Philip Anselmo

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PHILIP ANSELMO: Remembers SLAYER’s JEFF HANNEMAN In New Video Interview

Posted by aliblackdiamond on May 11, 2013
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Source: Blabbermouth.net

Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA) spoke to Metal Injection on the “black carpet” at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods awards on May 2 at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, California. You can now watch the chat below.

Anselmo, who was up for “Best Vocalist” at this year’s Revolver Golden Gods awards, will release his career-first solo album, “Walk Through Exits Only”, on July 16 via his own Housecore Records (MRI/Megaforce). “Walk Through Exits Only” will be available digitally, on CD and on vinyl.

Produced by Anselmo and Michael Thompson, and recorded over the past couple of years at Philip‘s New Orleans studio, Nodferatu’s Lair, with his band THE ILLEGALS — guitarist Marzi Montazeri (ex-SUPERJOINT RITUAL) and drummer José Manuel Gonzales (WARBEAST) — “Walk Through Exits Only” is abrasive, aggressive, anthemic and 100% Anselmo. The album’s eight songs are as unstrained as it gets, from “Battalion Of Zero” to “Usurper’s Bastard Rant”, to the album’s title track that goes against the grain and right through the exits. Brash, brutal guitars cut through punishing percussion as Anselmo screams with uncompromising ferocity and uncontainable fire.

“It wasn’t about doing a paint-by-numbers thrash or heavy metal record,” Anselmo explained about the project. “It’s an angry album that only I could do. I don’t see anybody else out there screaming about the same shit I’m screaming about. On this album, there isn’t any wordplay, there isn’t any hidden message, it’s all right there in front of you.”

Anselmo and THE ILLEGALS will support the new album with a major North American tour planned for this summer.

SLIPKNOT, MEGADETH, NEWSTED, QUEENSRŸCHE, Ex-PANTERA Members Name Songs That Should Be Banned

Posted by aliblackdiamond on May 9, 2013
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Source: Blabbermouth.net

Corey Taylor (STONE SOUR, SLIPKNOT), Jason Newsted (METALLICA, VOIVOD, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM), Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA), David Ellefson (MEGADETH) and the Todd La Torre-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE are among the musicians who spoke to Fuse on the “black carpet” at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods awards on May 2 at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, California about which terrible songs they wish would be banned for all eternity. Check out the footage below.

Video: PHILIP ANSELMO Talks About SLAYER’s JEFF HANNEMAN With DAVID ELLEFSON, ZAKK WYLDE

Posted by tarjavirmakari on May 8, 2013
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

Source: Blabbermouth.net

Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA) was interviewed by Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE) and David Ellefson (MEGADETH) backstage at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods awards on May 2 at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, California. You can now watch the chat below.

Anselmo, who was up for “Best Vocalist” at this year’s Revolver Golden Gods awards, will release his career-first solo album, “Walk Through Exits Only”, on July 16 via his own Housecore Records (MRI/Megaforce). “Walk Through Exits Only” will be available digitally, on CD and on vinyl.

Produced by Anselmo and Michael Thompson, and recorded over the past couple of years at Philip‘s New Orleans studio, Nodferatu’s Lair, with his band THE ILLEGALS — guitarist Marzi Montazeri (ex-SUPERJOINT RITUAL) and drummer José Manuel Gonzales (WARBEAST) — “Walk Through Exits Only” is abrasive, aggressive, anthemic and 100% Anselmo. The album’s eight songs are as unstrained as it gets, from “Battalion Of Zero” to “Usurper’s Bastard Rant”, to the album’s title track that goes against the grain and right through the exits. Brash, brutal guitars cut through punishing percussion as Anselmo screams with uncompromising ferocity and uncontainable fire.

“It wasn’t about doing a paint-by-numbers thrash or heavy metal record,” Anselmo explained about the project. “It’s an angry album that only I could do. I don’t see anybody else out there screaming about the same shit I’m screaming about. On this album, there isn’t any wordplay, there isn’t any hidden message, it’s all right there in front of you.”

