Things That Came Out About Dimebag Darrell After He Died

The tragic murder of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott sent shockwaves throughout the heavy metal community in December 2004. Dimebag had established himself as a guitar-shredding god with Pantera and was well on his way to leaving his mark on the rising Damageplan as well. But it all ended after Nathan Gale pulled the trigger of his Beretta handgun at the Alrosa Villa nightclub. Yet even though Dimebag is gone, he's far from forgotten. In fact, much more information has come out about him after he died, painting the picture of a musician and person who was larger than life in every single way.

Dimebag's brother and fellow bandmate, Vinnie Paul, who passed away in 2018, spoke about their brotherly love and where the guitarist conceived his most famous riffs. Similarly, Nickelback opened up about their unique and unexpected relationship with the Abbott brothers, while Dimebag's girlfriend, Rita Haney, discussed the truth about the much-speculated bad blood between Dimebag and Phil Anselmo. With that being said, let's take a look back at everything that's been said about the beloved Dimebag Darrell after his death. There are more than a few revelations here that should shock even the most hardcore and devoted of his fans.

Pantera had been around since 1981, but it was in 1986 that the band finally clicked into gear with a lineup featuring vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, drummer Vinnie Paul, and guitarist Dimebag Darrell. It was at this point that the group moved away from the glam sound to become a force of nature in heavy metal. Not only did they pulverize the touring circuit and release a series of seminal albums until their breakup in 2003, but they also turned into one of the most influential bands of the genre.

All four members are widely regarded as the best in their field, but Brown attested that Dimebag was the biggest talent and the person who kept Pantera together for so long. "The strongest one of us all [in Pantera] was Dime, and he kept the peace between all of us," Brown told the Dallas Observer. "He had this way about him, and he could get away with all kinds of s***. He lit people up just by being nice to them. He just had this glow about him. He had a heart ... His heart was just ... I can't explain how huge it was." Brown admitted that the early days of Pantera were the best of times — they played with passion anywhere they could, and there was strong musical synergy between all the members.

Pantera's dissolution in 2003 hurt fans. Everyone wondered if the band would be able to work through the animosity and reunite — especially considering all the beef between Phil Anselmo and Dimebag Darrell. Sadly, Dimebag's death a year later ensured that the most famous iteration of the band wouldn't appear together again. Pantera did reform in 2022, but Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante replaced Dimebag and Vinnie Paul as guitarist and drummer, respectively.

Despite the then-hostility between Anselmo and Dimebag, Anselmo revealed on VH1's "Behind the Music" that he flew out to Texas to attend his former bandmate's funeral and attempted to reach out to people close to the guitarist. In the same documentary, Rita Haney disclosed that she received a phone call from Anselmo and was told that if she didn't speak to him, he would attend the funeral without anyone's blessing. Haney lashed out at Anselmo, saying that Dimebag had tried to reach out to him in the lead-up to his death. "I instantly just said, 'Why are you calling now?'" she said. "And of course I started to cry. 'Why didn't you return the nine phone calls when Darrell called you?' I go, 'If you show up here, I'll blow your head off myself,' and I hung up on him." In a separate interview with San Antonio Metal Music Examiner years later, Anselmo said that the classic lineup of Pantera would have reformed had Dimebag still been alive.

Dimebag Darrell joined an infamous list of performers who died in front of a live audience. For the entirety of his career, his brother, Vinnie Paul, was by his side. The drummer loved him immensely and rated him as a generational talent. The pair ruled the world with Pantera, then started Damageplan with the intention of doing the same. Undisputedly, they shared a deep connection over their passion for music.

Before they played in a band, though, Dimebag attempted to follow in his brother's footsteps in a different kind of field — the sports kind. "I was a little bit bigger than him at the time and when I used to play football he wanted to play," Paul told Metal Hammer. "He'd try but he was smaller and it didn't really work. Once we both got to music the unbreakable bond really began." In the same interview, Paul praised Dimebag for his commitment to music, even though he was "a 100% natural." The drummer explained how his brother studied different types of styles and genres to create music that no one had ever heard before.

