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Re: Down
PHILIP ANSELMO Says He Doesn't Understand Where VINNIE PAUL's Hatred Is Coming From - Feb. 16, 2008
UK's Metal Hammer magazine recently conducted an interview with DOWN/ex-PANTERA frontman Philip Anselmo. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:
Metal Hammer: It's been a tough time for you lately.
Anselmo: A tough couple of years. Life brings adversity, and with coming through adversity comes wisdom. I've learned that desperately trying to kill yourself one way or another; whether it be drug addiction, alcoholism, any addiction that is threatening to your life, is unnecessary. Listen, we are all going to pass in our due time '” why hasten the process? Life is a gift, and each one of us has our own path. The path is impossible to navigate through, because none of us are mind-readers, but if we take steps in life that are righteous only to us in our eyes, then I believe only good will follow and follow you.
Metal Hammer: You've overcome all the addictions?
Anselmo: Absolutely. You're looking at me. I'm smoking a cigarette. I apologize. I'm drinking a Coca-Cola.
Metal Hammer: You're done with drugs and booze?
Anselmo: The last beer I had was'¦ DOWN was waiting at an airport, and we were on tour with BLACK SABBATH. Ronnie James Dio invited me over to the bar, he was sipping on a beer, and I was like, "Well, OK!" So I had a beer with Ronnie James Dio. But, you know? It's like I can have one beer on occasion '” one, two beers '” and now I can stop. I can cut it off. I'm in full control of every bit of my human condition.
Metal Hammer: Are there any lyrics [on the new DOWN album "Over the Under"] you want to especially mention?
Anselmo: "Three Sins and One Star" is absolutely, positively inspired by the memory of Darrell [late PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott]. "The Path" is the path of any individual. If you follow the path, eventually you will get to where you're going in your heart and in your mind. "N.O.D."'¦ It's about struggle and fight and victory, man. "I Scream" is about the division of myself and all the people that I miss in Texas. Honestly, it's about the division of Vinnie Paul [former PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN drummer and Dimebag's brother] and all of us, me especially, and I don't understand where the hatred comes from. Not that kind of hatred. I feel pity for him and I feel compassion for him, but he has to understand that Dimebag was as much my brother and Rex's [Brown, DOWN/ex-PANTERA bassist] brother as well. We sweated it out as well in those damn practice rooms, vans, tiny clubs, man'¦ That's what that song is about. "I Scream" is about the division. "On March the Saints" is a victory song for the survivors of [Hurricane] Katrina and even the ones that were lost.
Metal Hammer: Did you feel misunderstood in the past? At one point you stopped doing interviews.
Anselmo: I feel like if I don't speak directly, if you get friendly with someone that's interviewing you that you don't know, and you make a joke or something, and they put it in print'¦ when it's in black and white, it may not sound like such a joke, and in that way, they twist your words. It's the sensationalism of everything. The sensationalism is in here, in the record, man. Music, man. Who cares whose haircut is the coolest? None of that has ever interested me, man. The world follows the lives of other people when they should really worry about themselves, and that honestly would make for a much, much calmer society in general. I hate to use that word, btu a kinder society. You can put any other motherfucker on the cover. DOWN is still here, man, and there will come a day where communication with media outlets, whatever, you ain't gonna have no say in the matter. People are gonna have their say. We're gonna'¦ You'll have no fuckin' choice but [to] write about DOWN because we will be the biggest topic. I don't give a fuck.
Metal Hammer's entire interview with Philip Anselmo appears in the magazine's February 2008 issue.
Re: Down
Vinnie Paul needs to realize Phil didn't kill his brother, nor did his words instigate the actions of a deranged psychopath. I'm not saying Phil was never a dick, but this media assault on his name since the shooting is really misguided. Personally, I think Phil has shown true remorse and was devastated all the same. And no disrespect, but Dime's girlfriend needs to stay out of the press and just stop talking. All that said, to see Vinnie jam with Phil or Rex again I hope would be in the vein of coming out to do a few songs with Down a la Izzy and the new Guns. I don't ever want to see a Pantera without Dimebag and I certainly don't want to see the three of them in an all new band. That would be too awkward.
Re: Down
Phill is such an awesome motherfucker.... 
too bad someone lese didnt do this once in a while 
DOWN's PHILIP ANSELMO: 'Our Music Is Your Music, So In Turn, It's All About You!' - Mar. 17, 2008
DOWN/ex-PANTERA vocalist Philip Anselmo has issued the following update:
"A message to the children of extremes from Philip---
"From the very beginning, 'til the well-oiled end of the American leg of the tour, supporting our latest offering, 'Over The Under', from my viewpoint, 'An Evening With Down' was an absolute unique success, and a tremendous wake-up call for the disenchanted music fans out there.
"I cannot remember one bad show. There wasn't one uneventful audience. It's that fucking simple.
"I've been thinking, and I figure that I ought to blog you awesome folks more often, because every crowd, at every show, in every town, had its own vibe and life, and personality! There were always memorable characters in the audience that would stick out in my memory every show. Christ! I need to address you fuckers via the Down-Nola.com web site, because you deserve to be recognized!
"When we play live, and the lights are up, I mean it when I tell you that I can really see all of you standing in the crowd! (I strain my weary old eyes to see all the people way in the back or on the sides, but I do see you). As for the masses I can lay my eyes on, face-to-face'¦I can truly feel, and feed from your energy! I stare directly into your eyes and see your addictive fire, and it's hard to put into words the spiritual surge it sends through me! All of your voices singing every song, night after night is the only true payoff! I take it to heart. When we walk out on stage, and spend that designated, intimate night with our most loyal horde, that's notoriously jamming side-by-side with us, in a floor-quaking frenzy'¦
"It's the ONLY realistic reward! It's all about the music! Our music is your music, so in turn, it's all about you!
"As I've stated many times before'¦ without you, we'd be nothing.
"It's stirring to our emotions, because it means so much to us that you're out there! There' no better sensation!
"You are the next generation of true music fans, (from 15 to 60+ yrs old!) who know that DOWN is the band that fills the gap, and sews up the wound that bleeds in the heart of music today. We also fill the void in 'BLATANT' regurgitation heard in today's 'HEAVY METAL/HARD ROCK,' with DOWN's own brand of organic originality; a sorely missing element within street-level, blue collar rock and roll, that today's younger fans need to know exists!!!
"'YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION?'
"'¦I thank all of you sincerely, for helping to breath life back into the stagnant music scene, and for giving back the best time of my life, and DOWN's. There's a long, prosperous road that we'll travel together in the near future'¦
"P.S.: DOWN hasn't come halfway close to hitting every city in the U.S. or Canada, so fear not if you haven't had the opportunity to catch us yet, we'll show up soon enough and have a blast together all night. Meanwhile, we'll be devastating Russia, all of Europe, and the U.K. in March and April.
"See you back in the U.S. in the hot summer months!"
