I can only give my perspective as I watch and feel the community around him go through trying to figure out how to pay tribute and continue life without Vinnie Paul. Most of these people, himself included, were just figuring out what to do with their lives after the tragic passing of his brother, Darrell.
Nonetheless, he was great at life. A kid from Texas, who grew up in a house where at a young age, him and his brother, they began crafting their skill and becoming the people they were born to be, heavy metal rock n roll musicians. At a early point in their music careers, they had found success with each other. Literally, the music duo was formed within the walls they grew up, and at the peak of their careers in the 90’s, were on top of the world with their band, Pantera. People who never listened to heavy metal in their life, loved Pantera. That’s success if you ask me.
In their top form, world tours ensued, hotels were destroyed, audiences packed the arenas and stadiums around the world, and in that success, one can only imagine the ugly monsters called egos that were developed. From my understanding in conversations, the lead singer just stopped picking up the phone, and started saying ugly shit about the rhythm and guitar section (Vinnie and Darrell), in the same period the singer found new bands to join without any type of communication letting Vinnie and Dime know that he needed a break.
When all this sorta stuff was going down, I knew about the band, but I didn’t get to partake in any of the festivities, other than being a fan. I had seen half of Pantera (Vinnie and Darrell) perform with other bands at the Dallas Ozzfests that rolled through, and saw Gasoline perform on New Years Eve with everyone in Pantera, except the lead singer. You knew something wasn’t right amongst the group that used to headline and sell out Ozzfest together had somehow decided to not perform as a whole for a period of time.
It wasn’t until 2002-2003, at that time, I was working for the University of Houston newspaper, that I got a photo pass to shoot Damageplan, Hatebreed, and Drowning Pool in Houston, that I got to document one of their performances.
`This was the first time I saw Vinnie and Darrell have to start over again. I didn’t know much of the band relationship above except for what MTV showed me, and just thinking on my own, when is Pantera going to play again, the answer then, and still is now, never again. Any form of super band that may come up down the road with the two remaining members of the band, isn’t Pantera. A Pantera concert was an experience that can only be experienced when all members were around on stage playing their songs, in my opinion.
With my college newspaper job and shitty entry level canon DSLR, I was given more opportunities to document their new project. It had more to do that I lived in their home state, and Damageplan was playing smaller venues that the opportunity came up to shoot. I remember seeing maybe one or two other photographers at their show and thinking to myself, “How come nobody else is here shooting? These guys are legends!”
The truth was, everybody wanted Pantera to reunite. Everyone wanted Pantera to reunite, except the guy who stopped answering his phone, and Vinnie. So Damageplan carried on their new found power in bandhood, and you can tell they were pros at deflecting the Pantera inquiries because they wanted to give Damageplan a chance to grow and create it’s own identity.
2004 was a breakout year for the Damageplan, as they played along side great new artists such as Velvet Revolver, Breaking Benjamin, Godsmack, etc, they were slowly beginning to rise out on their own. It was this year, I was trying to get an internship on Project Revolution, but that fell through, and I was miserable because of that.
It was the best failure of my life at that point. Because I stayed home in Texas for the summer, I was able to document a lot of Texas heavy metal that I wouldn’t have had I gone on the Project Revolution tour. One of the shows happened to be the Barmuda Triangle event that Chad Lee was shooting. It was August 8, 2004 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. I was an accidental backup photographer to shoot Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul, members of Judas Priest,Kerry King, Zakk Wylde all witness Dimebag Darrell give Zakk oversized Randy Rhoads portraits.
That was the first time I met the Vinnie and Dime’s Dallas wrecking crew! That group of people made me feel so welcomed even though they didn’t know who I was. I love them group of guys and people. After 14 years of friendship with them, I want to say thank you to them for being there for Vinnie his brother passed. It was a great 14 year run having Vinnie as friend, client, and a living hero. God only knows, how many nights of partying at venues, strip clubs, and barbecues later, different band members, credentials, different set of entourages, I always felt welcome by the group, their family member, and friends. Because of these moments he provided, I promise to do my part to celebrate Vinnie Paul.
