PHILIP ANSELMO Was A Member Of EXHORDER For ‘About Three Hours’

In a new interview with “Reckless” Rexx Ruger, EXHORDER‘s founding guitarist Vinnie LaBella discussed how his band’s pioneering riff-heavy-power-groove style may have inspired PANTERA to transition from power metal to a more aggressive form of thrash.

He said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Well, let me put it to you this way. I wrote [the EXHORDER song] ‘Desecrator’ before [PANTERA‘s first album with singer Philip Anselmo], Power Metal, was out. I think I Am The Night [the last PANTERA album to feature lead singer Terry Glaze] was going on while I was writing [EXHORDER‘s debut album] Slaughter In The Vatican.

“Look, there’s a lot of controversy behind that. And, of course, we’re all old and gray, and some of us aren’t here anymore.”

“I’ve told this story before in other interviews — Phil was actually in EXHORDER for about three hours,” LaBella continued. “And it was my f**king fault because what happened was, I wanna say sometime in ’86 we got in a big fight in the band and stuff as usual… So that was the first [EXHORDER] breakup. And Kyle [Thomas, EXHORDER singer] and Chris [Nail, EXHORDER drummer] and David Main, my first guitar player with me, left. So it was just me and Andy [Villafarra, EXHORDER bassist]. So I grabbed [guitarist] Jay Ceravolo, Sid Montz on drums. We were all trying to put it back together in the rehearsal space. And Sid called me up, and he said, ‘Listen, man, I talked to Phil. Phil wants to come and try out for the band.’ He wasn’t [happy] with things that were going on in Texas, so he wanted to come home and come try it with us. So I said, ‘Well, just tell him, ‘Come home.’ He’s got the job.’

“So he flew in anyway and tried out and s**t, did a couple of songs with us. I was, like, ‘Dude, you’re f**king killer. Of course you got the job.’ So we put him back on the plane back to Dallas, and I went home. And when I walked back in the house, my phone was ringing, and it ended up being Kyle Thomas. And he’s, like, ‘Listen, man, I wanna come back to the band.’ I was, like, ‘Motherf**ker, I haven’t heard from you in a year. I just put f**king Phillip on a plane and told him he’s got the job. He’s going home to f**king quit f**king PANTERA.’ So I said, ‘Let me call you back.’ So I called up Jay. I was, like, ‘Jay, I’m in a pickle here.’ So he’s, like, ‘Well, look, man, what do you think the right thing is to do?’ So [I said], ‘The right thing to do is to bring Kyle back and give him his gig back.’ Because he’s the one we built this house with. I wanted to be loyal, I wanted to do the right thing, and I loved Kyle. So he’s, like, ‘Well, do what’s on your heart to do.’ So I called Philip. He was disappointed, of course, but he was also happy that we were getting it back together in its original state. And then Chris ended up coming back, and we had the old gang back together. But now I kick myself in the a*s and I go, ‘I can’t believe I passed on Phil Anselmo for this guy.'”