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Dimebag Darrell Biography
Music 101 with Dimebag Darrell
[Note: This interview originally appeared on ARTISTdirect in 2000.]
This month for Music 101 we decided to touch upon the topic of heavy music and its evolution. We sat around the office trying to figure out who would be the musician to best represent the heavy genre. Our criteria were simple: We needed someone who had years of experience, who could actually play their instrument, has experienced some sort of success playing that style and could shed some helpful insight on the ever changing definition of heavy metal.
After various names were thrown into the hat, we decided to go with Pantera's Dimebag Darrell. To us, he was the perfect choice because he fit all of our criteria -- plus, the man has honestly helped to redefine the way that heavy metal guitar sounds. Long before people were playing their axes like turntables and sneaking in hip-hop influences, Diamond Darrell (his name before he changed it to Dimebag) was shredding up guitarists left and right in competitions in Texas. Every year he kept walking away victorious, until he had to be banned from the competition -- for winning too much!
With his brother and skin basher Vinnie Paul, a healthy dose of weed, Black Sabbath, Randy Rhodes and Slayer, Dime polished his chops relentlessly until he was "badass," as he would put it. Longtime Pantera fans have watched the band grow from a Van Halen tribute band, to a poofy-haired classic '80s metal band, to the most "Vulgar Display of Power," and they have only gotten heavier with time.
So here's Dime's opinions about where metal came from, where it's going and some of his tastiest guitar licks.
What's your philosophy on guitar solos?
All the best ones are the ones that come off the cuff. Every now and then I plan one out and it kills, but normally the leads that come naturally are the best. You gotta respect cats who come up with shit that kicks ass, instead of playing the same stuff over and over. Sometimes it comes to that area where we're mapping out a song and it's time for a lead guitar solo, but some songs don't call for solos. If we are going for a lead, I'll nod to Rex and I'll just improvise. Usually, everything goes to tape and we'll all listen back to it and everyone says, "Man, don't touch that!" Sometimes, I'll go back in and perfect something or try to put a different lick in one spot. The band will say, "You're killing yourself trying to make it happen. You're not going to be able to beat it, so quit wasting your time." I've wasted many hours trying to kick something in the ass that was already the shit. (laughs)
How do you feel about the current state of heavy music?
There's only a few good metal albums out right now and nobody's doing any old-school any more, that's why we're holding the torch. When you look back on all of those records in the '70s, no matter what style you played -- if you couldn't sing, play lead guitar and write songs, then fuck you! If you weren't a full blown band, then nobody labels took you. Today's music is a big jackoff session. It's about who can jump around like they're on a skateboard in a pair of baggy pants, play two or three chords with one finger, wear makeup and throw their hair up into some wild trick, you know what I mean? Bands now are looking at it as more of a business and are concerned with making the dollar, getting the p*ssy and doing the cocaine. It's stupid because people are listening to music for the wrong f*ckin' reasons. I don't even think they're listening. I gotta respect that kids are kids, but luckily I grew up in an era when there was actually decent music. Like I said, guitar players could play leads and singers could sing -- not just go, "Grrrlbblahh." That takes no f*cking talent. We come from the old school and we're sticking to our steel backbone and roots, but we reinvent ourselves to where it's not dated sounding and too far off the mark.
How do you feel about the merging of rap into metal?
It's like if some rappers are really good at what they are and that's who they really are and they're not singing about coming from the back woods when their parents were rich and they had a good life, then I don't have a f*cking problem with it. If that's truly what they're about and they're not trying to play it like a fucking game, I'll respect them. You can see the real people and the fake ones.
It seems like a lot of the newer bands are borrowing Dimebag riffs and guitar tones.
Listen motherf*cker, I'm into purity! When I say purity I mean the real deal. I'm not saying I grab a piece of a Dimebag riff, I'm one-hundred, motherf*cking percent! I nail this motherf*cker from beginning to end. I listen to bands now and they're trying to copy my guitar sound. It's almost like sampling a riff, you know? In ten years they'll probably be going back trying to steal something off of Reinventing the Steel. Listen, we all listen to music and borrow from each other and that's what keeps it cool, but I'm into one-hundred percent ass whippin'.
Has sticking to your roots and integrity made the road to success a harder one to travel?
No, because we never tried to keep up with what's cool for everybody else. That's what happened to all of the great metal bands who were worried their careers wouldn't last if they didn't change their style to the new wave that came through. What that does, is f*cks up their original chemistry and balance. Pantera's not a band that will ever do that because it completely goes against the grain of who we are and what we truly stand for. That's what the fans want and it makes the most sense. We're not in this business to try to succeed with the times. Pantera will be one of those bands that twenty years from now people will look back and say, "man, those motherfuckers were bad to the bone during the era with all the "Yo" and "G" sh*t that's around." We are one of the only bands who weren't afraid to stand up for who we are.
Darrell's Favorite Leads:
"We'll Meet Again" from Power Metal
"Cemetery Gates" from Cowboys From Hell
"Walk" from Vulgar Display of Power
"Floods" and "Throes of Rejection" from Great Southern Trendkill
Favorite Classic Metal Records:
Judas Priest - British Steel
"Any early Metallica record...period!"
"Any Sabbath, give me a break."
