Short biography:
Darrel Abbott grew up outside of Dallas, Texas, where his father owned a recording studio.
He
saw many great blues and country artists come through as clients of his father and he
learned from them. He learned quickly.
So quickly in fact that he was not allowed to enter
any guitar contests in the whole state because he'd already won them
all... He was 16. It
seems though that, even with this prodigical skill, the band wasn't sure which direction to go
artisticly
until almost 1990 with the release of Cowboys From Hell. Before the development
of their Power Groove, Pantera released
a few unknown albums of cheezy-sounding glam
rock (if you ever get a chance to hear anything from that era, I suggest you
do. Songs like
Ride My Rocket off of Metal Magic are quite entertaining. I can only decribe the sound as
something like
old Bon Jovi or Poison with amazing guitar solos). As far as the change of
alias from Diamond Darrell to Dimebag Darrell,
the six-string guru claims that it has always
been Dimebag, there was just a bunch of confusion about it. Personally, I
believe he was
coaxed into toning the Dimebag handle down early on strictly for PR purposes.
After over ten successful years with Pantera, singer Phil Ansemle decided to leave Pantera shortly after the release
of Pantera's newest album, Re-inventing The Steel. Dimebag and Vinnie Paul tried to keep Pantera alive for all of the
fans but Phil was done.
With Pantera in the past, Dimebag and Vinnie Paul decided it was time for something new, Damageplan. Formed by the brothers,
Damageplan was one of the heaviest bands out there. Their debut album A New Found Power was a 100% display of heavy
metal music at it's finest.
With Damageplan on the rise, two of the best heavy metal musicians that ever were, were on their feet again
and making a statement. They could do it again. Heavy metal was in their blood, and they did a damn good job of displaying
it.
During a small show on December 8th, 2004 a gunman ran onto stage 30 seconds into the set and shot dimebag 5 times in
the head. It's said that the shooter was yelling about Pantera's break up before the shooting occured and he held a grudge
of some sort against Dimebag, but with the shooter dead nobody is really sure of any motives.
December 8th, 2004 was a very dark day in music history. One of the major contributors to the metal scene was taken
from all of us, but all of his contributions and his music will never be forgotten.
