Interview with a French Magazine (Parisienne)

   Justice must be given to the fans! When the lights go  out, the famous Pantera serpent curtain unveils itself and  Philip Anselmo, Dimebag Darrell, Rex Brown and Vinnie Paul  invade the stage for 120 minutes of abrasive, powerful,  destructive, live heavy metal. In singing the refrain `A new  level of confidence and power', the American fans forget for a  moment the frustrations of their life. In hurling themselves  against each other during the words `Fuck you and your college  dream; we're stronger than all', they violently and physically  express their power. By jumping, headbanging and exploding with  force when they hear `I'm born again with snake's eyes slowly  becoming god size!', they sweat to death and purge themselves  of every toxin in their body. Pantera know this but want to  give even more yet. `Official Live', the first album of the  group in concert, is an effective witness. Complete with two  titles that have been hitherto unpublished in the studio, it  brings home all the positive aggressivety of this heavy metal  giant. During a day of rest between two dates at the Ozzfest,  Philip Anselmo agreed to talk to us about this album,  enlighten us on the report of the European tour and reveal a little of their eagerly awaited new video.    

The Ozzfest marks the fourth U.S Pantera tour for the  promotion of the `Great Southern Trendkill' album. Why have you  ignored all the other international venues?  

"I don't think anyone [in the group] thinks that at the  moment. The Ozzfest is just an opportunity to play with a  shitload of other big groups and that's the only reason why  we're here. We haven't thought about such and such a way of  marketing. We just give concerts.    Your French fans are asking themselves all the same,  when Pantera is going to deign to come and play in their  country. Why take so long to get to Europe?  Probably for money and business reasons and not having  had a decent opportunity to do it yet. Write this for them:  as soon as we can get everything in place, as soon as the  planning is together, as soon as everything gets going, nothing  will give us more pleasure than playing in front of our  European fans. We love them. The fans at Paris, like at the  the Zenith, and everywhere else we've played have always shown  us a royal welcome. We got nothing against them, it's a  fucking shame that business separates us from our music. We're  musicians and we like what we do. There's nothing better in  our eyes than playing in front of a public who appreciate us.  As soon as we can, we'll be there. It's that business, still  the business, always the business that makes me and the other  blokes really mad. I'm gonna be honest with you, the only  thing which matters to us is playing for our fans, but  business fucks everything up".

What does the the group foresee doing after the  Ozzfest?

" Having a break, but we don't know exactly when. We're  probably not gonna get back on the road before September; of  course we hope to play some dates in Europe."

You opened a show for Kiss in Argentina, and at the  moment you are on the same bill as Black Sabbath, for an  enormous traveling tour. Which of the two situations was the  best?  

"You gotta say that above all with Kiss, it was just  them and us for the whole event. The feeling there was the  privilege of being exclusive. Two groups on the bill is giant.  But the satisfaction was the same with Black Sabbath, because  these two legends are huge. We had so much respect for each  other."    

Which of the two groups has exerted the biggest  influence on Pantera's music?  

"I'd say both. When we were younger, Kiss was a real  influence. It was with age that Black Sabbath showed itself as  one as well."    

In the Ozzfest, who are the best groups?  

"I've managed to see every one so far. They're a whole  lot different from each other, most sound good; everyone  throws heart and soul into it and there's a real good  understanding between musicians. So respect to all the groups  here, all of 'em. I see all of 'em every day getting so strong into it that I can't single one out about the rest. I  like them all"    

Pantera appeared before Marilyn Manson on the bill  during this tour, but most fans are more interested in your  style of heavy metal. So why did you agree to this placing?  

"If it's like that, it's like that so who gives a  fuck? We're not gonna get into fights over what's what. We  don't give a fuck, - Marilyn Manson do their thing and are  selling loads of albums at the moment. They're really nice  blokes and there's absolutely no problem between us."    

For the `Official Live' album which is released at the  end of July, why did you use titles taken from several dates  rather than using a single, unique concert?

"Sometimes you record a whole concert and the quality  isn't the same all the way through. When you record several  dates it takes a long time to choose the best, but in the  end you get the best-performing tracks with greatest sound  qualities. The advantage to several recordings is reaping the  best quality."    

Was it difficult to capture the live agressivity of  Pantera on Cd during the mixing and the production?  

"It sounds real heavy for a live album. Right now,  we're in the middle of enjoying ourselves with it, playing it  in different places to test it: car radios, stereo systems,  anything that comes to hand. The recording kills every time  and it's goddamn loud!"    

You've been recording your concerts for a long time.  that seems to say that this idea of a live Cd isn't new?