Anselmo and THE ILLEGALS will support the new album with a major North American tour planned for this summer.

PHILIP ANSELMO: What I Would Say To VINNIE PAUL

Posted by aliblackdiamond on May 1, 2013
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

Source: Blabbermouth.net

Ex-PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo spoke to Loudwire about his desire to reconnect with his former PANTERA bandmate Vinnie Paul Abbott more than eight years since ex-PANTERA guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott was shot and killed by a crazed gunman while performing with DAMAGEPLAN at a Columbus, Ohio rock club.

Vinnie, who is Dimebag‘s brother, and Anselmo have not spoken since PANTERA split in 2003. But the relationship got even more acrimonious when Vinnie indirectly blamed Philip for Dimebag‘s death, suggesting that some remarks the vocalist had made about Dimebag in print just weeks earlier might have incited Dimebag‘s killer.

Asked what he would say to Vinnie Paul if that one-on-one conversation ever happened, Anselmo said: “Well, first and foremost, I’d tell him I love him. I love the guy — as different as both of us are individually, we’re very different people. But the same can be said for all of us in PANTERA. Rex [Brown, former PANTERA bassust] and I are very different people. Dimebag and everybody [were] very different people.

“I would let Vince Paul know that I love him very much, and I would apologize to him for his misinterpretation in not understanding where I was coming from in my lowest point in our career. And then I would definitely touch upon how much lack of communication played a big role in our breaking up. A lot of that is on my back, which I’ve completely fuckin’ owned up to. But I’m not sure the rest of them have owned up to their side of things, especially Vince, when it comes to communication.

“At least in my life, I cannot hold on to grudges. It’s a waste of energy, a waste of time. And really, and I feel strongly about this, after we lost Dimebag in such a horrific way, I just cannot help but feel that Vinnie Paul‘s entire healing process could have been helped a lot more had he reached out to Rex and I, and we could have healed somehow together — whether you want to call it ‘healing’ or not. But if we would have really focused together on this thing and come out of it as brothers — because we are brothers — in certain ways we could have formed an even stronger bond together. But that did not happen and I think it’s hurt us.

“Put it this way, I don’t ever expect Vince to bend or break on his stance at all, I really don’t. But if ever given the chance, man, to get straight back to your fuckin’ question, I would just really give him all the apologies, I’d tell him I love him and then I would say, ‘Look, let’s get down to differences now. You’re gonna have to hear my side of it. Take it or leave it, because you can leave it — you’ve already locked it out for x amount of years. What’s the harm in hearing me out one on one, away from everybody? What’s the harm?’

“I have no anger toward Vince. No one can question a person — really, he saw Darrell get shot. That’s a scarring thing for anybody. I wish it can be seen for what it is and that blame did not have to fall on anyone’s head or any circumstance. Because really it was a psychopath who had a hard-on for PANTERA and it’s very well-known fact between Rex and I, between my family and myself — we all had to go through a lot of soul searching — but it could have been Rex, it could have been me, it could have been Vince. It was Darrell that was murdered and it’s just the way it happened. I could say, ‘I wish it would have been me” or anything like that — I can say a million fuckin’ things, man, and it still would not bring Dime back.

“So this is always gonna be a tough thing to talk about, and I really wish instead of talking about it in this interview, Vince and I can be talking about it together and just ironing this thing out. I’ll end it with this: I don’t think this is fair to the PANTERA fans. I really don’t. When you’re a fan of a band, you don’t wanna hear about them fighting. You don’t want to hear about their negativity. You don’t want to read that shit. You don’t want to fuckin’ hear about that crap.

“I think it would mean a whole lot to a whole lot of people if one day Vince and I and Rex could all sit in the same room and work things out to the best of [our] abilities. I think everyone would breathe a great big sigh of relief, but the sad thing is I just don’t see it happening.”

Dimebag‘s longtime girlfriend Rita Haney has called on Vinnie and Anselmo to settle their differences in honor of Dimebag, telling the producers of “Behind The Music Remastered: Pantera” that she forgave the singer after they found themselves unexpectedly face to face at a concert in California.

