Philip Anselmo Open to Pantera Tribute With Rex Brown + Zakk Wylde
Philip Anselmo recently said he's keeping an "open mind" about a possible Pantera tribute. The notion includes a hypothetical reunion with Pantera bassist Rex Brown and rumored involvement from Zakk Wylde.
That's what the former Pantera frontman had to say when asked about his decision to perform Pantera songs on a recent South American tour with his current act, Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals. But could a Pantera tribute from the busy Down and frequent Superjoint vocalist — along with Brown and Wylde — actually come to pass? Watch the musician's answers in the video toward the bottom of this post.
"I'm open for anything, you know?" Anselmo told Chile's HumoNegro in a video interview shared on YouTube last month (Aug. 22). "And Rex and I, we're in touch, we talk. We're friends, everything's cool. So I keep an open mind. I keep an open mind and we'll see in the future."
Anselmo previously expressed his openness to the idea of Wylde filling in for Pantera's late Dimebag Darrell. It was after Pantera and Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul (who passed away last year) ran with the idea. These days, the vocalist remains responsive to the concept, even if Wylde is currently busy with his own projects.
"Zakk is a busy man, you know?" Anselmo replied, "He does his own band, he does stuff with Ozzy and all that stuff. We've spoke about it maybe one time. And I think everybody … is, I guess they're like me, you know, [they] keep an open mind about it. We'll see. But I know from all the hard work with the Illegals here to make those songs right … all of us, we would have to take time off and really practice together and get everything perfect. So it's a lot of work. And I'm already doing a lot of bands, man, right now. If everything was lined up, I would do it, sure. Fuck yeah, why not?"
Asked why he felt the time was right for the Illegals to start performing Pantera songs, the frontman indicated his current band lineup had harnessed the chops to tackle some of the classic group's catalog.
"This is the band," Anselmo responded. "Well, I couldn't do it with Down — I wouldn't do it with Down. I wouldn't do it with Superjoint. I didn't have the right people around me and the right circumstance because the last thing on my mind, before all this happened, was really playing Pantera songs."
He continued, "We were gearing up to do a death metal run with the Illegals — little places — and then Vince died. And then it was like, 'Fuck, man.' Things got important. Things got serious. And people started asking, 'Pantera, Pantera, Pantera.' So I went to my band and I said, 'What do you think?' You know, 'What do you think?' And they said, 'Let's try.' And, as we went on, I realized this is pretty good. They played the songs very well."
Earlier this year, Anselmo strongly hinted that Down would reunite for some shows in 2020 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of their debut album Nola. However, the same seemingly can't be said for Superjoint.
66 Greatest Rock + Metal Frontmen of All-Time