Zakk Wylde has revealed that the current line-up of Pantera may yet record new music based on demos recorded by the late Darrell ‘Dimebag’ Abbott.
In an interview with Guitar Interactive, Wylde says that discussions about new recordings are already in progress between himself, singer Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, drummer Charlie Benante and Dimebag’s former girlfriend Rita Haney.
Haney is in possession of Dimebag’s demos.
Wylde tells Guitar Interactive: “The fellows [Anselmo and Brown] were talking about doing something, and Rita [Haney] has tons of cassette recordings of Dime writing riffs and stuff like that.”
At one point in this interview, Wylde refers to the classic line-up of Pantera - Dimebag, Anselmo, Brown and Dime’s brother Vinnie Paul - and insists: “Pantera is those four guys.”
But he says he is open to working on previously unreleased material from Dimebag’s demos: “If they were, obviously, Dime's original riffs and ideas, yeah, of course,” he says. “That would be cool… if it was something Dime wrote and him and Vinnie were working on or whatever…”
In a previous interview with Eddie Trunk in 2024, Wylde stated that any new music recorded by the quartet of himself, Anselmo, Brown and Benante should not be released under the Pantera name.
“I think you would have to call it something else,” he said. “You know what I mean? Pantera is those four guys. So, yeah, you can't replace that.”
But in that interview Wylde did hint at using Dimebag’s old demos.
"I mean, how could you call it Pantera unless it was just pre-existing material and we were gonna record it — stuff that was in demo state or whatever, and it is songs that the guys wrote. But as far as new songs… you’d call it something else.”
When Phil Anselmo spoke to The Metallica Report podcast in 2024, he claimed that Dimebag and Vinnie Paul would have approved of the new-look Pantera.
"Only thing I can say is, man, I know for a damn fact Vince and Dime would want us to do this, hands down,” Anselmo said. “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.”
Vinnie Paul, however, had always maintained that Pantera was finished the day that his brother died.
"They call it a reunion for a reason,” Paul said. “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've got one dude from the band floating around in them. That's not a true reunion. With Pantera, it'll never be possible.”
Paul added in a separate interview: "Without Dimebag Darrell, there is no reunion. And that's all there is to it.
“We were a very influential band, and we touched millions and millions of people with that band, but it's over.
“People really have to come to grips with that, and that's all there is to it.”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
“Sonically we approached the songs with instruments that were broken, not mic-ed right, or out of tune”: How Trent Reznor created the Nine Inch Nails masterpiece The Fragile
“Karl left because they spent millions on these machines but never played one note. They were caught by the technology and it overtook them”: Our lost interview with Kraftwerk’s Wolfgang Flür gives rare insight into the band's internal conflicts