“I came out of the restroom, and when I looked up, I just didn’t expect it was him,” Rita said. “I go, ‘I have one question. First, I just need to know why.’ And, you know, he looked me right in the eye, and he said, ‘I have no excuse. I was a junkie.’ And for him to say that, you know, that’s all any of us wanted to hear.”

PHILIPHILIP ANSELMO’s Solo Project, DOWN, CROWBAR To Perform At HOUSECORE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL

Posted by aliblackdiamond on February 14, 2013
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Source: Blabbermouth.net

In what can only be described as a match made in hell, the worlds of heavy metal and horror collide this fall as the first-ever Housecore Horror Film Festival (HHFF) erupts in Austin, Texas. World-famous heavy metal musician Philip H. Anselmo (PANTERA, DOWN, SUPERJOINT RITUAL) and internationally renowned, best-selling true crime author Corey Mitchell (“Hollywood Death Scenes”, “Dead And Buried”) have teamed up to create the ultimate underground, three-day horror and heavy metal fan event that will combine live concerts from some of the biggest bands in metal and hard rock with more than 70 screenings of horror, true crime, and heavy metal films, music videos, and more — and special guest appearances from three of the world’s most revered underground directors of horror.

The Housecore Horror Film Festival will take over the entire Emo’s complex in the newly revitalized area of East Austin for three days of shock and roll. HHFF will feature seven screens, which will display more than 70 horror, true crime, and heavy metal film screenings, including feature-length films, short films, documentaries, classic horror films, world premieres, music videos, vintage and faux movie trailers, and more. As darkness descends each night, a dozen heavy metal and hard rock acts, handpicked by Anselmo himself, will hit the stage.

The nefarious brainchild of Anselmo and Mitchell, the Housecore Horror Film Festival spawned from a mutual love for all things horror that was discovered while the two were collaborating on Anselmo’s upcoming autobiography (Simon & Schuster, 2014). Wanting to bring their passion for — and knowledge of — extreme music and horror films to legions of fans, HHFF was born, with the goal of showcasing the best in a wide range of horror films — from the obscure to the extreme, from quality mainstream to the most unrepentant gore — and the heavy music that goes hand-in-hand with it.

Two confirmed special guest film directors include the notoriously controversial Jörg Buttgereit (“Nekromantik”, “Nekromantik 2″, “Schramm”) and revered do-it-yourself guerilla filmmaker Jim VanBebber (“The Manson Family”, “Deadbeat At Dawn”). Additional guest film directors will be announced as the festival nears.

Several top-tier metal and hard rock bands have signed on to perform at the inaugural event, and HHFF today announces the first round of confirmed artists: Anselmo‘s own Southern metal supergroup DOWN, which also features CORROSION OF CONFORMITY guitarist and lead singer Pepper Keenan, CROWBAR guitarist and lead singer Kirk Windstein, EYEHATEGOD and SUPERJOINT RITUAL guitarist Jimmy Bower on drums, and CROWBAR bassist Patrick Bruders; New Orleans masters of metallic doom CROWBAR; and the Texas premiere of PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS, Anselmo‘s greatly anticipated extreme metal solo project.

With films screening inside Emo’s East, and smaller screening rooms throughout the Emo’s complex, and nightly concerts inside the 2,000-capacity Emo’s East, organizers are planning for an immersive, three-day, horror and heavy metal fan mecca. HHFF will also host several “Side Show” attractions — from “gore-lesque” routines to suspension exhibitions to rare horror memorabilia displays. In addition, there will be dozens of horror- and metal-centric vendors dispersed throughout the complex plying their scare wares for the public to check out.

Filmmakers, screenwriters, producers, and actors in attendance will introduce their works and hold question-and-answer sessions after their screenings and will be available to the public at an outdoor celebrity signing and chat booth. Several notable authors of horror, mystery, true crime, and heavy metal will be also be signing books throughout the weekend.

