of Metal

source Rolling Stone 23 June 2018

How Vinnie Paul and Pantera Revolutionized the Art of Metal

On a still-stunning run of Nineties albums, the band crafted a sleek, punishing new sound that set a standard pantefor the next generation

By

“At that point in time, we truly were an army,” the late Vinnie Paul recalled to Rolling Stone in 2012, while looking back on the 1992 release of Pantera‘s massively influential Vulgar Display of Power, which landed at number 10 on RS’ Greatest Metal Albums of All Time list. “We pulled the very best out of each one of ourselves, and with each record that we made, that mountain got taller and taller to climb. After Vulgar, we had to make Far Beyond Driven; it was just another level to go to, and that was [reflected in] the title.”

While metal bands typically brag about going harder and heavier with each new release, Pantera actually walked it like they talked it. With every one of their Nineties releases – 1990’s Cowboys From Hell, Vulgar Display of Power, 1994’s Far Beyond Driven (which peaked at Number One on the Billboard 200 and also ranked on RS’ Greatest Metal Albums list) and 1996’s The Great Southern Trendkill – the tight-knit quartet not only pushed themselves to new heights of brutality and aggression, but they also raised the bar for metal as a whole in the process.

“They changed everything,” Zakk Wylde told Billboard in 2014. “Not just musical direction-wise, but they changed the way that records sound. Production-wise, you can use those Pantera records as a Model-T Ford for extreme metal; it’s like, ‘This is how these records in this style of music have to be made. The drums need to be recorded and mixed like this, otherwise they’re not going to cut through this wall of guitar and bass!’”

Indeed, as anyone who’s ever banged their head to tracks like “Becoming,” “Walk,” “Mouth for War” or “Primal Concrete Sledge” can attest, Paul’s powerful drumming was just as integral to Pantera’s assaultive power as his younger brother Dimebag Darrell’s next-level guitar pyrotechnics, or vocalist Phil Anselmo‘s vein-popping roar. His unparalleled ability to stay in the pocket while also thundering like a one-man stampede helped shape the band’s “groove metal” attack, and his tireless commitment to sonic excellence enabled him and Terry Date – who produced their albums from 1990’s Cowboys from Hell through The Great Southern Trendkill – to create drum sounds that were just as fearsome and envelope-pushing as his beats.

“We used to get accused all the time of sampling the drums,” Date told Revolver in 2005, “and we never did; those were all just meticulously chosen sounds that we all worked really hard to get. And then of course the performances were played until they were right.”

While Pantera’s songs primarily grew out of Darrell’s guitar riffs, Paul’s beats were sometimes so badass that they inspired Darrell to write songs around them: “Becoming” began life as a double-stroke kick drum pattern that Paul was messing around with during the recording sessions for Far Beyond Driven. “I was just playing around [with] a drum thing, an idea for a drum solo,” Paul told Rolling Stone in 2014. “Dime heard me playing a pattern, and he ran in and said ‘Hold on, let me get my guitar,’ [and] we had a new song.”

Having essentially grown up together in a recording studio – their father, Jerry Abbott, was a successful country songwriter and record producer – Paul and Darrell shared a musical connection as strong as their fraternal bond. Paul, who worked closely with Date on the engineering and production of the records they did together (and who would officially co-produce Pantera’s final album, 2000’s Reinventing the Steel), was always on hand during recording sessions to help his little brother shape his guitar solos.

“Vinnie would run the tape deck [while Darrell tracked],” Date recalled to Revolver, “because when Dime wanted to go back and punch in a part or fix a little part some place, he would have to explain it to me; whereas, with Vinnie, they would just nod at each other, or Vinnie would go, ‘Do that Randy Rhoads part again,’ or ‘Do that Van Halen–y thing.’ Because they grew up listening to the same stuff, and they were so much one person, they didn’t even need to talk; if something was not right, they would just look at each other and they would know. And you know something else? I never once heard those two argue. Not one time in the whole time I was with them, not one brotherly squabble – those two guys got along better than any two brothers I’ve ever seen in my life. They were so close, it was scary. It was kind of always the two of them against the world.”

When Pantera dissolved acrimoniously in 2003 after two years of inaction, the brothers moved on together and formed Damageplan, a band with former Halford guitarist Patrick Lachman on vocals and Robert “Bob Zilla” Kakaha on bass. Damageplan released one album, 2004’s New Found Power, which Paul and Darrell produced with Lachman and Reinventing the Steel co-producer Sterling Winfield, and which continued in the groove-metal vein of their former band. Though they played significantly smaller venues with Damageplan than they had at the height of Pantera’s fame, the Abbott brothers approached every performance with the same intensity they’d displayed in their arena days. Tragically, their fraternal bond was severed forever on December 8th, 2004, when a deranged fan shot Darrell to death onstage during the band’s performance at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio. (Darrell’s murderer, a former Marine named Nathan Gale, killed three others in the attack before being gunned down by police.)

Though it must have been incredibly difficult to get back behind the drums after watching his brother die in front of him, Paul returned to music in 2006 as part of Hellyeah, a heavy-metal supergroup that also featured members of Mudvayne and Nothingface. Though Paul remained heavily involved with the curation of Pantera’s legacy, he never showed an interest in any sort of Pantera reunion, preferring to focus on recording and touring with Hellyeah.

“We’ve got five records out now and I think we are starting to develop our own legacy,” he told Rolling Stone in 2016, upon the release of Hellyeah’s Unden!able. “I’ve seen the transformation in our fans of how they’ve been on the fence early on to how they’ve really embraced the band now. They sing all the lyrics when we play. And our meet and greets are nothing but positivity. And I don’t get the same old questions anymore: ‘When are you doing Pantera again?’ That kind of stuff went on for so long and it’s so great that it’s pretty much gone. People understand that this is what I’m all about now.”

In October 2017, Hellyeah announced that they were ready to start recording their sixth album. While it’s currently unclear what will become of the record in the wake of the drummer’s passing on Friday, there’s no doubt that Vinnie Paul made a lasting mark (or bruise) on heavy music while he was here. Groove on, Big Vin.