{"id":1149,"date":"1986-02-01T00:00:58","date_gmt":"1986-02-01T00:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=1149"},"modified":"2014-08-12T19:42:11","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T19:42:11","slug":"feature-pantera-mf16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-pantera-mf16\/","title":{"rendered":"PANTERA – Kings Of The Night Time World (MF16, 1986) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

PANTERA – Kings Of The Night Time World<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\nDave Reynolds<\/span>
\nMetal Forces, Issue 16 (1986)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pantera (l-r): Diamond Darrell, Rex Rocker, Vinnie Paul and Terrence Lee<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Onward we rock! Certainly words to warm the collective hearts of each and every person who consider themselves a heavy metal fan. Let me ask you a question though. How many of you have heard of Pantera? <\/p>\n

Pantera are an awesome beyond belief heavy metal band from the heart of Texas, but as yet they remain shunned by major labels and \u2018major\u2019 music press. Pantera, you may be surprised to learn, have however released not one, but three top quality albums on their own Metal Magic label. The most recent being I Am The Night<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I Am The Night<\/em> is a record that had those heads bangin\u2019 here at Metal Forces<\/em> in a manner not seen since, say, Metallica\u2019s Kill \u2019Em All<\/em><\/a>. So what\u2019s so special about Pantera? A great deal I say, but you\u2019ve really got to check \u2019em out on record before you read any further.<\/p>\n

Ah, there you are! Back from the Metal Magic Mystery Tour. Good. Now let\u2019s give you some serious background info for your delectation from none other than Pantera\u2019s own Vinnie Paul and Diamond Darrell, who play drums and guitar respectively. I Am The Night<\/em> comes hot on the heels of 1984\u2019s superb Projects In The Jungle<\/em> album. A record that oozed with all the talented excellence that \u201983\u2019s Metal Magic<\/em><\/a> debut had promised.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s begin with asking a very silly question. Are Pantera pleased with how it turned out? Vinnie: \u201cYeah we\u2019re pretty happy with it. Obviously we could all still do better, but I think we\u2019ve created a great atmosphere. It\u2019s really raunchy, so it\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

What I can\u2019t understand is why you haven\u2019t struck up a major deal yet? Vinnie: \u201cWe can\u2019t understand it either! But we\u2019ve finally got some inside connections with major labels. Gold Mountain are really taking an interest and so are Jet, Geffen and Atlantic, so we\u2019re still waiting. Hopefully, by the summertime we\u2019ll have got a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darrell: \u201cNothing was really happening until Loudness and Keel played here a few months ago. I gave a tape to Marc Ferrari of Keel of our stuff, and he\u2019s been a great help \u2019cos he liked the stuff and he must\u2019ve let somebody at Gold Mountain hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

So hopefully you\u2019ll be recording you next record for a major? Vinnie: \u201cWell, if we haven\u2019t signed a deal by summertime then we\u2019ll put another album out on Metal Magic. We\u2019re just gonna keep going, and we\u2019re writing new material at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you are lucky enough to get a deal I hope they don\u2019t wimp you out like, say, Geffen have done to Black\u2019N\u2019Blue! Vinnie: \u201cIf we do get a deal it\u2019s gonna be only to play heavy metal. There will be no wimping out. When Black\u2019N\u2019Blue\u2019s first album came out it was okay, but that last one was pretty bad. There will be no Top 10 stuff from us!\u201d<\/p>\n

You seem to have a good situation with The Eld\u2019n producing at Pantego Studios. Will you be changing all that when you do get that elusive deal? Darrell: \u201cWe\u2019d like to keep The Eld\u2019n as producer. We would like to record at, say, The Record Plant! The Eld\u2019n knows what Pantera is all about, but our studio isn\u2019t as top quality as the ones in LA for instance. If we could record a Pantera album in somewhere like The Record Plant we\u2019d be able to get a real monster sound!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Diamond Darrell<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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As if they haven\u2019t got a monster sound already! By all accounts they\u2019re pretty hot stuff live too. Have you just been limited to playing shows in Texas so far? Vinnie: \u201cWe\u2019ve played only in a five-state area that includes Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico – there\u2019s a tremendous heavy metal following in Texas and Louisiana. It\u2019s just real sad that the radio stations and people don\u2019t support it\u2026 they try to keep it down. Texas is perhaps the biggest market for heavy metal in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is a tour of Europe a priority, or do you want to hit Los Angeles first? Vinnie: \u201cWe\u2019d love to do a tour of Europe, but we really wanna tie up a major deal first so we can get the backing to do it. We get an unbelievable amount of fan mail from The Netherlands, Germany and Britain, so hopefully once we get that deal we\u2019ll be able to go to Europe and Japan too. We should be touring from June \/ July and do some East Coast dates. We also might have something working with Keel, but it does depend on getting the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you feel you can stay in Texas rather than move to LA? Vinnie: \u201cWe don\u2019t wanna move to LA unless we have to. However, we have created the biggest market we can for ourselves in Texas by playing Houston, Dallas, Austin etc. in the last three years. We could do with a change of face just to see how our music stands up in Los Angeles or New York. We wouldn\u2019t mind moving to New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darrell: \u201cWe\u2019re really glad we are from Texas and we\u2019re a radical metal band! We\u2019ve never been influenced by what\u2019s happening in LA or started playing out with Motley Cr\u00fce or Ratt. We really kick some ass and always get the audiences to get down the front and rock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who do you see as your immediate competition? Vinnie: \u201cIt\u2019s kinda hard to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darrell: \u201cWe\u2019ve a really different sound, but we always seem to be put into that Cr\u00fce or Ratt category. We wanna be in a league with Judas Priest who are really heavy yet retain that certain something that makes \u2019em so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vinnie: \u201cOur biggest influences are bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. It\u2019s that raw energy that comes from British music. I suppose we retain an American sound too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah, you seem to have got a really heavy edge, yet still retain the melody that even Cr\u00fce and Ratt can\u2019t compete with. Vinnie: \u201cWe\u2019re grinding! Our music is what makes us heavy, but our vocalist (Terrence Lee. The line-up is completed by bassist Rex Rocker, but you should know all this already!!) is what makes us melodic. We\u2019re really into thrash, but there\u2019s too many bands that sound like that. So we want to be more in a Van Halen \/ Judas Priest-mode, which is what we first got into years ago, but metal\u2019s just got heavier. We don\u2019t listen to death metal, but we aren\u2019t pussyin\u2019 out. Metallica is our favourite band and there\u2019s some other really good bands in that vein.\u201d<\/p>\n