And since no horror fest would be complete without creating some terror of its own, festival-goers can take a walk through the Haunted Corridor and allow festival-goers the opportunity to be scared all weekend long. The Haunted Corridor will be constructed by a Texas haunted house team with creative design help from Anselmo, who is one of the original co-founders of the internationally beloved House of Shock haunted house experience from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Whether it’s a classic horror film, a big budget blockbuster, an underground gore-fest, an experimental flick, or a quiet chiller, it will be screening at HHFF. Filmmaker submissions open today, with an early submission deadline of March 20. Feature-length or short films, big budget or shot on a cell phone — if it’s well made, compelling, and chilling, Anselmo and Mitchell are ready to select it. HHFF is an IMDb-qualifying festival, which means that all films in consideration will receive an invitation to create a title page on the Internet Movie Database web site.

Films can be submitted here.

The official web site launches today, where interested filmmakers can find more information on how to submit their work. The web site will also contain continuous updates, including new band and special guest announcements, film screening schedules, vendor and sponsorship opportunities, contact information for HHFF staff, and occasional musings from Anselmo and Mitchell.

PHILIP ANSELMO On Upcoming Solo Debut: ‘It Is An Angry, Angry Album’

Posted by aliblackdiamond on October 13, 2012
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Source: Blabbermouth.net 

In a recent interview with U.K.’s Terrorizer magazine, former PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo spoke about his upcoming debut solo album, “Walk Through Exits Only”, which will be released in early 2013 via his Housecore label.

Asked what prompted him to make a solo CD now, Anselmo said, “I am a lover of all sorts of music but really my heart is … really I love extreme music, underground music, whether it be grindcore, death metal, thrash, black metal, [or whatever other] subgenre, and I find beauty in a lot of this stuff.”

He continued, “I wanted to do an extreme record that didn’t necessarily fit in any of those aforementioned categories, really, but it’s metal. It’s very tough for me to describe, man. I really wanted to do an extreme record again. I did it out of pure, fucking need — need — and love. I just needed to do it for myself.”

Anselmo said that he chose to release the CD under his own name because “if I was to name it something, to me, it may be tough on the fans, or people, that might be interested in hearing what I’m doing, just to buy into a whole new band, where in all truth, I’m very, very, what’s the word, just very guarded and I wrote every fucking goddamn note of it and that’s just how its going to fucking be.

He added, “I don ‘t want another all-star band, I don ‘t want another supergroup, if you will, I don’t want it to be misconstrued, and this is something I can take as a solo artist, as a free agent, I can take this wherever I want to go. If I want to make the next record a completely different style, yet still extreme in its own right, I can do that … So it’s gonna be up to y’all to figure it out: it’s really not my place to say it’s death metal or it’s extreme thrash or black metal, I’m not gonna put it in a category. It is extreme, though, in its own right. Anything that was completely traditional, I would stop it and fuck with it a little, make sure it wasn’t so paint-by-numbers, because that’s the last thing I wanna do, and as a matter of fact, I believe that’s what people will be expecting.”

On the topic of his lyrical approach on “Walk Through Exits Only”, Anselmo said, “[It's] very real, very honest, very close to the sleeve, close to the heart, close to the fingertips, close to everyday life, and maybe [about] periods of my life that I’ve gone through. People that have heard the record have said it is the angriest record that they’ve heard in a very, very long time. And I have to agree with them — it is an angry, angry album. It is just a statement of my condition a lotta times. Daily I still deal with heaps of chronic pain, if you will, whether it be my knee, my hip, the shoulder sockets, the elbow, the fucking back — you name it, man. I’ve busted everything, man, so there is a frustration there that you can’t necessarily get across in DOWN, so it does have an angry edge to it and really, truth be told, the name of the record could be ‘Songs From The Bedroom Of Philip Anselmo’; it’s not a pretty place. [laughs] [It's] not as sexy as it sounds’l [It's a] fucking, raging fucking place where I can simmer and boil over in private.”

