MetalSucks

After the horrific murder of his brother, no one would have faulted Pantera/Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul for dropping off the face of the Earth. But instead, the man chose to soldier on, starting his own record company, Big Vin Records, and resuming his drumming duties for boozy groove metallers Hellyeah. The former has signed Type O Negative side project Seventh Void and released the successful Dimebag Darrell tribute DVD Dimevision; the latter’s toured the globe in support of their debut album, with plans to record and tour again in the near future. A relentlessly positive guy who sounds a little like the metal version of King of the Hill’s Boomhauer, Vinnie seems content with the past and satisfied with the present (upon hearing that I was conducting the interview from Massachusetts after I shut my tape recorder off, he gave his thoughts on the Boston Bruins’ then-upcoming playoff game with Montreal Canadiens and stated that his dream Superbowl would be between the Cowboys and the Patriots, if it were possible). In his inteview with MetalSucks, he gives his thoughts on the upcoming 20th anniversary of Cowboys from Hell, running a record label, and the future of Hellyeah.

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“If Phil Anselmo hadn’t quit Pantera, Darrell wouldn’t have been playing in that shithole where that guy could get to him.”

Well duh, Einstein. Had that or any one of a million other things been different, Dimebag wouldn’t have been shot. This kind of shit-talking, taken from an interview in the March 2007 issue of Guitar World, is the kind of unnecessary bashing sure to add fire to the flames, not to mention that she comes off like an idiot. If I’d left for work one minute earlier today perhaps I would’ve been hit by a car. If Kip hadn’t left the house that day maybe he wouldn’t have broken his shoulder. We can all make ourselves crazy with a million “what if”s, but it won’t do any good because they’re all true and we can’t change them.

Anselmo, for all his past problems, for the most part has made his amends with Dimebag personally, in his music, and in the media. So Rita, why start this kind of public shit-slinging? A million factors could have been different about that night, and had any one of them been different things wouldn’t have ended the way they did. Why chose the one that’s the most convenient and controversial? We all understand the colossal loss and pain you feel, but that’s one step too far. Fuck you, Rita.

-VN

Against my better judgement, I’ve been watching L.A. Ink these past few weeks because someone tipped me off that Dimebag’s “widow,” Rita Haney, Sebastian Bach, and Scott Ian would all be getting tats on the show. And while I appreciate the work Kat Von D does* and the opportunity to hear more Dime tidbits from Haney (cheesy though it is, I loved hearing that the first thing he asked her every morning is “What did you dream?”), I’m having a hard time getting around the fact that Kat is, for lack of a more polite term, an idiot – I mean, if anyone ever asks me to “hang ten on the couch,” I’d have no choice but to kick them in the shin.

What do you fine folks think?

Rita Haney Gets a Dimebag Tat
[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/DDtanNo_JH8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Baz Gets an Angel Down Tat
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ia3t98FX2pA" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Scott Ian gets an AC/DC Tat
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/eBQv61EWuvI" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

*Although I still think Paul Booth’s shit looks cooler – it’s more bad assed, and more three dimensional.