Vinnie Paul: the Pantera drummer whose mission was to have a 'goddamn good time'

Asked in 2013 which music he would like to be played at his funeral, Pantera drummer and co-founder Vinnie Paul said: “I’d really want to choose an album that was a goddamn good time, like fuckin’ Guns N’ Roses. I’d want people to celebrate what we’ve done and the fact that we’d had a great life. I wouldn’t want my funeral to be a sad, sappy thing.” His sentiment echoes the prevailing theme of his career as a musician: that life is about having fun. He and his late brother “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott made this nothing less than their mission.

Vincent Paul Abbott, known simply as Vinnie Paul, was born in Abilene, Texas, on 11 March 1964, to Carolyn and Jerry Abbott, the latter a country music performer and producer. He attended Arlington High School and began learning the drums as a child, prompted by his love of Kiss’s 1975 album Alive! At the age of 17, he formed Pantera and invited his younger brother Abbott to join on guitar.

The band, which initially featured singer Donnie Hart, guitarist Terry Glaze and bassist Tommy Bradford, played glam-metal, adopting a poodle-haired look in complete contrast to their later, more heavyweight material and image. Bradford was soon replaced by Rex Brown, and four Pantera albums were self-released on the band’s own Metal Magic label. The last of these, Power Metal – released in 1988 and featuring new singer Philip Anselmo – gained the attention of Atco Records executive Mark Ross, who recommended the band to his label.

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Pantera’s first album for Atco was Cowboys from Hell (1990), a title that explained their ethos perfectly. A band who took the idea of partying to its logical conclusion, Pantera rapidly gained an American and international fanbase after successful shows in support of established metal acts such as Judas Priest and Metallica.

Vulgar Display of Power (1992) was the definitive Pantera statement, containing songs that have since defined the modern metal canon such as Mouth for War, A New Level and Walk. Abbott was a world-class guitarist, astounding audiences with his extravagant solos, while Paul evolved an incredibly powerful drum sound. He achieved a trademark “clicky” sound for his bass drums by taping a coin to the spot on the drum head where the beater struck, a sound that has become ubiquitous in metal.

Far Beyond Driven (1994), The Great Southern Trendkill (1996) and Reinventing the Steel (2000) continued to spread Pantera’s message, with video releases chronicling the band’s chaotic, debauched tours, but relationships began to deteriorate between Anselmo and the Abbott brothers by the end of the decade. The band effectively split in 2001, with all members launching new projects shortly after.

Paul and Abbott formed a new band, Damageplan, and released the New Found Power album in 2004. Hopes among fans that Pantera might reform were dashed permanently when a delusional fan named Nathan Gale murdered Abbott on stage at the Alrosa Villa venue in Columbus, Ohio, on 8 December 2004. Gale, who was shot dead at the scene by police, also killed three other crew and audience members.

Paul did not return to the public eye until 2006, when he formed a new band, Hellyeah. Over the next decade the group released five albums and toured the world, but fans and journalists never stopped asking him if he would consider forming a new line-up of Pantera, perhaps with Abbott’s friend and fellow virtuoso Zakk Wylde on guitar. He was adamant that no such line-up would ever be formed.