anselmo
PHILIP ANSELMO Denies Being Racist After ‘White Power’ Shoutout
Former PANTERA frontman Philip Anselmo has denied being racist...
Phil Anselmo Has Great Advice For New Bands
In a world where selling records likely isn't going to get you an apartment in a ...
ANSELMO’S ‘Secret’ Death Metal Project
Former PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo revealed during a question ...
PHILIP ANSELMO’s ‘Drunken Show’ (Video)
A very intoxicated Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA, SUPERJOINT RITUAL, PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS) was interviewed by EMP Rock Invasion on August 14 at the Summer Breeze festival in Dinkelsbühl, Germany. You can watch the chat below.
Anselmo recently toured Europe with his backup band THE ILLEGALS — guitarist Marzi Montazeri (ex-SUPERJOINT RITUAL), drummer José Manuel Gonzales (WARBEAST) and bassist Steve Taylor.
Anselmo's career-first solo album, "Walk Through Exits Only", sold around 8,700 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 35 on The Billboard 200 chart.
Produced by Anselmo and Michael Thompson, and recorded over a couple of years at Philip's New Orleans studio, Nodferatu's Lair, "Walk Through Exits Only" is abrasive, aggressive, anthemic and 100% Anselmo.
According to Anselmo, he worked on an estimated 15-17 songs for "Walk Through Exits Only", which was issued via his own Housecore Records (MRI/Megaforce)
"I could've put on any number (of songs) I wanted, but for me, these eight songs all together, 40-something minutes, that's my idea of a proper listening length," he told Billboard.com. "When you start to get longer, it gets a little redundant and boring, and I didn't want to bore anybody."
PHILIP ANSELMO, REX BROWN, ZAKK WYLDE Perform PANTERA’s ‘I’m Broken’ In Dallas; Video Available
Former PANTERA members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass) joined BLACK LABEL SOCIETY on stage last night (Friday, May 23) at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, Texas to perform a cover of the PANTERA classic "I'm Broken". Fan-filmed video footage of their appearance can be seen below (courtesy of Zach Rose and Sam Moncivalles).
During an interview with Matt Pinfield of Fanpass at last weekend's Rock On The Range festival in Columbus, Ohio, Anselmo — who currently fronts DOWN — was once again asked about the possibility of a PANTERA reunion with Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE) filling in for the late "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott on guitar.
"I think the situation would have to be correct," Anselmo began before Pinfield interjected that Zakk would be the perfect guy to step in for Dimebag. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. No doubt," Philip agreed. Anselmo continued: "We [DOWN] are on tour with fucking BLACK LABEL SOCIETY right now, and don't ever underestimate the power of conversation between Zakk and I. And I know Rex is a smart man. But at the end of the day, there would have to be a meeting at a table — or without a table — between Rex, Vince [former PANTERA drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott] and I, and there would have to be a bigtime understanding between the two of us [Vinnie and Philip] before anything happens at all. Otherwise I think… There is a great percentage of me that says, 'This generation deserves it. Let's do it.' And then there's a reservation in me that says, 'You know what, man? Legacies get passed down. This, that, the other. Maybe we should leave it alone and just let it be part of lore and the history and whatnot.'"
Later in the interview, Anselmo once again spoke about a hypothetical PANTERA reunion, telling Pinfield, "If there was ever a proper presentation, like, OK, PANTERA is back together, Zakk's on guitar, that would be a massive feeling. That would be outrageous. And I would go to war. I would be in the best shape possible."
After Pinfield pointed out to Anselmo that he remembered seeing the singer backstage during PANTERA's prime years working out in preparation for the live show, Philip said: "I had boxing coaches and all that shit with me. But, you know, after I injured my back, things got really vulnerable for me. And that was a very bad feeling for me. I felt like Superman one time and then, cut in half. Whatever, man. Hey, you get dealt the fucking card you get, and you play it. And I lost a bunch of rounds. But I think the reason why we're sitting here today having this conversation, I might have won a couple too."
During a September 2013 interview with Artisan News, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY mainman Zakk Wylde was asked about the possibility of a hypothetical PANTERA reunion with him filling in for Dimebag on guitar. "It'd be up to Vinnie, Phil and Rex — they're the guys that make everything happen," he said. "So if they were all gonna do it and honor Dimebag and [if they said to me], 'Zakk, would you wanna honor Dime and do Dime's parts?' Of course, I was a pallbearer for him — I laid him to rest — so, of course, I'd say, it would be a beautiful way to honor him and stuff like that. And to celebrate all things PANTERA and what they achieved. 'Cause they changed the game, as far as extreme metal goes. I mean, they're the kings of it. But it's up to the fellows. Then it would just be me woodsheddin' 25-8, learning all of Dime's parts, you know what I mean?! Yeah, but like I said, as far as I'm concerned, it would just be honoring Dime. Like with the Yankees, you honor… everybody's wearing Thurman Munson's '15' for that day, just because we're honoring Thurman's greatness. So it's the same thing, man."