Inspiration strikes at the most random of times. It can come to someone in a hazy dream or in the midst of a hot shower. The point is when it hits, it hits, so creatives best make use of these precious moments. According to Vinnie Paul, Dimebag Darrell experienced inspiration in the strangest place in the house, but he wasn't about to let it go to waste.

"One of the things people don't know about Dime [is that] he had a guitar in his bathroom," Vinnie told Loudwire in 2016. "I went [into] his bathroom one time, I sat down, and I was like, 'He's got a guitar. He's got his little tape. What's that doing in here?'" Vinnie approached his brother to find out why he had all that equipment in the bathroom, and Dimebag said that's where he wrote all his iconic riffs — while sitting on the porcelain throne and dealing with other business. "He would go and have a bad experience at Taco Bell and write a song about it," Vinnie said, adding that he had all the recordings and would be keen to release them to fans one day. However, Vinnie's death in 2018 might have impacted these plans.

The band Nitro might not be regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of all time, but it did have riff-master guitarist Michael Angelo Batio. Batio's superior guitar-slinging skills inspired a generation of younger players, while he went on to play for Manowar, the group whose band members love to wear less clothes than Conan the Barbarian.

Speaking on the podcast "In the Trenches with Ryan Roxie," Batio recalled a story from the early '90s when he attended a Pantera show and found out that Dimebag Darrell was a fan of his. "There was nobody there, literally," Batio said. "'Cowboys from Hell' had just been released and we're in Orlando, Florida, and all of sudden Dime goes, 'Is that Michael Angelo?' I'm like, 'Yeah, dude.' He goes, 'I got your instructional program, dude. You're like my guitar teacher, man.' And then he goes, 'Pantera's going to dedicate tonight's set to Michael Angelo,' and I was just floored." Batio said he quickly struck up a friendship with Dimebag, and the pair saw each other on a regular basis throughout the years. He also revealed that Dimebag committed to play on his 2005 album "Hands Without Shadows," but the guitarist died before he could lay down his tracks.

One of the biggest things that came out about Dimebag Darrell after he died was how he was almost a part of what could have been the best supergroup in history. In a conversation with NME, electronic musician Moby revealed a funny story about how an evening with Dimebag, Vinnie Paul, and Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee almost resulted in the formation of a new band humorously titled the Sober F***s. "I've been sober for a while now, but this was a late-night, alcohol-fueled idea between Pantera's guitarist Dimebag Darrell, drummer Vinnie Paul, Tommy Lee and I," Moby said. "I regret not starting this chaotic metal band with them, which would have sounded like a cross between Pantera and my old punk group Flipper."

Alas, it was not meant to be. The closest that Dimebag came to being a part of a supergroup was during his time with Damageplan. The band's only album, "New Found Power," featured contributions from Slipknot's Corey Taylor and Black Label Society's Zakk Wylde.

Though Nickelback became the most hated band in the music industry, you wouldn't find Dimebag Darrell or Vinnie Paul among their hordes of haters. In fact, the brothers used to be fans of Chad Kroeger and Co., defending the Canadian rock group from detractors and insisting that people give them a shot before slamming them. Dimebag even teamed up with Nickelback as they recorded a cover of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)."

Speaking to WGRD 97.9 in 2023, Kroeger recalled fond memories of both Dimebag and Vinnie. He was particularly appreciative of how they put their necks out for his band when they didn't have to. "When the metal community would come down on those guys and be like, 'What's with this love for Nickelback? I don't get it," Kroeger said. "And they would say the same thing and defend us, and it was really, really lovely. They were like, 'Go watch them play. And then say they suck. Or then say something negative about them.'" In the same conversation, Kroeger opened up about how Dimebag's death affected him. According to the singer, he would get emotional whenever he saw the guitarist's face on the cover of a magazine or anywhere else for the longest time.

Dimebag Darrell and Rita Haney met when they were children, kicking off a friendship that blossomed into a love in 1984. From there on out, Dimebag and Haney were inseparable, staying together as a couple until his death in 2004. In the years since his death, Haney has shared a number of personal stories and anecdotes about Dimebag. In an interview with The Rockpit in 2017, she discussed a special moment from 1999 that she referred to as "one of [her] most treasured memories" of Dimebag.

