This past February, Phil Anselmo spoke to The Pit about what he thought the band’s late guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott would say about Pantera‘s legacy.
Last month, it was announced that Pantera will be reuniting with Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante and Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde will be joining band’s surviving members on tour.
In an interview with The Pit, Alselmo said: “Dimebag and Vince always wanted this band to be a legacy band, to be massive, to be our own conduit to success, simply put. I think Dime and Vince — I know Dime and Vince — would want the legacy and the name of PANTERA to go on and on and on and in everybody’s damn face. I know that for sure. Abso-f—king-utely, dude. That would be their biggest dream.”
During recent appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk,” Zakk said about the reunion:
“It’s gonna be awesome. The fellows have always… When Vinnie was still with us, it was always rolling around that, ‘Zakk, would you honor Dime and all of us get together and do this thing?’ And I said, ‘Fellows, whenever you wanna do this thing, I’ll be over here waiting in the dugout and in the bullpen. And just call me when you need me and I’ll learn everything and we’ll go do this.’
“Throughout the years, there’s always been rumblings about it, so it wasn’t until, obviously, now… I was speaking on the phone with Phil — we might have been all on a group call — but Phil was just, like, ‘Zakk, would you honor Dime and would you play?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, Phil. Of course. I’ve always said I would. Of course.’ I said, ‘If you guys wanna go do it, then let’s do it.’”