Every story has a beginning, and this is mine. If you've ever seen the Pantera home videos, (I had mine on VHS,) there was a scene in the first video where Phil Anselmo talks about Pantera being a word of mouth band. For me, that was exactly how I discovered Pantera.
Pantera didn't get played on the radio. You heard about them from a friend. All my heavy metal friends were talking about this kick ass band from Texas that had a totally original metal sound. They were heavy without sounding like static noise. They had strong vocals that spoke to exactly how I was feeling. I could tell this was a band that was going to take heavy metal in a direction never taken before.
At the time Pantera's album, "Vulgar Display of Power," had just been released. I was watching MTV's "Headbanger's Ball" when their video for, "Walk" comes on. I had never seen that level of intensity at a concert. At that point in my life I had only been to a Beach Boys concert. Being hardcore at a Beach Boys concert meant you stood up in your seat.
But this was unlike anything I had seen. I'd seen "The Pit." I'd seen "Stagediving." But I had never seen people being passed around while a pit was hardcore raging. Fans were diving off the stage, and the band encouraged it. Again, I had never seen such an intensity like that.
One day my headbanger friends tell me that Pantera is coming to town. They are going to be playing the USF Special Events Center in Tampa. I said, "That' great! I'm just around the corner from USF!" And I really was. I was barely two miles from there. So we all bought tickets and my friend Darren said he would drive us there.
When the day came, Dec. 1st, 1992 I could barely sit though school. I was 16 at the time, and this would be my second major concert ever. (Yes, right behind the Beach Boys.) Luckily my friends had been paying attention to the radio. It seems that the show had been moved to downtown Ybor City at the Ritz.
The show said, "Doors open at 7 PM." I had taken the bus home, and of course, I was the last stop on the bus route. I had barely made it home before 4 PM when I hear a knock at the door. It was all my headbanger friends. I asked what they were doing there so early? They said they wanted to get to the show early to have a chance to meet some of the members of the band. I said, "Come on? What are the chances of that?"
So we left, and were in Downtown Ybor City hours before showtime. We decided to walk up and down 7th Avenue. It seemed the show was going to be started even later because they had to set up all the gear later than usual. Again, moving the show from USF to the Ritz messed with their schedule.
So we were hanging outside the Ritz near the tour buses when some folks walked out. One of the guys was walking towards the backdoor of the Ritz. It was then my friend Randy yelled out, "Yo J.!!!" The guy turned around, and yelled back, "Hey!." It turned out he was the guitar player for the band who was going to open up for Pantera. A little band called, "White Zombie." I had seen their video for one of their songs on Headbanger's Ball." As I remembered back then it was ….."Thunder … something."
Of course, that song would end up flying up the charts once it made it to "Beavis and Butthead." That song was "Thunderkiss 65'." The guitar player was named J." Randy had seen his name in the advertisement of our local rock magazine. J. was cool. He waved back at us as he entered the building.
As we turned the corner we walked right by the tour buses. It was then this cute chick who was barely five foot tall and maybe 80 pounds walked out. I said, "Hi," and kept walking. I later found out as I was watching the show that she was the White Zombie bass player. You might have heard of her, Sean Yseult.
If you ever watch any White Zombie video you will notice how every bass she plays looks huge. It turns out the basses are normal sized. She is just that tiny. She was also amazingly pretty with huge blonde (at that time) curly hair.
So our headbanger group continued down 7th Avenue. We walked into this independent used CD/Tape/Record store. And who should be there but 3/4 of Pantera! Phil, Darrell, and Rex were hanging out looking at the CD's. (I later found out that Vinnie Paul was giving an interview with 98 Rock at that time. He was live on the radio telling fans to come to the Ritz.)
My friends approached Darrell, and he welcomed us like we were family. I talked to him about seeing Pantera on Headbanger's Ball, and that level of intensity in the pit kind of scared. me. He was all like, "Naw man! You gotta get in the pit!" My friends had better questions for him than I did. Again, we didn't have the internet at the time, so I didn't know much of his background. Again, I was also 16 years old at the time. What do I ask a mainstream musician who actually made it to MTV?
Again, I have to say he was so cool to us. He could have blown us off. He could have said he was busy. He could have said no questions. But he didn't. He was the nicest guy in the world to us. And all these years later it still means ever so much to me. It showed me just how important it is to treat fans. Because I've met a few rock stars that didn't treat me too well, and left me feeling disappointed I had met them in the first place.