Asked about the likelihood of a PANTERA "reunion" with Wylde filling in for Dimebag, Vinnie Paul told the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas radio station 97.1 The Eagle Rocks in March 2012: "I spent two hours with Zakk, sitting down — a really great talk about… [Zakk] calls [Dimebag] 'the old man.' I mean, [Zakk] and my brother were so tight. If [a PANTERA reformation] ever were to happen, [Zakk] would be the guy [to step in for Dimebag]. But I honestly think, out of respect for my brother, we should just leave the 14 amazing years PANTERA had be. We're all happy doing our own thing. We have to continue living and do other things."
Dimebag's longtime girlfriend Rita Haney in 2011 called on Vinnie and Anselmo to settle their differences in honor of Dimebag, who was shot and killed by a crazed gunman while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at a Columbus, Ohio rock club in December 2004.
Vinnie, who is Dimebag's brother, and Anselmo have not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie indirectly blamed Philip for Dimebag's death, suggesting that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag's killer.
PHILIP ANSELMO: I Don’t Know Why VINNIE PAUL Is Scared Of Me
PANTERA/DOWN vocalist Philip Anselmo recently spoke to Loudwire about the moment he knew PANTERA was over and how he misses having a friendship with the band's drummer, Vinnie Paul Abbott.
"It is unfortunate," Anselmo said about the rift between him and Vinnie Paul (see video below).
"I am a music fan. I hate reading about fucking my favorite bands arguing or inner turmoil or anything like that, especially under these circumstances. It's kind of unfair to the fans.
"I'm sick of the fence riding, or the fence in general, because it took all of us to break the band up.
"The truth is, when I was doing terribly, and I realized that PANTERA was dissolving and [Vinnie Paul and PANTERA guitarist 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott] had moved on and they were doing [a new band called] DAMAGEPLAN, the first thing I did was call Vince. And he was, like, 'Man, this is what we're doing.' He was actually pretty cool about it. And he said, 'It's good to hear from you.' And I said, 'What do you think, man? I wanna talk to Darrell.' He goes, 'Man, I don't know. He's really upset with you.' And I called [Darrell]. And he was short, he was to the point. He said, 'We're sick of waitin' for you. We're gonna go ahead and do DAMAGEPLAN.' And that day I knew PANTERA was over."
Anselmo also spoke about whether there he has publicly tried to reach out to Vinnie Paul in an effort to bury the hatchet. He said: "There was no public attempt, really; it was just [me being asked about it in] interviews. It was really just interviews.
"He's surrounded by security guards. Man, if I showed my face, Jesus Christ…
"I don't know why he's scared of me. He's got this fear. I think it all comes from deep love, really. 'Cause when you love something, or somebody, so much and things go backwards, that if you love 'em that much, then eventually the word 'hate' comes in, and you can hate 'em even worse. So…
"I know the dude loves me. I know he does. And I miss him."
Anselmo was asked how he feels about hearing Vinnie Paul state over and over again in interviews that he is not interesting in having any kind of personal relationship with Philip and former PANTERA bassist Rex Brown.
"I don't even pay attention to that," Anselmo replied. "I don't even know that that happened. I don't pay attention. He's the captain of his own ship — that's that — and I'm heading in my direction."
Dimebag's longtime girlfriend Rita Haney in 2011 called on Vinnie and Anselmo to settle their differences in honor of Dimebag, who was shot and killed by a crazed gunman while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at a Columbus, Ohio rock club in December 2004.
Vinnie, who is Dimebag's brother, and Anselmo have not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie indirectly blamed Philip for Dimebag's death, suggesting that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag's killer.
ANSELMO Says His Former PANTERA Bandmates Are ‘Greatest Musicians’ He Has Ever Played With
John Parks of Legendary Rock Interviews recently conducted an interview with former PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Legendary Rock Interviews: What surprised me about [your debut solo album] "Walk Through Exits Only" is that, with all due respect to DOWN and all of your other projects, this little blast of energy feels like the most out-and-out "fun" record you've been involved with since PANTERA's "Reinventing The Steel".
Anselmo: Oh, thank you so much, brother; I really appreciate that. I appreciate that so fuckin' much. I wanted to show people a different side of the old sense of humor of me, in a way. There's a lot of tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic fucking things that I say on the record that could be taken one way or another. I think that sometimes when you listen to a band or a performer who's supposed to be very rebellious or anti-authority, sometimes it can be a bit of a letdown, so to have that shock value back in there. Take the songtitles, or the whole fuckin album title, "Walk Through Exits Only". I'm not the type of motherfucker that's gonna sit here and spoonfeed the fuckin listener. I'd rather have people take something and listen to it and make it their own, really. Sometimes I feel compelled just to write a line that could mean a hundred things to a hundred different people. Let me put it to you this way: I like to architect things lyrically and let people themselves finish the building I've begun, so to speak.
Legendary Rock Interviews: I'm glad you mentioned the title track. That is just so fitting, and obviously, it could be interpreted as a classic "fuck you," but there's music history commentary and all sorts of other shit I'm reading into it as well.
