Pantera are the sound of a steel capped boot kicking in the teeth of reality again and
again. A power packed metal massacre, the eight-legged hate machine grinding out
songs of body and blood, joy and pain, life and death, the legacy of life as inscribed
onto the left arm of main man Phil Anselmo. Pantera, you can hear them coming a
mile off, but who are these men on a mission, these assassins of of hope, ok, lets
check out which asylum these machines came from.
Vocalist Philip Anselmo was born in New Orleans on the 30th of June, 1968and
shares his birthdate with the legendary dark destroyer Mike Tyson. Always the
loner, always the rebel, Phil channeled his teenage hate into his first band Samhain,
a New Orleans band who specalised in covers of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest
classics. Not to be confused with the Glen Danzig group of the same name,
Samhain soon fell foul to a line up breakdown due to musical differences. It came
to a head when Phil wanted to go in a more hardcore direction, whilst the rest opted
for the more classic metal vein. Over in Texas the original Pantera line up were
experiencing the same problems. Original singer Terry Lee wanted to go up the
commercial alley while the rest of the band wanted life in the hardcore lane.
Both Panteras and Samhains paths had crossed on the club circiut before and it
didn't take long before the word got out that Phil wanted a piece of the same action
as the Pantera instremental unit, so phone numbers were exchanged , additions
arranged, jams played and within the same week Phil backed his bags and moved
to Texas to join Pantera as thier new singer. And what a band he had joined.
Starting from the rear with superhuman powerhouse, keeper of the beat, drummer
Vinie Paul was born in Texas on the 11th of March, 1964 and went headfirst into
the world of music as his father waas a professional muscian who worked at the
local recording studios. It was in his mid teens that his father decided that if the
school wanted young Vinnie to learn an instrument he could stuff the designated
tuba, and start to teach himself the drums. Fatherly advice he has never looked
back on.
His younger brother, known to all and sundry as guitar hero Diamon Darrell,
entered the world on the 28th of August, 1966 and with a musical background
within easy reach it wouldn't be long before he joined his brother. Taught the guitar
by his father it wasn't long before the teen-age Darrell realised that school was out
forever because by the early 1980's the fledging Pantera were ready up and running
playing the clubs on a regular basis
The bass face that holds this crew together is our mainman Rex, yeah just Rex, or
Rex Rocker if you knew him in the old days. Born in Grahm Texas on the 27th of
July, 1964 Rex first met up with the two brothers when they all jammed together in
the local High School Jazz Band and it wasn't long after that Rex left his first group,
Neck and The Brewheads and claimed his place as the bassist of newly formed
Pantera. A legend was born way back in Texas in the early eighties.
In the nineties they are crushing all opposition and have reached a position where
they can not be stopped. Pantera are your worst nightmares confirmed. You can
run, but you can't hide. They are in your face forever!!! |