Asked what expectations he has for the solo record, Anselmo said, “Me being the pessimist, some people will love it, some people will hate it. Will I break new ground? I don’t know. I really don’t have any fucking idea. Music is vast, people’s opinions are vast and boy can you read them on the comments section today.

He continued, “If you enjoyed stuff in the past, then I think you ‘ll really enjoy the fucking solo record and people who still to this day [say], ‘Ah I wish Phil would sing more. He’s got such a pretty voice when he sings’ then its gonna be a gigantic fucking letdown. [laughs] I cannot wait, truthfully, for the likes of yourself and fans alike to consume
this shit. Love it or hate it, it’s coming.”

PHILIP ANSELMO On His Upcoming Autobiography: ‘It’s Not Just A PANTERA Book’

Posted by aliblackdiamond on October 1, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Source: Blabbermouth.net

Philip Anselmo (DOWN, PANTERA, ARSON ANTHEM, SUPERJOINT RITUAL) and BloodyDisgusting.com writer Corey Mitchell recently secured a deal with Jeremie Ruby-Strauss, senior editor at Simon & Schuster‘s Gallery Books imprint, for Anselmo‘s autobiography, which will tentatively be titled “Mouth For War: Pantera, Pain, & Pride – Heavy Metal Highs, Drugged Out Lows, & The Battle For My Life”. Corey will co-author the book, which is described as “a no-holds-barred look inside of Philip‘s brain, his history with PANTERA, the loss of his best-friend, Dimebag Darrell, and an unflinching examination into the downward spiral of pain and drug addiction that nearly cost him his life.” A 2014 release is expected.

Speaking to AOL‘s Noisecreep, Anselmo was very clear to what that book is and isn’t. “It’s not just a PANTERA book,” he stated pointedly. “Of course, PANTERA was a gigantic part of my life but during my tenure with PANTERA, I was making a lot of different music with a lot of different bands. It’s also a book that deals with the human experience.”

He continued, “There was a point in time where I had a pretty goddamn unbattered skeleton when I was younger and there was a Superman-type feeling. I definitely take a look at the psychology of when you really hurt yourself and you have an MRI done and it’s a proven fact that there is a chronic pain type of problem — what it did to me. Going down the drain and coming out of it as well. There’s a bit of success to this story — as a matter of fact, a great deal of success.”

Asked what it felt like when Anselmo drove away the worst of his demons, he said, “There is a euphoria when you finally have that monkey off your back and you know in your heart that you are not going to return. There is no open door. There are no cracked doors. You have a sealed, closed, welded door shut in your mind. It’s like oxygen hitting your brain for the first time. If there’s a religious feeling, a spiritual feeling, that’s it. There’s a common phenomenon for people who come out of a dark, dark place they are going to have an overexcitement — heck yeah, I was guilty of it.”

He added, “You overstep your bounds in thinking you can help people at the time because your methodology worked you can help people who are suffering at the time, whether it be through addiction, some sort of pain. A good dose of physical rehabilitation that if you embrace it could help you out a lot. I was guilty of perhaps pushing my ideas on other people instead of stepping back and surmising where their heads are at before opening my mouth. Of course, there’s no guilt about me saying ‘Hey, life can be better.’ But, I was fanatical to say the least as far as chasing people down saying ‘Man, you can change your life. If I can do it, you can do it.’ But all that subsides after a success rate of 15 to 75% You cannot save the world, all you can do is pass along the word.”

Anselmo‘s former PANTERA and DOWN bandmate Rex Brown last year signed a deal with Da Capo Press to write a memoir. Due in 2013, “Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story Of Pantera” is described as a “starkly honest and revealing” book about Rex‘s time in one of the most influential and enduringly popular bands in heavy metal history, offering Brown‘s shocking personal insight into a band that had swapped the grimy clubs of Texas for arenas around the world but whose story would ultimately be touched by tragedy.

