In a recent interview with Joshua Toomey of the Talk Toomey podcast, Zakk Wylde explained his decision to join a reformed PANTERA, featuring original members Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown, as well as ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante.
When asked what goes through his mind as the curtain falls and he and his bandmates launch into the opening riff of “A New Level” each night, Zakk said: “Oh, it’s awesome. I love every second of the show — from the beginning to the end, man. Obviously, when we’re doing ‘Floods’, I get pretty choked up doing that one, especially the end bit, the outro of Dime‘s, ’cause it’s just me by myself. I don’t see the video screens that are behind me, but, obviously, when I’ve seen the footage of it, it’s just, like, ‘Wow.’ There’s just pretty much not a dry eye in the house on that one. Yeah, I definitely get choked up doing that one, when we do ‘Floods’.
“Everybody in the camp, everybody’s just all great people,” he continued. “I mean, we’ve all known each other — the fellows in the band, we’ve known each other, but as far as the whole camp and the crew, we’ve all known each other from various tours and things. So it’s like one gigantic family out there. So, I mean, the whole vibe, it’s just a beautiful thing.”
When asked if there were any PANTERA songs or sections that took him longer to master, Zakk said: “What I just found really awesome was Dime‘s… I mean, the reason why we’re still talking about Dime‘s greatness and everybody, and all the guys that we love, whether it’s King Edward [Eddie Van Halen], St. Rhoads [Randy Rhoads], Jimi Hendrix, I mean, all the guys, it’s what they wrote. Aside of Dime‘s great technique and how amazing he was and how fast he could play and everything like that, it’s what he wrote, just like with Randy and Eddie and everybody. I mean, all the guys that we love. But Dime‘s writing, like his chord choices and everything like that, it’s just, like, ‘Oh, wow. That’s definitely really cool.’ So, a lot of unexpected pre-choruses and things like that. It’s, like, ‘Oh, wow. I wonder what made him go there,’ like really interesting chord choices. But, yeah, for sure.
“Going through, learning the whole catalog and learning deeper cuts and everything like that, I was, like, ‘Wow. This one’s pretty cool. I mean, even the pre-chorus to ‘Walk’ or just the opening riff — a lot of a lot of the chord choices would end up becoming… They’re dissonant, where that’s obviously what Dime‘s going for, is the dissonance, whereas opposed to something would be like if it was a more ear-pleasing chord choice, but it would sound routine, and you could just tell Dime was going for… ‘No, that’s what everybody expects us to go. So, let’s go here. Everyone expects us to make a left turn. So, let’s make a right.’ So, it’s, like, oh, ‘Wow, that’s definitely interesting.’ So, yeah, that’s what I found, learning all the material and everything like that. So, for sure. So that, to me, is what puts Dime in that league with all the guys we love, whether it’s Jimi Hendrix, whether it’s Eddie and Randy. It’s his writing.”
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.