There are numerous different kinds of drum sounds - some are more ambient and roomy and this, that, and the other, the John Bonham kind of thing. Then there's kinda what I did with Pantera, which was much more attacky, and then with what I did for 'Blood For Blood' on the Hellyeah record is kind of a combination of all of that.
You don't get anything easy when you come from a big band and you go and start another one. You learn real fast that, 'Wow! I went from the top of the mountain to all the way back to the bottom, and I've gotta start over.'
I think that Chad Gray is one of the most honest, emotional, real vocalists there is; he really takes a lot of pride in writing the lyrics, takes a lot of time with them. He writes and re-writes more than just about anybody I've ever been around.
People ask me all the time, 'Why don't don't you ever do drum clinics?' And my reply is always that I like playing music; I want to play with a band.
Pantera is a marquee band, with the most diehard fans. We sold over 20 million records without MTV or radio.
Probably some of the most impressive drumming I've done is on the 'Far Beyond Driven' record.
If you had an ex-wife, and it was a pretty bitter split, you might not ever want to talk to her again. Who cares if everybody in the family and your friends want you to say hello again? It's your choice whether you want to do it or not.
Hellyeah have great fans.
If you take the riff from the song 'Cowboys From Hell' and really break it down, it's almost a hillbilly guitar riff: dekka dekka dekka dekka dekka dekka dekka dek.
To me, a hockey player has to be every sport rolled into one: ice skater, baseball player, football player, etc. It's just incredible to watch!
Jacques Cousteau was my hero.
I wanna look forward; I wanna keep moving forward.
I like to live for today and what's coming up tomorrow, and I love what we're doing with Hellyeah. And that's my focus, and that's my goal, man.
I did a lot of great things in the past, but I live for today and for the future.
The relationship in Pantera and with Damageplan is the opposite of the traditional rhythm section. It's me and Dime, not the bass, locking in always. Dime's such a strong rhythm player that we just walk in, and we're good to go. We've been playing together forever, and when he goes somewhere, I instinctively know where he's going.
I don't ever have any bass in my monitors at all; I instead like to lock in with the guitar. I know the bass player has got to be locked in with the drummer, but to me, metal music is about the guitar and drums locking in and operating like a machine together. I played with my brother forever, and we were magically locked in together.
With the last couple of Pantera records, we kept getting more and more narrow-minded because of Phil. He didn't want to experiment or take any chances, and it was like being in a tube that was getting to be so small you couldn't even breathe. Personally, I think the dude was afraid of success.
We played nightclubs for seven years solid before we got a record deal, and then 'Cowboys From Hell' and 'Vulgar Display Of Power,' we toured non-stop four years for those records, and we developed the most brutal, loyal fan base on the face of the earth.
If you live in the past, you've got no future.
I remember, in 1999, when we did the last Ozzfest that we were part of, and I think Disturbed was on it, Static-X, obviously Ozzy, us, and we were the only band on the tour that had a rider that had any alcohol. Nobody else had it.
