What The Final Year Of Dimebag Darrell's Life Was Like

On December 8, 2004, the world of heavy metal lost one of its most talented and influential guitarists ever when former Pantera axeman Dimebag Darrell was murdered onstage at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio. He was performing with his new band, Damageplan, and similar to John Lennon's death exactly 24 years prior, the musician was shot by a mentally disturbed young man who had become disillusioned with his former hero. It was a senseless killing that still leaves fans wondering what could have been had the shooting never happened.

Born Darrell Lance Abbott in Texas on August 20, 1966, the man who would be known as Dimebag formed Pantera in 1981 with his drummer brother, Vinnie Paul Abbott. After numerous lineup changes and a transition to a heavier sound in the early '90s, the band would achieve critical and commercial success as groove metal innovators. By 2003, however, Pantera was on the verge of imploding, with Darrell and Vinnie increasingly at odds with lead vocalist Phil Anselmo. This set the stage for the formation of the band that would be known as Damageplan, and a hopeful start to 2004 — the year that would tragically turn out to be Dimebag Darrell's last.

With Pantera's days seemingly numbered, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul formed a new band called New Found Power in early 2003, recruiting ex-Halford guitarist Patrick Lachman as their lead singer. The band, soon to be renamed Damageplan, eventually added bassist Robert "Bob Zilla" Kakaha, and by February 2004, their debut album was out. Titled "New Found Power" after their original band name (and one of the songs on the album), the record debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard 200 in the last week of February, hinting at a promising start for the Abbott brothers' post-Pantera project. Critic reviews, however, told a slightly different story.

In its review, Blabbermouth gave "New Found Power" a decent 7/10 score, observing that the album seemed closer to Pantera's original vision when it shifted to a heavier sound on 1990's breakout album "Cowboys From Hell." However, the outlet damned Lachman with faint praise, calling him "adequate" but noting that he lacked personality. "He's a generic metal vocalist, and even though this is not Pantera, he's still indirectly following a frontman [Phil Anselmo] who had so much personality that half his problem was not knowing what to do with it," Blabbermouth wrote. Meanwhile, AllMusic's 3-star review generally commended Damageplan's post-grunge-meets-thrash approach but pointed out that a few tracks on the album "[pushed] them pretty close to the increasingly homogenous post-grunge pack."

It's not uncommon for bands to encounter troublesome fans who climb onstage in an attempt to get closer to their heroes. And for Damageplan, that was certainly the case on April 5, 2004, during a show at Bogart's in Columbus, Ohio. As reported by The Columbus Dispatch (via Blabbermouth), a fan named Nathan Gale created a disturbance after jumping the stage during Damageplan's performance. This led to a scuffle with security guards, where Gale ended up destroying about $1,800 worth of amplifiers. "He latched onto the equipment because he didn't want to leave," said an unnamed band technician who asked that his name not be used in the Dispatch's story. "Whatever he was planning to do, he didn't get a chance to do," an audience member told the outlet. "The whole time I saw him, he was being subdued."

Despite all the chaos going on around them, Damageplan continued performing without interruption, with Patrick Lachman reportedly quipping, "I'd like to introduce you to the fifth member of the (expletive) band" after Gale was thrown out of the venue. The band chose not to press charges against the unruly audience member, as the disturbance didn't seem like a pressing issue, and the important thing was that order was quickly restored during the gig.

The April 2004 event at Columbus was just one of many shows Damageplan played throughout the year, as the band relentlessly toured in support of their debut album, playing a total of 112 shows across three tours. Aside from playing songs from "New Found Power," Damageplan also performed the occasional cover, usually tipping their hat to Pantera, but also honoring classic rock acts such as Ted Nugent and KISS. They also shared the stage with other metal heavyweights of the era, including Slayer, The Haunted, and Shadows Fall (the latter two co-headlined Damageplan's third and final tour). 

Though it's been slightly more than two decades at the time of writing since Damageplan played its last-ever show, fans still take to Reddit to share their memories of the band's gigs. "What [made] 2004 so special in [Dimebag's] career was it was the first time, since he got super famous that you could go see Dimebag do a full 5 minute guitar solo live in concert," wrote u/PanteraSteel2001, who described Damageplan as a "criminally underrated" band. Users also spoke positively of Damageplan — specifically Darrell — and how they weren't above interacting with their devotees at shows. "It always makes me sad now thinking about how close we were and how trusting they were of their fans," u/LocksmithFun45 posted. "I was so close I could set my purse on the stage. They loved their fans so damn much."

