Interviews

 

HELL YEAH

 

Words: Rod Yates

 

If there was a moment Vinnie Paul knew he was doing the right thing, it came mere hours into his first rehearsal with the band that would soon come to be known as Hell Yeah. Less than 18 months had passed since the onstage murder of his brother, Dimebag Darrell, during a Damageplan gig, and the drummer had barely touched his sticks since, coming out of hiding only on occasion to guest with bands passing through town such as Disturbed, Anthrax and Black Label Society. But this was different. This was a commitment. A proper band. His first without his brother at his side.

 

“We had to develop a trust for one another right out of the chute,” starts Paul. “Instead of getting in there and trying to impress each other, we got in there and started making music, and any kind of fear or doubt whether I was doing the right thing or not went out the window. We just had a great chemistry – the first night we were in there we wrote the song Nausea.”

 

The “we” Paul is referring to is Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett, vocalist and guitarist with Mudvayne, and Nothingface bassist and guitarist Jerry Montano and Tom Maxwell – collectively, Hell Yeah. Though writing and rehearsing took place at Paul’s house, the songs on their debut self-titled album were recorded in Dimebag’s studio, where Paul and his brother had laid down so much of their music together. It was the first time the drummer had ventured back into those rooms – an act so gut-wrenching, he told Revolver, that he had to stop himself from running outside and throwing up.

 

“The big hurdle was getting through the door, getting past everything,” he says quietly, “and realising that this is how it is now and this is what we’ve got to do. The guys had so much great energy and everything was so positive. At the end of Pantera it was like pulling teeth getting people to work together and it just didn’t have the fun vibe anymore. And the hardest part with Damageplan was just getting the fans to accept that it was mine and Dime’s new band. We’d go out and play shows that were 10 times better than the shows we were playing with Pantera at the end, but people wanted Pantera and that just wasn’t possible. So I’m hoping people realise that Hell Yeah’s not about Pantera, it’s not Mudvayne, it’s its own entity and they give it a fair listen.”

 

Though Paul can’t remember who came up with the band’s name – they’d all scrawl potential monickers on a roadcase outsider the studio; one day Gray walked past and saw someone had written Hell Yeah – he can remember the night he finally relented to the months of badgering by Montano to come and jam.

 

“He finally caught me one night when I’d been listening to Kiss Alive II and I’d been drinking some booze and I was in a really good frame of mind and I said, ‘Oh Hell, you know what? It sounds like a kick-ass idea, let me call the guys and see where everybody’s head’s at tomorrow and I’ll give you an answer.’”

 

As promised Paul made the calls, telling each person what he wanted to do musically: something that had “the greatest grooves ever” and “really memorable lyrics, almost anthemic”. Metal had been getting too technical and brutal, he said, and he wanted to bring back some of the feel. Everyone agreed, and Hell Yeah was born. And if you think Paul is proud of this band, you’re right.

 

“I [once said] that this is the best album I’ve ever collaborated on since Vulgar Display Of Power, and some people have taken that out of context as me saying it’s the best record,” he offers. “Vulgar Display Of Power was just such as great record in metal and it’s such a staple that I would never say anything like that, but the feeling that we had when we made that record was all for one, one for all. And that’s how we felt when we were making Hell Yeah, and it was the greatest feeling in the world. After Vulgar Display Of Power Pantera didn’t have that feeling anymore – the success had come along, Phil [Anselmo, vocals] had started moving on into his own direction, and we just didn’t have the same vibe. I love this record, I love the band, I love the guys that are in it. It’s something that’s been a long road for me to get to and I’m glad to be back doing this.”

 

As good a place as Paul currently seems to be in, he’s clearly still trying to deal with the events of the past few years. Certain topics are deemed off-limit for this interview – the night of Dime’s murder being top of the list – and Paul can still only bring himself to refer to the shooting as “everything that happened”. Ask him what’s helped him through the darkest days and he’ll talk about the label he set up, Big Vin Records, and the two releases he’s issued so far: Rebel Meets Rebel, a country-metal album featuring himself, Dimebag, Pantera bassist Rex Brown and vocalist David Allen Coe, and Dimevision, a DVD dedicated to his brother. More importantly, though, he refers to the support of both the fans and fellow musicians.

 

“The fans have shown how much they loved and appreciated and respected Dime, and it’s beautiful to see that,” he says. “One of the coolest things was, I got a letter from Dave Grohl, who had been through something similar with Kurt Cobain, and he just said, ‘I felt like I would never play music again, I didn’t want anything to do with it, and eventually music is what healed me’, and that’s kind of when it went click, I’ve gotta keep doing this. And he was right, and I’ve gotta say thanks to Dave, it was important to me.”

 

How would you describe the past two years’ of your life, from the lowest of the lows to what seems to be a pretty good place at the moment?
Silence.

 

“I hadn’t even thought about that,” he eventually offers. “It’s just like being in a dream that’s not real and every time I reach down and pinch myself and think, ‘Okay, it’s just a dream’, it turns out to be real. And so I’ve just had to deal with it, man. And I can’t say one particular thing has helped me, other than that I felt like I just had to keep going on. The only thing I’ve done in my whole life is music, and I want to keep doing music."

 

 

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