Anselmo: When you take the hook line from the verses, where I say, "It's ruined, everybody ruins music..." For me, it's, like, you're always gonna have your critics. You can name any band that puts out any record, it's gonna be loved and it's gonna be hated. Music's like food — you can love it or hate it or be indifferent to it or you grow to like it eventually. So I know that no matter what I did, I could have just fuckin' done a violin-and-spoon record with nothing but yodeling, and some people would have loved it and some people would have fuckin hated it. God knows we put a lot of effort into this record and all that, but still, at the end of the day, it's up to the people to make up their own minds as to how they take it. For me, it's like, fuck it. It's gonna be what it is and people are gonna feel they way they're gonna fuckin feel about it. What can I do about it? Nothing. Put one foot in front of the other and keep on fuckin truckin'; that's what I'm gonna do.
Legendary Rock Interviews: You respect PANTERA's fanbase immensely. Do you ever feel like you are walking a line between understanding what it is they love about you and following your heart?
Anselmo: Not at all, not at all, because honestly, for me, PANTERA is a sacred thing. It's a very sacred thing for fans and for myself, because the musicians that encompass that fuckin band are still, bar none, the greatest musicians I have ever played with, and I think that the approach to the songwriting is very, very different than anything I've ever done, especially because of that particular talent in PANTERA. So, it's a sacred thing and I've never, ever, ever gonna tried to take the place of a PANTERA and I never will.
PHILIP ANSELMO: ‘I Consider Myself An Explorer In Music’
Smells Like Infinite Sadness recently conducted an interview with former PANTERA and current DOWN vocalist Philip Anselmo. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Smells Like Infinite Sadness: When did you decide you wanted to make a solo album?
Anselmo: That's a tough thing to pinpoint, but if you look at my track record at all, even when I was in PANTERA and all throughout those crazy years of incredible memories, and, honestly, great success, I was always doing different projects. And really I think as a musician… to be pinned down to one genre, it feels a little bit unfair. I guess I consider myself an explorer in music. You know, DOWN is what is it is: a BLACK SABBATH-based band that happens to have a Southern feel and maybe that's because of where we come from and how we get things across… but we know that at the end of the day when we go to write DOWN music how it's going to turn out and what it should turn out to be. For me as far as doing the solo record… I'm a big fan of extreme music of all sorts, and especially death metal and black metal, and any subgenre that may fall in between the cracks… And I wanted to create a record that I felt was as extreme as anything out there but with perhaps a different twist on its approach, whether it be lyrically or just pure attitude-wise. So whether I've done that, I guess time will tell… so right now DOWN and my solo band (THE ILLEGALS) are my only two working bands, and I'm going to try to keep it like that for semi simplicity, or maybe quasi simplicity's fucking sake. We'll see how it goes from there, man. I have to give a little shoutout to the fact that my solo band has another EP coming out strictly for the [Housecore Horror Film & Music Festival]; it's a two-song, 10-inch vinyl and very different than anything off "Walk Through Exits Only". I think that's its epic in its own way, as a matter of fact. The EP is called "Housecore Horror Film Fest EP"… [I] think the B-side is really one of the most epic songs I've ever written in my life.
Smells Like Infinite Sadness: How does the live experience differ from you with DOWN vs. THE ILLEGALS? Does each set feel different for you (for lack of a better term) when playing for an audience?
Anselmo: It is different, man. DOWN has been around for a long time. We did our first demo in ‘92, and I guess our first record came out in ‘95… and DOWN has a very strong core fan base whereas THE ILLEGALS are looked at as something new, something different. I think people are still wrapping their heads around it, whereas with DOWN, everyone's familiar with the stuff and they know the personalities on stage and the songs inside and out. So there is a difference there, a different type of energy a different type of approach and a different type of crowd reaction… so it's a little bit different on both scales of the spectrum. But that's fine by me. I'm really cool with the unexpected. It is what it is and that's how the ball bounces and I'll take it.
PHILIP ANSELMO Remembers EYEHATEGOD Drummer
Former PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo spoke to U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine about the Joey LaCaze, New Orleans native and drummer for EYEHATEGOD, MYSTICK KREWE OF CLEARLIGHT and OUTLAW ORDER, who passed away on August 23 of respiratory failure. He also suffered from severe long-term asthma.
"It was dreadful news and still is for everyone round here," remembers Phil. "Honestly, Joey was one of the funniest motherfuckers you could ever meet in your life. He was one of the most down to earth people I've ever known, as well as one of the most humbly yet superbly talented drummers I've ever had the opportunity to watch play.
"I was at his funeral. It was held at a place in the French quarter called the Voodoo Temple. It was a beautiful ceremony and a moment where we all felt the pain of the loss.
"I'm not a spiritual guy, but when the high priestess was giving her sermon, they passed out tambourines and percussive instruments to all these people that loved him. We went through interludes in these gigantic drum circles in his honor. Tears were streaming down my face, sweating was pouring off the top of my head and I was lost… I had my eyes completely closed and I was beating this drum until my thumb basically got disolocated! I wasn't paying attention to what was around me; I was thinking about Joey. [EYEHATEGOD frontman] Mike IX Williams was stood next to me, and little did I know, but I was getting sprinkles of blood on my head because he was beating this tambourine with such intensity. He had bloodied up his knuckles and pretty much ruined this tambourine… but we all took it later, wrote messages and buried it with his ashes.