ZAKK WYLDE: "I ALWAYS SAID I’D DO PANTERA"

When Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown decided to put hugely respected thrash band Pantera back together in 2022 there was only one man they wanted to fill the shoes of guitarist Dimebag Darrell – Dime’s longstanding buddy and Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde.

Dime died in 2004 after being shot while performing with his band Damageplan in Columbus, Ohio. His drummer brother Vinnie Paul died of heart failure in 2018, but even before he passed there had already been talk of a Pantera reunion.

“When Vinnie was still with us and there was talk of a reunion, I said ‘Guys, if you need someone I’ll do it,’” Wylde told writer Andrew Daly in an exclusive interview for the latest issue of Rock Candy Mag. “I laid Dime to rest. He was my buddy. The way I view it is this. If Mitch Mitchell asked Eric Clapton if he’d want to do a tour in honour of Jimi Hendrix, singing and playing his stuff, what do you think Clapton would say? Of course he’d be into it. So I always told the guys, ‘If you ever want to do it, I’m here for you.’

  Pantera returned to live action in December of 2022 when a new line-up featuring Anselmo, Brown, Wylde and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante played a bunch of South American festivals, and enthusiasm for the band’s return was such that touring plans are now running into 2025.

  “I’ve always been buddies with all the guys,” says Zakk. “So it was easy for me to do Pantera because I always said I would.”

  You can read the exclusive Zakk Wylde interview in issue 47 of Rock Candy Mag, as well as in-depth stories and interviews with Bryan Adams, Grand Funk Railroad, Myles Kennedy, Quireboys, Vandenberg, Von Hertzen Brothers, and more.

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