After Vinnie Paul’s death in 2018, the remaining Pantera members came back together with the addition of Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. However, this reunion aroused controversy because it was something that the late Vinnie Paul did not want before his death.
During the Q&A portion of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp ‘Metalmania III in Los Angeles this month, Wylde was asked if he would be touring with Pantera on a ‘permanent’ basis. He said:
“Yeah. I told the guys (singer Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown) whenever… as long as they wanna do it. I don’t know why you would wanna end it, ’cause all you’re (doing) is going out there, and you’re just celebrating the fellas. I think it’s a beautiful thing, and I get to hang out with my buddies.”
Vinnie Paul Believed Pantera Reunion Would Be Selfish
Before his death, Vinnie Paul was strongly against the idea of a Pantera reunion with Wylde. Given the death of his brother and his feud with Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo, the idea never appealed to Vinnie. In an interview Paul did with Ultimate Guitar in 2014, he made the following comments on the subject:
“People are selfish, man, you know? They want what they want. They don’t care what you want, you know? And it’s unfortunate that people go, ‘Oh wow, they could get Zakk Wylde to jump up there on stage, and it’s Pantera again.’ ‘No, it’s not.’”
Criticizing the possibility of this being done as a reunion, Paul added:
“They call it a reunion for a reason, it’s called bringing the original members back to what it was. So there’s a lot of these things that they call reunions that aren’t really reunions. They got one dude from the band floating around in them, you know? I mean, that’s not a true reunion, and with Pantera, that’ll never be possible.”
Before his death in 2018, Vinnie Paul had a different idea about the future of Pantera than the current members of the band.
Anselmo Feels The Abbott Brothers Would Approve This Reunion
Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown recently spoke of the matter on a recently shared episode of ‘The Metallica Report‘ podcast as well. Anselmo shared his feelings on the reunion now. He said:
“Only thing I can say is, man, I know for a damn fact Vince and Dime would want us to do this, hands down. They would want the Pantera brand or the legacy to go on. And I don’t know what you believe in, but sometimes, you know, you would like to think that them old fellas are looking down on us, giving us the thumbs-up.”
You can listen to episode 17 of The Metallica Report Podcast, where they talk about the subject below.
