Eastwest Records America Pantera is
nominated for a Grammy and will be performing Saturday at the
Universal Amphitheater.
By Tamar Boyadijan
Daily Bruin Contributor
After more than a decade, fans continue to be blown away by the
music of heavy metal band Pantera.
Pantera performs at the Universal Amphitheater Saturday, Feb. 3
as part of its tour promoting its latest album “Reinventing
the Steel.”
The tour was postponed last November when lead singer Philip
Anselmo broke two of his ribs.
“Reinventing the Steel” is Pantera’s fifth
studio album, a product of four years of hard work and a
continuation of Pantera’s hard heavy metal sounds. The band,
composed of Anselmo, drummer Vinnie Abbot, bassist Rex Brown and
guitarist Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott, released its first
album, “Cowboys From Hell,” in 1990.
“I think it’s the best record we ever made,”
Vinnie said in a recent interview. “It is more intense and
mature musically. I still think it is very angry and extreme.
It’s a continuation of what we have always done.”
Because Terry Date, the producer of Pantera’s four other
studio albums, was already committed to doing the new Deftones
album, “Reinventing the Steel” was produced by Vinnie
and Darrell Abbott.
“With this record we really had the opportunity to take
the time we wanted to make a record,” Vinnie said.
“We really got to write the songs, rewrite the songs and give
it a big overview.”
After touring in support of its first three breakthrough
albums, Pantera was invited to tour with Black Sabbath as part of
the first Ozzfest tour, followed by the Black Sabbath Reunion Tour.
Pantera recently completed this summer’s Ozzfest tour,
sharing the bill with Ozzy Osbourne and other heavy metal and rock
musicians.
“It doesn’t matter if we are opening or
headlining,” Vinnie said. “When you’re opening
you want to make the best impression possible because your playing
for some of your fans and some of someone else’s fans. When
you are headlining it is probably maybe a little more relaxed
atmosphere because you know everybody is there to see you
anyway”.
Pantera’s own tour features three other heavy metal bands:
Soulfly, Morbid Angel and Nothing Face.
Soulfly, features Max Cavalera from Sepultura, a heavy metal
band that has toured with Pantera in the past.
“Morbid Angel is an extremely dark, heavy, underground
(band), probably one of the heaviest underground bands ever,”
Vinnie said. “Nothing Face is a brand new band that is really
coming up right now. It is an intense bill from top to
bottom.”
Pantera’s heavy metal music will continue on even after
the “Reinventing the Steel” tour is completed.
“After the tour, we’re going to Japan, Korea, New
Zealand and Australia and then we’re looking at putting
together an indoor summertime package at this point in time,”
Vinnie said.
Pantera is also nominated for its fourth Grammy in the category
of Best Metal Performance for its song “Revolution is My
Name.” The band has been previously nominated for its
songs “I’m Broken,” “Suicide Note, Pt.
1,” and “Cemetery Gates,” but has not yet taken
home a trophy.
“(I) never really felt like the Grammy’s were
something that was really important to us,” Vinnie said.
Despite this indifferent attitude, Paul explained that he still
hopes to win this year, because it was something that his mom
always wanted him to do.
Whether Pantera walks away from the Grammy Awards as a winner or
not, the band will continue to pursue the heavy and energetic music
they stand for.
“To me (Pantera) means four guys that play extremely
aggressive and verbal form of music,” Vinnie said.
MUSIC: For more information on Pantera go to
www.pantera.com.