Bassist Rex Brown has entertained the idea of reuniting with Phil Anselmo for a Pantera tribute tour in the near future, but shot down the possibility of guitarist Zakk Wylde hypothetically replacing the late Dimebag Darrell for the show. “It’s going to come up, and it wouldn’t be Zakk Wylde, I guarantee you that. I’ve just put it out there so we can get on past it,” the bassist declared in an interview with Eon Music.

Wylde is best known as the lead guitarist for legendary heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, who he has worked with since the late 1980s. He was also one of Darrell’s close friends and was mentioned by the late guitarist’s girlfriend Rita Haney as a possible replacement for a Pantera tribute tour last year. Although Brown previously announced support for Wylde joining Anselmo and himself on stage, he pushed back against Wylde serving as Darrell’s replacement.

“Offers still come in for Philip and I to do it if we wanted to, but if you don’t have the other guys in the band it’s not going to sound the same,” Brown elaborated. “If we were ever to do something like that it would have to be spot on, or I wouldn’t do it. It would be a tribute.”

Brown announced last week that he would not be re-releasing Pantera’s pre-Phil Anselmo records and criticized the group’s original vocalist. Anselmo is planning on bringing back Pantera songs for his Philip H. Anselmo and The Illegals tour this summer. Wylde shared a Black Sabbath tribute record last fall and announced plans to record a new Black Label Society album last spring.

Photo Credit: Mauricio Alvarado