ZAKK WYLDE has yet to learn how to play PANTERA songs for upcoming tour
18-10-2022
Zakk Wylde has once again said that he is “honored” to take part in the upcoming PANTERA tour.
In July, it was reported that Wylde and ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante, along with PANTERA‘s surviving members, singer Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, will tour as PANTERA, headlining a number of major festivals across North America and Europe and staging some of their own headline concerts.
According to a report by Billboard, Wylde and Benante‘s involvement in the project has been approved by the estates of PANTERA‘s late co-founders, drummer Vincent “Vinnie Paul” Abbott and guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.
Zakk discussed his participation in the PANTERA celebration tour during an appearance on The SDR Show. He said: “I had nothing to do with putting the PANTERA thing together. I’m friends with the guys. It’d be like if Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell were gonna do a tribute to Jimi (Hendrix) and they asked Eric Clapton, ‘Eric, would you sing and play Jimi‘s stuff? We’re gonna put this tribute thing together.’ It’s just, like, of course Eric would do it. ‘Just let me know when you wanna do it.’ It’s just like anything. Like when we do ‘Experience Hendrix’, we do anything like that, it’s just, like, ‘Would you guys like to go out and honor Jimi Hendrix?’ It’s just, like, ‘Yeah. And why wouldn’t we?'”
He continued: “Yeah, of course. I’m gonna be honored. Even if it was a festival they were putting together and they wanted BLACK LABEL to come up and have Phil sing and they were gonna have all the different bands up there — LAMB OF GOD, BLACK LABEL, ANTHRAX — and all the bands were gonna play a PANTERA song and Phil‘s gonna sing. Of course we’d be involved. Why wouldn’t we be involved?”
Zakk went on to clarify that he has yet to learn how to play the PANTERA material, despite the fact that he was close friends with Dimebag.
“I don’t know how to play the songs,” he said. “If Dime had to play the ‘No More Tears’ solo and ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’ and ‘Miracle Man’ and ‘Perry Mason’ and play ‘Suicide Messiah’, it’d be, like, ‘You must know Zakk‘s stuff.’ He would be, like, ‘No. I don’t know any of his stuff. Zakk‘s my buddy, but no, I don’t know any of his stuff.'”
Benante told SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” about how he plans to approach the PANTERA gig: “I can’t go do this as the drummer from ANTHRAX because it would be a different sound completely. So the way I’m gonna do that is if you close your eyes, it’s gonna sound like it’s Vinnie, basically. And that’s how it’s gonna be. The sound is gonna sound exactly like him.”
Wylde said that he had a similar mindset. “You approach it the same way as you do when I’m playing with Ozzy,” he said. “Obviously I’ve gotta learn (Randy) Rhoads‘s stuff and I’ve gotta learn Jake‘s (E. Lee) stuff, and when I was doing the (BLACK) SABBATH stuff, you learn it and do it as faithful as you can. Charlie‘s gotta learn all of Vinnie‘s parts. You approach it as if you’re in a cover band. When we do the ZAKK SABBATH stuff,” referring to his BLACK SABBATH cover band, “I don’t start changing lyrics midway through ‘War Pigs’. You learn the songs — so that’s what you do.”
As previously reported, PANTERA will co-headline the first night of Hell & Heaven Metal Fest. The reactivated band will share the stage with SCORPIONS, MESHUGGAH, ARCH ENEMY, EPICA and CRADLE OF FILTH, among other artists, on December 2 at Foro Pegaso in Toluca. PANTERA will also perform at the Monterrey Metal Fest on December 6 at Estadio Mobil Super in Monterrey, Mexico. Also scheduled to appear are JUDAS PRIEST, MERCYFUL FATE, BEHEMOTH and STRYPER, among others.
Other festivals PANTERA has been confirmed for are Knotfest Colombia, Knotfest Chile and Knotfest Brasil, all of which will take place in December. Knotfest Colombia is scheduled for Friday, December 9 at Campin Circuit of Bogotá. Knotfest Chile is slated to take place on Sunday, December 11 at Estadio Monumental in Santiago. Knotfest Brasil will follow on Sunday, December 18 at Sambódromo do Anhembi in São Paulo.
Pantera is one of the most successful and influential bands in heavy metal history, combining elements of hardcore and thrash to create a menacing sound that many acts have tried to replicate. Created by late brothers Vincent “Vinnie Paul” Abbott on drums and “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott on guitar, Pantera broke through following the release of their fifth album, 1990’s Cowboys from Hell, with new singer Phil Anselmo and the 1992 follow-up Vulgar Display of Power, with the simplicity of tracks like “Walk” gaining the band mainstream popularity.
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