Haney explained how she and several others went along with Vinnie Paul and Dimebag to talk to a funeral home about a final resting place for their mother, who had fallen gravely ill. They were informed about potential discounts if they bought more than one plot, so the Abbott brothers discussed how many they would need. Vinnie suggested three, since he knew their father had made other plans to be buried elsewhere, but Dimebag asked for four so that Haney could be buried alongside him. "Right at that moment I thought to myself, 'That was just the coolest thing that anybody could ever do or say, because you want me resting next to you,'" Haney said.

Dimebag Darrell certainly wasn't one of the stars who couldn't stand Eddie Van Halen — he was actually a huge fan. Despite being a pivotal part of the music industry for so long, Dimebag only met Van Halen for the first time a few weeks before he died, as revealed by Rita Haney to Billboard. "We'd met him just a few weeks earlier for the first time, and Dime was ready to cut him a $30,000 check that night for one of his striped guitars, but Eddie told him he'd do one special for him," Haney said. When Dimebag died, Van Halen phoned to extend his condolences and see if he could do anything for the family. Haney told Van Halen that Dimebag loved his yellow and black striped guitar, so Van Halen brought the original to the funeral as a gift, stating, "An original should have an original."

Haney revealed that Van Halen visited the funeral parlor, but he didn't want to go into the room where Dimebag's body lay. According to Haney, Van Halen said he wanted his last memory of Dimebag to be of when they met — not him lying dead. So, Haney and another member of Dimebag's crew took Van Halen's guitar and placed it with Dimebag.

While Pantera never hit the same mainstream levels as the Rolling Stones or Metallica, there's no disputing they reached a high level of popularity that saw them play the biggest stages across the world. It was also a different time in the music industry, as labels tended to fork out more cash for their artists to record and perform. Dimebag Darrell, though, was well aware of the changes around him, realizing it was getting harder for musicians to make a living from their art.

Dimebag's last interview took place with a school newspaper seven days before his death, and it was published years later in both Guitar World and Revolver. In this conversation, Dimebag imparted sage advice for those who wanted to get into the music industry in 2004 — and probably even now, if we're being honest.

"Well, if you're just trying to make it and get rich in this business, just go ahead and hang it up right now," he said. "Between the record companies being the way they are and the fact that people can just download one song instead of buying a whole album, it's hard to make a good living nowadays. But if you want to do it because you f****** love it, then go for it." Dimebag's words proved to be prophetic, as it's only become harder for artists since then.

Dimebag Darrell's death cut short all plans for Damageplan. The band recorded and toured the debut album, "New Found Power," but after Dimebag's murder, all momentum was halted in its tracks, and the remaining bandmates went on to various other projects rather than continue the group. However, Damageplan's manager, Paul Bassman, told Billboard that there were other recordings that the band worked on, which could be released. "There were recordings the band laid down prior to Dimebag's death that are near completion," Paul Bassman said. "Vinnie Paul has said there will be a follow-up album down the road, as Dime would have wanted his music to be heard."

In an interview on "Talk Is Jericho," Vinnie mentioned how Dimebag had his eye on the next Damageplan record. He wanted to wrap up their tour, take a short break, and head into the studio for the second album. In a separate conversation with Loudwire in 2016, Vinnie confirmed he wanted to release all of Dimebag's unheard music. Vinnie's death in 2018 may have complicated this plan, though.

Since Dimebag Darrell's death took place at a Damageplan concert, Vinnie Paul managed to spend time with his brother before the evening took a terrifying turn. Speaking to TeamRock (via Guitar World), Vinnie explained how he and Dimebag warmed up for the show together and discussed how their tour was coming to an end, which would allow them to be home for Christmas and to get a break before they started recording Damageplan's second album.

"Our code word to let it all hang out and have a good time was 'Van Halen,' man," Vinnie said. "And that's the last two words we ever said to each other. I said, 'Van Halen,' and he said, 'Van Halen,' and we high-fived each other and went on the deck to do our thing ... And a minute-and-a-half later I'll never see him again." That being said, Vinnie didn't express any regret about their final words to each other, since it was something special between the brothers.

Want to find out more about Dimebag Darrell? Check out Pantera's tragic real-life story.