After standing in line for a bit we finally get in. The show starts at 8 PM. I only knew the one song by White Zombie (Thunderkiss 65'.) Again, this was before "Beavis and Butthead" helped them become household names. Most of the crowd didn't know who they were and hadn't even heard "Thunderkiss 65'." But I thought they were musically different from anything I had ever seen before.
When Pantera came on it was exactly like the video for "Walk." People immediately jumped sideways and the entire place became a mosh pit. The one thing I'll never forget was how loud it was. I was wearing earplugs, and my eardrums still hurt the next day.
What amazed me was that Dimebag was the real deal. I stood in the back watching him play. There was no way anyone could fake that. I had never seen anyone play a guitar with that much talent, aggression, determination, and vigor. I didn't play guitar at the time, but I know that if I did I would be playing a Dean guitar.
Get this, the floors of the old Ritz were wooden. They had then thrown these old rubber mats over it. It was so loud that the floors were vibrating. And I don't mean just a little vibration. My feet were going numb because the floors were vibrating so hard. That's right, it was so loud the floors were vibrating like they were going to sprout wings and fly.
I also remember it being close to 50 degrees outside. Florida actually does get somewhat cold at night, especially in December. But there were so many bodies going crazy inside the Ritz it must have been 100 degrees. It was actually tough to breathe in there.
I actually went in the pit a few times, but I could only stand it about 30 seconds. Namely due to the lack of oxygen, heat, and linebacker type tackles I was taking. This was not a rookie mosh pit. This pit was for seasoned pros.
Now, I am kind of a big guy. There were a lot of folks "going up" and getting passed around place. I decided I was going to try it … once. At the time I was around 200 pounds. I went up, and they had trouble holding me up. I ended up being passed to the back. About eight guys ended up holding me at chest level. I yelled at them, "I'm too heavy! You can just set me down!" That when they laughed, and threw me forward.
I then started rolling forward over top of the crowd. I was rolling/spinning and gaining speed towards the front when I saw I was near the security gate at the front of the stage. It was at that point the crowd tried to throw me on stage. But let's be honest, I was too heavy. They ended up throwing me over the gate. I saw the security guards coming at me, and I just curled up in the fetal position.
They tackled me, and I assumed the worst. However, they saw I wasn't going to fight back, and they told me to crawl over to the side. So I crawled on my hands and knees to the left hand side. As I was crawling all the security guards were ready to tackle me in case I tried to jump on stage. However, I was happy that I made it as far as I did, and I wasn't about to give them any trouble.
So I made it out the side security gate at stage left. I found my friends and they hi-fived me for making it so far. I said it was awesome, and I never wanted to do that again.
Near the end of the show my friend Randy ended up getting hurt in the pit. He fell on his head. Yes, he was getting passed around and ended up being dropped on his head. He actually hurt his shoulder worse than his head. I helped him outside so he could sit in Darren's car. The next song that played was, "Cowboys From Hell."
Now you're probably wondering how I knew that if we weren't inside the Ritz. Remember what I said about the music being loud? Yeah, we could hear it just fine outside the club. I swear it must have been 160 decibels inside the Ritz.
Randy and I weren't exactly feeling great after expending all that energy inside a 100 degree club. We were now outside in the fresh air, which was great, but it was also 50 degrees outside. We were also soaked in our own sweat from head to toe. Luckily, we didn't have to wait long for Darren and Jim to join us.
We all ended up taking a breather while the parking lot emptied. Since I lived closest I ended up being dropped off first. It was around midnight when I got to sleep. In the morning I begged my Mom to let me skip school, but she wasn't hearing any of it. If I wanted to stay out all night I had to deal with the consequences. That being, getting my butt to school.
I was lucky enough to see Pantera two more times. I believe both were in 1994. The second time I saw them Biohazard opened. I knew all of Biohazard's songs so I was glad to see them. The third time I saw Pantera, Type O Negative opened. I knew their album, "Bloody Kisses" back and forth, so again, I was ecstatic to see them. Except for the fact we were late, and I only got to see their last two songs.
I missed seeing Pantera come through the Bay Area a fourth time. That time they had John Bush era Anthrax open for them. I still kick myself that I missed that show. I only heard about it the day of the show, and it was sold out by then. Little did I know that would be the last time Pantera would come through Tampa.
So now I sit here finishing up this post. I'll admit, I've been putting it off for years. It's a happy story, but with a sad ending. It's hard to believe that one of the greatest guitarist of all time was murdered on stage along with a number of his road crew.
I think of all the music that could have been. I imagine Dimebag like I would Mick Jagger. He would just keep playing music until he was 90 years old. He would never stop. But I am thankful for the music we do have. I'm also thankful for all the music he inspired in myself and others.
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