Former Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo was recently interviewed by Metal Wani’s Jake Patton. A couple of excerpts are below (transcribed by Blabbermouth).
On a hypothetical Pantera reunion concert featuring all surviving members of the band paying tribute to late guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott:
“I think it would be a great idea if everyone else felt it was a great idea. And I would just say that if everybody came calling, then count me in for sure. But if everybody’s not on board, then it’s not legit. So, yeah, man, it’s really where I sit right now.”
On Dimebag’s longtime girlfriend Rita Haney offering support to Anselmo in recent interviews after the incident nearly two years ago when Philip gave the right-arm salute and yelled a white-supremacist slogan at a California concert:
“Her and I… What people fail to see is I’ve known Rita since 1987, so we have history, we have friendship, we have growing up together, young people together. We’re friends. And we had a very unique spot in Dimebag’s life, and a very unique perspective.
“I don’t think that there’s one fan of any band, because going back to just being a regular music fan first and foremost, I hate it when I read about dischord between any of my favorite bands or trouble in their camps or somebody quitting the band or somebody leaving the band or, by God, something more tragic than that, it’s always a bummer to hear even if you’re not a fan of the music. It’s, like, fuck, you hear something about a fellow musician, of course it hits home. It’s, like, ‘Goddamn!’ It makes you feel, one way or another. There’s empathy to be had. With that being said, going back to the fact that people on the outside looking in, there might be some people that thrive and love the drama of a good in-fight or something like that, but I think the vast number of people that are true fans really dislike any fucking drama at all in any camp that they’re supporting. So big thumbs up to her for an interview that I have not seen. Big love to her, and yeah, man, onward, forward and upward.”