"Slayer's Hell Awaits changed the face of music"
Byron Nash
[Note: This interview originally appeared on ARTISTdirect in 2000.]
This month for Music 101 we decided to touch upon the topic of heavy music and its evolution. We sat around the office trying to figure out who would be the musician to best represent the heavy genre. Our criteria were simple: We needed someone who had years of experience, who could actually play their instrument, has experienced some sort of success playing that style and could shed some helpful insight on the ever changing definition of heavy metal.
After various names were thrown into the hat, we decided to go with Pantera's Dimebag Darrell. To us, he was the perfect choice because he fit all of our criteria -- plus, the man has honestly helped to redefine the way that heavy metal guitar sounds. Long before people were playing their axes like turntables and sneaking in hip-hop influences, Diamond Darrell (his name before he changed it to Dimebag) was shredding up guitarists left and right in competitions in Texas. Every year he kept walking away victorious, until he had to be banned from the competition -- for winning too much!
With his brother and skin basher Vinnie Paul, a healthy dose of weed, Black Sabbath, Randy Rhodes and Slayer, Dime polished his chops relentlessly until he was "badass," as he would put it. Longtime Pantera fans have watched the band grow from a Van Halen tribute band, to a poofy-haired classic '80s metal band, to the most "Vulgar Display of Power," and they have only gotten heavier with time.
So here's Dime's opinions about where metal came from, where it's going and some of his tastiest guitar licks.
What's your philosophy on guitar solos?
All the best ones are the ones that come off the cuff. Every now and then I plan one out and it kills, but normally the leads that come naturally are the best. You gotta respect cats who come up with shit that kicks ass, instead of playing the same stuff over and over. Sometimes it comes to that area where we're mapping out a song and it's time for a lead guitar solo, but some songs don't call for solos. If we are going for a lead, I'll nod to Rex and I'll just improvise. Usually, everything goes to tape and we'll all listen back to it and everyone says, "Man, don't touch that!" Sometimes, I'll go back in and perfect something or try to put a different lick in one spot. The band will say, "You're killing yourself trying to make it happen. You're not going to be able to beat it, so quit wasting your time." I've wasted many hours trying to kick something in the ass that was already the shit. (laughs)
How do you feel about the current state of heavy music?
There's only a few good metal albums out right now and nobody's doing any old-school any more, that's why we're holding the torch. When you look back on all of those records in the '70s, no matter what style you played -- if you couldn't sing, play lead guitar and write songs, then fuck you! If you weren't a full blown band, then nobody labels took you. Today's music is a big jackoff session. It's about who can jump around like they're on a skateboard in a pair of baggy pants, play two or three chords with one finger, wear makeup and throw their hair up into some wild trick, you know what I mean? Bands now are looking at it as more of a business and are concerned with making the dollar, getting the p*ssy and doing the cocaine. It's stupid because people are listening to music for the wrong f*ckin' reasons. I don't even think they're listening. I gotta respect that kids are kids, but luckily I grew up in an era when there was actually decent music. Like I said, guitar players could play leads and singers could sing -- not just go, "Grrrlbblahh." That takes no f*cking talent. We come from the old school and we're sticking to our steel backbone and roots, but we reinvent ourselves to where it's not dated sounding and too far off the mark.
How do you feel about the merging of rap into metal?
It's like if some rappers are really good at what they are and that's who they really are and they're not singing about coming from the back woods when their parents were rich and they had a good life, then I don't have a f*cking problem with it. If that's truly what they're about and they're not trying to play it like a fucking game, I'll respect them. You can see the real people and the fake ones.
It seems like a lot of the newer bands are borrowing Dimebag riffs and guitar tones.
Listen motherf*cker, I'm into purity! When I say purity I mean the real deal. I'm not saying I grab a piece of a Dimebag riff, I'm one-hundred, motherf*cking percent! I nail this motherf*cker from beginning to end. I listen to bands now and they're trying to copy my guitar sound. It's almost like sampling a riff, you know? In ten years they'll probably be going back trying to steal something off of Reinventing the Steel. Listen, we all listen to music and borrow from each other and that's what keeps it cool, but I'm into one-hundred percent ass whippin'.
Has sticking to your roots and integrity made the road to success a harder one to travel?
No, because we never tried to keep up with what's cool for everybody else. That's what happened to all of the great metal bands who were worried their careers wouldn't last if they didn't change their style to the new wave that came through. What that does, is f*cks up their original chemistry and balance. Pantera's not a band that will ever do that because it completely goes against the grain of who we are and what we truly stand for. That's what the fans want and it makes the most sense. We're not in this business to try to succeed with the times. Pantera will be one of those bands that twenty years from now people will look back and say, "man, those motherfuckers were bad to the bone during the era with all the "Yo" and "G" sh*t that's around." We are one of the only bands who weren't afraid to stand up for who we are.
Darrell's Favorite Leads:
"We'll Meet Again" from Power Metal
"Cemetery Gates" from Cowboys From Hell
"Walk" from Vulgar Display of Power
"Floods" and "Throes of Rejection" from Great Southern Trendkill
Favorite Classic Metal Records:
Judas Priest - British Steel
"Any early Metallica record...period!"
"Any Sabbath, give me a break."
"Slayer's Hell Awaits changed the face of music"
Byron Nash
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