Friday night, I was almost asleep and I saw an update from the Pantera page on my Facebook feed, which is rare, since they haven’t been a band since 2003 – Vinnie Paul, the drummer from Pantera (and later Damageplan and Hellyeah) had passed away. It was a straight throat chop.
There is something bizarre about the loss of a favorite entertainer – I never met him and haven’t played drums in my life other than the time in college I got drunk and jumped on a set on the band’s break at a bar (they didn’t like it, btw). Yet it felt like a personal loss and I think most people feel that way in similar scenarios.
I have always liked hard rock and heavy metal, but when I was younger I didn’t have much access to hearing it. My buddy Kevin’s older brother had a ton of tapes and CD’s and one time I finally heard Pantera. It was like nothing I had ever heard before. I was hooked. Later in high school, my buddy Honk and I had a math class that the teacher didn’t show up for, due to a double scheduling error, so we left and drove around listening to Vulgar Display of Power. The intensity and talent was a perfect balance. I had every CD, a flag, posters and multiple shirts. It took all I had not to ruin every college party by sliding Cowboys from Hell in the mix.
My first huge concert was Ozzfest 1997 and my first (and only mosh pit) was when Pantera hit the stage. I got elbowed in the mouth and chipped a small piece of tooth off. Some dick threw dirt in my face from outside the pit, so I waited until he got one foot in and punched him in the head. I had three guys high five me for blasting the dirt throwing guy wearing a fake security shirt. It was awesome, especially when all the bands came back and started playing Ozzy and Black Sabbath tunes together…because Ozzy was sick and the mob lit the fence on fire in response. (It was the big Ozzy/Sabbath reunion, first since the split). It was worth it. I saw them again, but rumors about the band not getting along had started to leak out on this new thing called the internet; they finally called it quits in 2003.
In 2004, I was very bitter about Pantera splitting up, but found out Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul formed a new band Damageplan. They were playing in Columbus. I wanted to go, but I had two buddies back out, plus I had to close on my first house the next morning at 8 am, so I chose not to go. When I woke up, I got a call from a pal asking if I was OK. I found out then that a schizophrenic fan blamed Dimebag for breaking up the band and shot him onstage at Alrosa Villa that December night just seconds into their first song. Murdered right on a stage. I was supposed to have been there.
Vinnie had to take time off, I read story after story about how he and his brother Dime never fought in all the years together – syncing up guitar and drums into their signature “Texas groove” metal. When I found out Vinnie passed this weekend, I texted my pal Honk early Saturday. “Man we’re old” was his first response. I figured out right there why these things hurt you in the gut. Not only robbed of all the great music left to make, when an icon like Vinnie goes, a lot else goes with him. A little piece of that time of your life gets that much farther away from you. I’ll never be able to get back in that Chevy Celebrity with the factory speakers and blare “Mouth for War” or jump in a mosh pit to “Five Minutes Alone”, but hearing that triggers that tiny memory. Vinnie’s passing takes me even farther down the trail.
He and Dime were continually mentioned as great guys off the stage, generous with their time and money (and drinks) to complete strangers. They were known for picking up bar tabs for fans, jumping onstage at small bars in towns after their shows for free, and I read where Vinnie found out a toddler was air drumming to a Pantera song and bought the family an entire drumset. It’s rare that some of your favorite celebrities turn out to be cool people, but I could tell from the DVD’s I had that they were down to earth and immensely talented. The loss to music is crushing also. We all lose out when a great talent leaves this earth.
I know 90% of the people reading this don’t care or will never listen to metal, but I heard a call in on the Liquid Metal Sirius/XM channel and it was nice to hear so many people paying tribute. He will be missed. “Under the lights where we stand tall, nobody touches us at all.”
