Former PANTERA and current HELLYEAH drummer Vinnie Paul was recently interviewed by Mexico’s AlterEgoMedia.TV. You can listen entire interview below. A couple of excerpts follow (as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net).
Vinnie: “I just heard the new METALLICA track [‘Hardwired’], and it’s slammin’, man — it sounded great. The new KORN track [‘Rotting In Vain’] is great. The bands that all started it back in the day seem like they’re really getting back to their roots, and that’s what it’s all about. And I think the thing that a lot of new metal bands miss out is they get a little too technical and they get a little too involved in the Pro Tools and that kind of aspect of the studio. And sometimes it’s just too much, to me — it’s too fast, it’s over-busy. It doesn’t really have a song value to it; it’s more of a musician value. So that’s what I like about what we do with HELLYEAH. It’s very musician-based, and it’s very song-oriented. The song is the most important thing at the end of day; [that’s] what it’s all about.”
On how he felt when he first played without his brother, late PANTERA guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, for the first time:
Vinnie: “It was very special. We were hoping that the fans would react to it, and they did. It was a new adventure for all of us. I mean, I’d never played in a band before without my brother. It took me a while to really have to learn how to deal with that, and these guys [in HELLYEAH] really helped me through it, and I appreciate them. And HELLYEAH has gone a long way since then. This is just the beginning. It’s a roller coaster ride, like every other band I’ve ever been a part of, and the success that we’re achieving now is what we’ve strived for from the very beginning.”
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