The Anthrax Drummer Charlie Benante and Black Label Society/Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde have given their takes on being selected to perform in the reunion tour for the legendary metal band Pantera. The two musicians will be filling in for the late Abbot Brothers, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, who passed away in 2004 and 2018, respectively.

Blabbermouth has reported that on July 28, the two musicians joined SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” to discuss the tour, with Zakk saying that “It’s gonna be awesome. The fellows have always… When Vinnie was still with us, it was always rolling around that, ‘Zakk, would you honor Dime and all of us get together and do this thing?’ And I said, ‘Fellows, whenever you wanna do this thing, I’ll be over here waiting in the dugout and in the bullpen. And just call me when you need me and I’ll learn everything and we’ll go do this.'”

Throughout their interview, Wylde and Benante make clear that they intend to adapt their styles to play the classic music of Pantera accurately, with Bentante explaining: “”I can’t go do this as the drummer from ANTHRAX because it would be a different sound completely. So the way I’m gonna do that is if you close your eyes, it’s gonna sound like it’s Vinnie, basically. And that’s how it’s gonna be… The sound is gonna sound exactly like him.”

Wylde echos a similar sentiment: “You approach it the same way as you do when I’m playing with Ozzy. Obviously I’ve gotta learn [Randy] Rhoads’s stuff and I’ve gotta learn Jake’s [E. Lee] stuff, and when I was doing the [BLACK] SABBATH stuff, you learn it and do it as faithful as you can. Charlie’s gotta learn all of Vinnie’s parts. You approach it as if you’re in a cover band. When we do the ZAKK SABBATH stuff, I don’t start changing lyrics midway through ‘War Pigs’. You learn the songs — so that’s what you do”

Bentate also noted in the interview that he does not yet know when the upcoming tour is scheduled to kick off.

Blabbermouth quotes the Wylde’s statement about the importance of being able to honor the legendary band: “Whenever [the idea of doing a tribute has] come up, you’re celebrating the guys and you’re celebrating all their achievements and their greatness. And that’s what it is. ‘Cause everybody was just, like, ‘How can they call it a PANTERA reunion?’ And I go, ‘Well, it’s Phil and Rex getting back together,’ ’cause they haven’t played together for a while. I go, ‘It’s a PANTERA celebration.’ That’s what it is. It’s no different than Mitch [Mitchell] and Noel [Redding] from ‘Experience Hendrix’ asking Eric Clapton to come out and sing and play Jimi’s [Hendrix] stuff and honor him, and they’re gonna go out and honor Jimi Hendrix. To me, it’s the same thing. With Ozzy, we honor Saint Rhoads every night. Every time we’re playing ‘I Don’t Know’, ‘Mr. Crowley’ — everything — you’re honoring Randy. To me, it’s an extension of that. You’re honoring Dime, you’re honoring Vinnie and you’re honoring Phil and Rex, all the guys, their achievements, what they achieved as PANTERA and all the mountains they conquered. That’s the way I look at it. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it.”

Pantera’s reunion tour will see the first performances from the band in nearly two decades.

Photo Credit: Mauricio Alvarado