On the surface, it seemed that Dimebag Darrell was happy with the way things were going with Damageplan in 2004, and he said as much in an interview with Guitar.com. While he mainly focused on his equipment and his guitar tunings, he also talked in depth about his new band and how thankful he was for the support he received from fans. "I wasn't sure if there was gonna be a backlash and everybody [would be] shoutin', 'Pantera!'" Darrell told the outlet's Adam St. James. "But that wasn't the case at all ... Everybody knows what happened; everybody knows the whole scoop. And they know me and Vinnie Paul never turned our backs on 'em, and they're there for us, man!"

Although Darrell stressed that he still thought very highly about his time in Pantera, he admitted that his stint with the band ultimately felt like too much of a routine, to the point that he felt like he was mailing in with performances. He added that he loved playing longer sets with Damageplan and having more freedom to get creative onstage. "There's a lot of things that we've been cut loose with, that we're able to do with Damageplan that we weren't able to do with Pantera," the guitarist said. "We just think the fans deserve their money's worth."

Despite Dimebag Darrell's public positivity when talking about his new band, it apparently wasn't all sunshine and rainbows behind the scenes for Damageplan in 2004. Speaking on the matter years after his death, Darrell's longtime girlfriend, Rita Haney, told Guitar World in 2008 that the axeman was reaching his breaking point with Patrick Lachman over the frontman's reluctance to oblige audiences by performing Pantera songs. "I remember in his final days, Darrell was calling me a lot, and he told me that he didn't know what to do about Pat Lachman," Haney said. "Pat said that he didn't want to sing any Pantera songs, but he knew what he was getting into when he joined the band."

During her appearance on the "Talk Toomey" podcast in 2017, Haney shared similar recollections about Darrell's frustrations with Lachman. "Pat had already been causing issues, and there were problems," she said. "I have several voice messages from [Darrell] that I still have of things that he left and was telling me about the things Pat was doing out there.  And he was, like, 'Man, I don't wanna work with this dude. I wanna fire him."

Talking about the specific issues Lachman was causing, Haney once again brought up his supposed aversion to revisiting the Pantera discography onstage. But she also alleged that he repeatedly put off writing lyrics for some songs Darrell had sent him. She expressed hope that the surviving members of Pantera would work on those unfinished tracks despite their lingering differences.

Given Dimebag Darrell's alleged issues with Patrick Lachman, it should come as no surprise that the guitar icon was supposedly considering a reunion with the band that had helped make him a household name in the early-to-mid-'90s. In a 2017 interview with Overdrive, Rita Haney emphasized that a reunion of the classic Pantera lineup would have been very plausible if Darrell was still alive. "I know how forgiving Darrell was and those guys would have resolved their issues. ... If anyone was able to bring people back together and fix things, it was Darrell," she said about her late partner. "He was that type of person that would really get bothered if there was something not right and would have to get to the bottom of it to solve it, to make things better again."

According to Haney, Darrell might have already been taking the first few steps toward a potential reunion, as he and Pantera bassist Rex Brown spoke on the phone on August 20, 2004 — the guitarist's 38th birthday. "He wasn't happy with the way things were going with Damageplan already, and in his heart, it was always Pantera, that's all he knew and it was always going to be that way," she continued.

By late 2004, it had been about a year since Dimebag Darrell confirmed that Pantera was no more. And considering the acrimonious nature of the split, frontman Phil Anselmo was eager to set the record straight when he spoke to Metal Hammer (via Blabbermouth) for its Christmas 2004 issue. However, he did more than just speak his truth and refute Darrell and Vinnie Paul's claim that he left Pantera without giving proper notice — he accused the guitarist of having a drinking problem and made what sounded like a physical threat against him. "There was never a point when he could not get drunk. Which was pretty much every day. And now I'm hearing it's worse than ever," Anselmo alleged, later adding, "[H]e deserves to be beaten severely."