"Yeah, we've always had the idea that someday or other  we'd need a live album for the fans. We haven't stopped  working on it. We're a stage group so the year's been good  to us in many ways. The live album's a gift for our fans  world-wide."

Pantera, despite its radical style, has, all the same, had hits in its career. How did you choose the songs on the `Official Live' album?

"We know which ones the audience react to best in concert. But hey, we really pay attention to what we do live, to the songs which sound the best. No, in the end it's not that difficult to choose."

You remember, with all the tours that Pantera has done, which songs make the audience the most crazy?

"There's a lot of them. The crowd identify with a whole load of songs, but amongst these, I would say `Walk' is the favorite."

You've covered a lot of other live groups, like Exodus, Metallica, Sepultura, Biohazard, Black Sabbath and Ted Nugent. In being famous from now on, has Pantera had any problems with copyrighting?

"No, if you pay attention, you'll notice that we never completely play the songs, only extracts. It's just to satisfy the crowd, because they're there to be entertained. No, we haven't had any problem with copyrights."

In the second part of the Ozzfest, you only play one extract from `The Great Southern Trendkill', a remix of `Sandblasted Skin'. Why so little?

"It's a question of timing. Originally we had 50 minutes. Then Marilyn Manson added to their set and we were reduced to 45. The organizers were just trying to fit all the groups in and there's a shitload of them! Before, we were going to play `Suicide Note Pt II', `Sandblasted Skin' and part of `Drag the Waters'. When you play outside, the sound isn't as good. So, if we play simple songs which aren't so fast like `Walk', they sound better to the ear on an open air stage. Sure, if we'd had more time, we would have played more from `The Great Southern Trendkill'. To be frank, we've talked about this subject a lot between us."

In comparison with the `Far Beyond Driven' tour, you don't launch yourself into as many big speeches between songs. Why have you changed your behavior on stage?

"We wanna play more songs! Therefore, the less I talk, the more music there is. That's why people come, yeah? No one wants to hear me shout my mouth off!"

The group have also lessened their propaganda advocating marijuana and have removed the stage-drop with the cannabis leaf drawing. Why?

" In fact, it turns up here and there. We use it mainly when we do our own shows and can use any props we want. But believe me, we're still fervent fans of joints and whisky! While we're on the subject of forbidden things. . . "

Numerous American states have decided to ban stage-diving during concerts. Pantera has one of the wildest audiences, so what's your point of view on the question? Have you done anything against these proceedings?

"It's hard because, here, everyone takes everything to court under no matter what pretext. Everyone wants to make money by every means possible. If someone's enjoying themselves jumping and running, they risk taking the group to court. Therefore we focus ourselves to death on the quality of our playing and the energy we gotta use. For the love of God, we don't want there to be wounds during our concerts, but we DO want people to have a good time. It's not easy. It's like entering someone's house, there are rules to respect. If you visit a hall in L.A and you see written: `If you stage-dive, you'll be thrown out', those are the house rules and we can do fuck all about it."

What advice would you give to your security force beforehand?

" We have a bloke who knows exactly which attitude to adopt. We don't want any kids hurt or knocked over, still less a brawl. We play so that everyone can have a good time."

The `Vulgar Video' showed the group on the road, playing, drinking, smoking and partying. Will the next be based on the same principles: showing your way of life and who you are?

"That and much more! It's fucking demented and funny!"

Can you tell us a bit about it?

"No, I can't really. It's a surprise. Dimebag's ordered me not to say anything to anyone. If I told you, he'd be livid with me. I can tell you all the same that it's gonna be fucking hilarious and there's a LOT of drinking sessions on it."

Are you the same people that we discovered on the preceding videos?

"Close, but I believe we're even more demented than before. We've all aged a bit, but the video's full of the old formula. We done so many things, so much shit. Hey, you'll just have to wait till August and then you can judge for yourselves. I'm sure you'll love it. Fuck, it's funny!"

Dimebag was in charge of its creation. Are you, Rex and Vinnie involved all the same?

"Vinnie and Rex were mostly monopolized by the live album. The video's mainly the work of Dime and his personal assistant, Thongs. I visited Dallas to give 'em a hand, see what they'd done and give 'em a few suggestions, but it's really Dime's thing. He filmed the majority of it, so he'd know better what's happening with it."

Finally, you've started giving interviews to frontier magazines which was completely inadmissible not so long ago. Why have you changed your attitude in the regard of the press?

"I got nothing to hide. There's no particular reason which justifies why I couldn't give interviews. And I know it's important to the fans. So rather than other people putting words in my mouth that I never even said, I still prefer to express myself personally."

 Vinnie and Dime have done most of the other interviews. Why doesn't Rex ever say anything?

"He would, but he's into his own thing."