PHILIP ANSELMO Is ‘The Realest Motherf**ker I Know,’ Says Guitarist MARZI MONTAZERI

Posted by aliblackdiamond on September 12, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment
The Metal Den‘s Randy “Rocket” Cody recently conducted an interview with guitarist Maziar “Marzi” Montazeri (ex-SUPERJOINT RITUAL) about Marzi‘s work on the upcoming solo album from former PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo, “Walk Through Exits Only”. Tentatively due in March 2013 via Anselmo‘s record label, Housecore Records, the CD features the former PANTERA frontman backed by Montazeri, drummer José Manuel Gonzales (WARBEAST) and up-and-coming New Orleans bassist Bennett Bartley. Two songs from the album will be made available this November on a split EP with a pair of previously unreleased tracks from WARBEAST.

Asked about the musical direction of “Walk Through Exits Only”, Marzi said, “Well, I believe that Phil has put it best when mentioning that you truly cannot categorize it. It’s heavy and it is fuckin extreme. Every song is completely different from the next. It’s not one that you’re gonna get upon just a single listen. It will unfold itself into what it is, which, in my book, is an undeniable body of work that will not only fill this empty musical existing void, but will kill and destroy the overrated bullshit that is fed to the listener. The time has come, and as a fan and lover of arts and music, I would want and need this in my life. I’m beyond stoked to have contributed. This has been my focal point and it is a very important album for everybody out there across the globe. We put everything we had into it and by that I mean blood, sweat, heart and soul. Philip‘s lyrics are our new anthems. He is the one and only man that can deliver this kind of intense, honest, true and downright vicious body of work.

Regarding the songwriting process for the CD, Marzi said, “This body of work is Philip H. Anselmo‘s brainchild. This crazy maniac fuckin came up with all these songs, man. I squeezed myself in, though. Phil welcomed every idea I brought to the table. But prior to recording, I ended up sitting in another room dissecting the sessions due to an injury I picked up while playing football with him. He’s got a rocket of an arm and I went to grab this friggin torpedo that he launched at me and I bent two fingers on my left hand. So he said to me, ‘Man, you are the director now.’ That’s when we started tweaking and finalizing. But before that, it was more like me sitting in front of Phil and he would show me the parts on guitar. And during rehearsals, we both went off and actually came up with two new ones for our sophomore attempt.”

On the topc of what he feels is the biggest misconception people have about Philip Anselmo, Marzi said, “Philip‘s the realest motherfucker I know. By that I truly mean that he is all heart and he wears it proudly. The love he has and the good that he does almost silently is felt by many around him and far. And when you are the only one out there speaking the truth boldly under a damn microscope by the general media, who’s got an appetite for destroying reputations, then he’s the perfect candidate because he has no fear. And, of course, when his words are taken out of context, it has its costs, but in the end, his voice is heard and the real fans not only hear him but identify with him. The big misconception would be to say the opposite of what I mentioned. There is always gonna be a shit-starter somewhere for perverse purposes. Fuck them!”

In a recent interview with the Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station 93X, Anselmo stated about Marzi, “[He] and Dimebag had known each other since the middle ’80s, late ’80s, and I’ve known Marzi almost as long. And really, Dimebag… He was such a killer, killer, amazing player — we all know this — but Dimebag would show so much respect to Marzi. Just to sit there and watch those two guys jam together back in the old days, or just talk guitars… They just had this amazing mutual respect for one another. So Marzi and I have reunited, and he is really an executioner when it comes to right-hand picking, and his left hand blows mine away completely, and he’s a great lead player. . . And really, man, I orchestrated the whole thing — my words, my songs — but I let Marzi put his fingerprints, so to speak, all over this whole damn thing.”

Read the entire interview from The Metal Den.

Pictured below (left to right): Maziar “Marzi” Montazeri, Philip Anselmo, José Manuel Gonzales

 

Source: Blabbermouth.net

PHILIP ANSELMO Checks In From Hurricane Isaac-Hit New Orleans (Video)

Posted by tarjavirmakari on August 30, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

Former PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo has posted a video update from his home in New Orleans, where Hurricane Isaac is currently underway. You can watch it below. (Note: The volume is very low, so crank up your speakers.)