Anselmo did backpedal quickly, clarifying that he didn't have any intention of actually attacking Darrell, but the damage had been done. His remarks intensified the feud he had with Vinnie Paul, who told Revolver in April 2006 (also via Blabbermouth) that the lead vocalist's interview could have potentially motivated the man who murdered Darrell almost a year and a half prior. The drummer added that there was no way Anselmo was misquoted as he claimed, as he had an audio recording of the interview. "Anyone that wants to hear [the audio files], I'll be happy to play them for you," he said. "So he ought to feel really f***in' guilty any way you slice it."

Much like Dimebag Darrell would do many years later, the late Eddie Van Halen influenced countless hard rock and heavy metal guitarists with his innovative techniques. Darrell was one of those budding axemen who grew up idolizing Van Halen's namesake guitar god, and even after he became a successful musician in his own right, he admitted to listening to Eddie's licks for inspiration before going onstage. However, it was only in 2004 that Darrell got to personally meet his hero.

The meeting took place at a Van Halen concert in Midland, Texas, and as Vinnie Paul recalled in an interview (quoted by Ultimate Classic Rock), Eddie Van Halen did everything he could to make the Abbott brothers feel welcome as the band's special guests. "Eddie sent a limo to pick us up, which was very cool," the drummer said. "And we came in, and he brought us right up on stage and hung out at soundcheck and everything. And the show was amazing."

In that same interview, Vinnie Paul shared a post-Van Halen concert anecdote that carries extra poignance considering what later happened to Darrell. "We got on the plane, and when we were flying back to Dallas, my brother looked at me, and he goes, 'Man, you know what? If this plane was to go down in a crash right now, I'd be okay with it," the musician said."'I finally got to meet the dude that made me wanna play guitar.' It was really special."

On the surface, Damageplan's December 8, 2004, show at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus seemed like a routine club gig, with an audience of about 250 people and local bands serving as support acts. However, it was also one of the last remaining dates they had for the year before heading home for Christmas. With that in mind, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul were feeling especially stoked, and as was customary, the brothers high-fived each other and said the words "Van Halen" before beginning their set — their code word for having a good time. 

As it turned out, "Van Halen" were the last words Darrell said before Nathan Gale — the same individual who was kicked out of their Columbus show eight months prior — fatally shot Darrell as he and his bandmates performed in front of their audience. He was reportedly acting strange as he loitered outside the club during the local bands' sets and was later asked to leave the premises. Instead of doing as requested, he jumped a fence and sneaked inside the Alrosa Villa, opening fire just about 90 seconds into Damageplan's first song.

Gale, an ex-Marine and Pantera fan who allegedly blamed Darrell for the band's breakup, also killed three other people — Damageplan crew member Jeff "Mayhem" Thompson, Alrosa Villa employee Erin Halk, and audience member Nathan Bray. He was holding another man hostage at gunpoint when Columbus police officer James Niggemeyer arrived on the scene and fired at the gunman, killing him instantly.

A number of prominent rock and metal musicians were present at Dimebag Darrell's funeral, including Eddie Van Halen, Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell, Slipknot members Corey Taylor, Jim Root, and Paul Gray, and Black Label Society singer-guitarist Zakk Wylde. Most of the guitarist's former Pantera and Damageplan bandmates were also in attendance. But there was one ex-bandmate who was conspicuous by his absence — Phil Anselmo, who was supposedly banned from attending the service as well as other tribute events honoring the axeman.

The Pantera frontman released a statement a few days later, saying that he understands why Darrell's loved ones chose to ban him from the funeral. He spoke of loving Darrell like a brother and feeling the same way about Vinnie Paul. "I'm so sorry to [Darrell's] family," the singer continued (via Billboard). "I want to say bless his family [and] all of his close friends. I wish his family the least grief they could ever have, and I know it's impossible."

Unfortunately, Anselmo and Vinnie Paul remained on poor terms with each other until the Pantera drummer's death in 2018. But in an unexpected turn of events, Pantera reunited for the first time in almost two decades in 2022, with a touring lineup that includes Anselmo on vocals, Rex Brown on bass, Wylde on guitar, and Anthrax's Charlie Benante on drums. The reunion has earned mixed reactions from fans. While some believe that the lineup is "Pantera in name only" without Darrell and Vinnie, others have praised Anselmo and Brown for keeping the Abbott brothers' legacy alive with two respected veterans filling their shoes.