While speaking to Matt Pinfield and Jose Mangin of Danny Wimmer Presents at this weekend’s Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival in Mansfield, Ohio, Zakk Wylde discussed his participation in the PANTERA celebration.
As previously reported, ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante and OZZY OSBOURNE guitarist Zakk Wylde will join PANTERA‘s surviving members on a reunion tour.
Wylde and Benante, along with 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 Billboard, the lineup has been given a green light by the estates of the band’s founders, drummer Vincent “Vinnie Paul” Abbott and guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, as well as Brown, who last year said Wylde wouldn’t tour with PANTERA if a reunion were to happen. It’s unclear what changed his mind.
Zakk now said: “When Vinnie was still alive, when the fellows were all talking about doing it, I just always told ’em, I said, ‘Of course I would… If you asked me, why would I not do it? I’m gonna honor Dime.’ It could be like Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell asking Eric Clapton if he would go out and honor Jimi [Hendrix] and Eric playing Jimi‘s stuff and singing Jimi‘s songs and they’re going out as the ‘Jimi Hendrix celebration.’ And he’s gonna honor his buddy and he’s gonna play his songs. I think it’s a beautiful thing. It’s like when we do the ‘Dimebash‘ [events in honor of Dimebag], it’s a celebration of Dime‘s greatness. It’s a PANTERA celebration — that’s what it is… You’re celebrating Vinnie and Dime‘s greatness and you’re celebrating all the mountains that PANTERA conquered and crushed.”
“Obviously, it’s not PANTERA,” he continued. “PANTERA is those four guys — it’s Phil, Rex, Dime and Vinnie. But it’s just like when [LED] ZEPPELIN went out with Jason Bonham [son of late LED ZEPPELIN drummer John Bonham] playing, it was phenomenal. I told Jason, I was just, like, ‘Dude, you crushed it, man.’ It’s a great thing just to hear them play that music again.”
“I’m beyond honored to be a part of it,” Wylde added.