According to CNN, Isaac made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane seven years after Hurricane Katrina swept ashore in Louisiana and Mississippi. Katrina was responsible for the deaths of 1,800 people, most in New Orleans after the levee system failed and the city flooded.

Isaac passed slightly to the west of New Orleans, where the intricate network of levees, pumps and floodgates built since Katrina was “performing the way it was designed to,” according to Rene Poche, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In a 2005 interview, Anselmo spoke about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, explaining, “I was stuck in a hotel room for two and a half weeks in Houston, Texas, with my Rottweiler, my other dog, and this cat I’ve had since 1992 or something. I wasn’t even sure he was going to make it because of the trauma, but he’s a tough bastard.” He added, “I was surrounded by all sorts of different people from New Orleans, who were working class, earning week-to-week salaries just to buy groceries and pay rent, and everything that had was gone. Just to think about the city, its culture, its characters, just the bands that have come out of here over the last 20 years, scattered and literally washed away.”

Source: Blabbermouth.net

PHILIP ANSELMO: ‘I’ve Made More Bad Decisions Than Great Decisions In My Life’

Posted by aliblackdiamond on August 2, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

 

Michael Christopher of The Boston Phoenix recently conducted an interview with former PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On how he remembers his time in PANTERA:

Anselmo: “I miss the days, I long for the days, sometimes, and I miss [late PANTERA guitarist] Dimebag very, very much. There’s a plethora of emotions, and to dwell on the past doesn’t feel healthy for me and when I think about those days. It’s not like I try to think of all the good stuff; it kind of comes naturally, especially ‘Vulgar Display Of Power’ and that whole touring cycle and the change in the audience and their perception of us. When we toured ‘Cowboys From Hell’, there was a very lukewarm if not awful response. But when you back it up with a record like ‘Vulgar Display’, that’s when the tide did turn — rapidly, to say the fucking least. There were some extremely educational, memorable, cherishable times in my life.”

On a long-rumored VAN HALEN cover track that was recorded by PANTERA but never released:

Anselmo: “We used to fuck with all kinds of songs. Obviously we did that ridiculous version of ‘Cat Scratch Fever’ for some movie soundtrack ['Detroit Rock City'], that dickface Ted Nugent. Shit, dude, we would kick into KANSAS and all kinds of shit. What you said does ring a bell; I think it was something like ‘Outta Love Again’, I wonder where that shit is. And here’s another one for ya: I never did sing on the motherfucker, that old Phil Collins [he starts singing 'I Don't Care Anymore'], we did a version of that, and it’s somewhere. But there really probably isn’t any original material left, but cover tunes and shit like that. If there was the proper amount of digging, we could find all kinds of shit.”

On the constant media portrayal of metal fans on the whole as uneducated lunkheads:

Anselmo: “We haven’t helped. There’s been a lot of things that have not helped us. I remember being flown into New York when MTV was going through some kind of change-up in the early 2000s, and they wanted me to be the host of ‘Headbangers Ball’. First of all, the name of the show sucks — it fucking sucks, it’s cheesy as fuck. Why don’t you just call it the ‘Extreme Music Hour’ or something like that and give it some fucking credibility — because honestly, there’s great musicians in heavy metal. Look at some of the great guitar players. . . But heavy metal has always gotten the meathead rap, and you know, hey, honestly I haven’t fucking helped. I’ve made more bad decisions than great decisions in my fucking life, and I regret a lot of things I’ve said onstage, a lot of actions I’ve done onstage, and a lot of trouble that I’ve got into, because all it does is bring bad publicity to heavy metal. It kind of makes us, heavy metallers, a sovereign state in a lot of ways. We might not get as much big-time praise from mainstream media, but let them call us meatheads, let them think we’re ignorant, and let them keep writing awful music — and I’ll keep calling it awful and we’ll just be even at that.”

Read the entire interview from The Boston Phoenix.

 

Source: Blabbermouth.net