prior to the death of Pantera and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell in
Columbus Ohio at the El Rosa Villa nightclub the guitarist and his brother
Vinnie Paul got to meet one of their musical idols guitarist Eddie Van Halen
now Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence on Dimebag Darrell as the Pantera and
Damageplan guitarist discussed Eddie in several interviews prior to his passing
saying he plays eruption and you go man I never heard a guitar sound like that
in my life he was to our generation when Jimi Hendrix was to his he'd also go on
to say I've never learned more than two or three solos by any player I was
always after getting the vibe of the player instead especially Van Halen
I still listen to Eddie before I go onstage to get some of the spontaneity
and liveliness of his playing now during Pantera's early years the
Abbott brothers were known for doing Van Halen covers with drummer Vinnie Paul
admitting we also played songs from Metallica Def Leppard Slayer Motorhead
Exodus you name it I think that's one of the reasons Pantera got so good now one
of the van Halen covers that Pantera used to play was 1984's hot for teacher
the track has one of the best-known drum intros in rock history with Paul
remembering yeah I played it like every other drummer did who was around back
then but we all played it wrong he laughs you actually need an electronic
drum kit to do it the right way the intro part has a little jazz roll in it
that has this really cool feel but I remember playing the song in Penn
Terrace Club days and it was always so much fun it was also important to note
that one parallel that existed between van Halen and Pantera was that both
bands have brothers on guitar and drums and Vinnie Paul would tell noise creep
in 2012 about meeting at event Halen saying we actually got to meet van Halen
right before the horrible events that led to my brother's death so one night
my manager calls me and tells me that Eddie is at the clubhouse which was
Paul's strip club in Dallas Texas and that he wants to meet me I couldn't
believe it man so I dropped what I was doing I went straight to the club I meet
Eddie and we start talking about music right away after about five minutes into
the conversation he says to me man I feel like I've known you for a lifetime
we have so much in common I couldn't believe it later that night I
put Eddie on the phone my brother and they spoke for over 90 minutes Eddie had
such a good time with Paul that they met up again and Daryl got a meet Eddie in
person Paul would remember and then we had to fly out and play this
thing called lock a bazooka in Boston and they had some shows and Eddie wanted
us to come see him and Eddie sent a limo to pick us up which was very cool and we
came in and he brought us right up on stage and hung out his soundcheck and
everything and the show was amazing and I'll never forget it we get on the plane
and when we're flying back to Dallas my brother looked at me and he says man you
know what if this plane was to go down in a crash right now I'd be ok with it
because I finally got to meet the dude that maybe want to play guitar it was
really special now unfortunately Dimebag Darrell never
got another opportunity to hang out with Eddie Van Halen and shortly after the
meeting he was murdered on stage in Columbus Ohio
now Eddie Van Halen would appear a dime bags funeral service where he would hold
up his cell phone to the microphone and play a voicemail that Dimebag had left
him just before his passing which said thank you so much man for the most
awesome uplifting euphoric spiritual rock-and-roll extravaganza ever the
message would say at his funeral service eddie van halen would say i'm here for
the same reason as everyone else's to give some love back and also this guy
was full of life and he lived and breathed rock-and-roll van halen would
say as an amazing sign of respect eddie buried his black and yellow tape
stripe guitar which he can be seen holding on the back of the van Halen to
record with Dimebag Darrell Gerald's partner Rita Haney spoke to
billboard on the 10th anniversary of Darrell's passing about how Eddie came
to help at the last moment telling the publication I remember talking with
Vinnie trying to decide what guitar to bury with him three hours later Eddie
called to see if there was anything he could do for us and for dime we'd met
him just a few weeks earlier for the first time and dime was ready to cut him
a $30,000 check that night for one of his striped guitars but Eddie told him
he'd do one special for him so I asked him if he'd stripe up a guitar for Daryl
he said one of the red white and black ones and I said no Darrell always said
that yellow and black was your toughest guitar when he came to the funeral he
brought his original yellow and black from 1979 and he said an original should
have an original we were walking down the hallway of the funeral parlor it was
me Eddie and John Bushman who had been out with damageplan as a tech we got to
the room or Die Moyes and you could see Abbott's fee through the doorway and he
said I can't go in there I can't see him like that I want to remember him like it
was the night that I met him and I said that's okay addy we'll take
it to him so John and I went in and placed a guitar with him
it was reported that the last words Dimebag Darrell said prior to taking the
stage for the final time in his career was Van Halen and within 90 seconds of
getting on stage Darrel was tragically killed by a deranged man
the words van Halen were an important link between the Abbott Brothers dating
back to their time in Pantera with Vinnie Paul remembering the last thing
that really matters to me is the last thing we said to each other before we
went onstage we were warming up on the side of the stage like we always did and
we were both really excited our code word to let it all hang out and have a
good time was Van Halen man and that's the last two words we ever said to each
other I said van Halen and he said van Halen
and we high-fived each other and went on the deck to do our thing in a minute and
a half later I'll never see him again so in 2012 van Halen would release their
first album with David Lee Roth since 1984 called a different kind of truth
and Vinnie Paul at that time gave his thoughts on the album saying my favorite
new record is a different kind of truth from Van Halen I feel like I'm in high
school again when I pop it on it has this energy and vibe of the classic
records Paul would conclude the interview by revealing that his band at
the time hell yeah were supposed to tour with Van Halen in Australia in late 2011
but it got cancelled because van Halen wasn't quite ready yet to hit the road
so that does it for today's video guys thanks for watching be sure to the like
button and subscribe and as always if you have suggestions for stories like to
see me cover shoot me an email at gene our central news at gmail.com or reply
to the pin comment down below take care