I noticed there\u2019s some Metallica-style riffs on \u2018I Am The Night\u2019 and \u2018Valhalla\u2019 on your last record! Darrell: \u201cDon\u2019t blame that on me! I recently got into Metallica, but every riff I\u2019ve ever written I\u2019ve never ripped it off anybody. I just play what moves me. In actual fact, we jammed with Metallica when they came through here and we had one helluva time.\u201d<\/p>\n

You seem to be developing a pretty flashy image I\u2019ve noticed too. Vinnie: \u201cI guess it\u2019s because we started out listening to Van Halen, but we don\u2019t really want a flash image and we don\u2019t have anybody telling us to look like this or that. Maybe when we get a deal we might work on a look or something, but really it\u2019s the music that matters. We don\u2019t wanna look like any other band and we certainly aren\u2019t glam.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s funny \u2019cos we have a sort of bet going here as to when you\u2019re gonna shave off your beard Vinnie! \u201cHa! Ha! I did do it one time but I looked just like Blackie Lawless from W.A.S.P., so I quickly grew it back!!\u201d<\/p>\n

What about that Ace Frehley belt buckle you\u2019re wearing on the album cover Darrell? I thought my brother was the only one to still have one of those. I haven\u2019t seen one in years! \u201cWell, I grew up with Kiss. They provoked me to grow my hair long and I went down and got a perm! Kiss provoked me to rock and I don\u2019t really give a fuck what anyone says about that. Kiss got me rockin\u2019 and they\u2019re still a great band.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vinnie Paul<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Do you plan on putting a new record out in your usual manner just after the summer? Vinnie: \u201cIf we put it out on Metal Magic it\u2019ll be out at the end of the summer, yeah. If we sign to a major we\u2019d have to do it to their schedule, but we don\u2019t wanna mess around for six months getting it out. We\u2019re writing material for it right now – we don\u2019t like hangin\u2019 around. What would you like to see on Pantera 4<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, more of the same really. Pantera heavy metal. No wimping out. \u201cYou got it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Have you ever considered licensing your Metal Magic albums in Europe? Darrell: \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of offers but we\u2019ve held out because we don\u2019t want any connections before we get a major deal. We don\u2019t want to sign contracts whereby we have to give 20% to this company and so on \u2019cos they have the rights to our stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vinnie: \u201cNobody owns anything of Pantera. Anyway, all our records are distributed through Important and Greenworld and they get to Europe. So people can get the records, so it\u2019s no big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is just one more question concerning I Am The Night<\/em>. What do the initials to the song \u201cD.G.T.T.M.\u201d mean? Vinnie: \u201cCan I tell him? Okay, it means \u2018Diamond Goes To The Movies\u2019. It kind of sounds like the sound effects from movies like Friday The 13th<\/em> and Rocky IV<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darrell: \u201cI wanted to do a raw guitar solo. Really let rip. It definitely sounded weird!\u201d<\/p>\n

Does all of this satisfy your lust for Pantera info? I certainly hope so, for I honestly believe that this band, above all others, are going to make the biggest mark on American heavy metal in a long, long while. If I were in the likes of M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce<\/a>, Ratt, Keel, Judas Priest or Def Leppard, I\u2019d certainly be very worried. Pantera are out to kill. As Vinnie told me: \u201cWe\u2019re a heavy metal band and we aim to stay that way.\u201d You got it!<\/p>\n

Interview taken from Metal Forces, Issue 16 (1986). All photographs by Joe Giron.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PANTERA – Kings Of The Night Time World Dave Reynolds Metal Forces, Issue 16 (1986) Pantera (l-r): Diamond Darrell, Rex Rocker, Vinnie Paul and Terrence Lee Onward we rock! Certainly words to warm the collective hearts of each and every person who consider themselves a heavy metal fan. Let me ask you a question though. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pantera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1149"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1632,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions\/1632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}