During a recent interview with Rick Beato, Pantera’s Rex Brown, Zakk Wylde, and Charlie Benante opened up about debuting the latest incarnation of the band at last year’s Hell & Heaven Metal Fest in Mexico. According to group, there was a sense of relief once the first song hit.
Benante said the following:
“Dude, I was a nervous wreck. And it was like 53 degrees [Fahrenheit]; it was freezing.. And I remember taking two shots that night, of Black Tooth, just to calm myself down because I was so anxious. And we got up there, intro started, first song kicked in, and it was, like, ‘Wow, there it is.’”
Brown also commented:
“That’s what I call the shot across the world right there. That one little moment of time, and I remember it, because I just felt this huge relief come on. Because we had been in a hangar, with these two guys, for two weeks, getting this thing down with the lights and the production on this thing for nine, 10 hours a day playing the songs.”
Wylde chimed in as well:
“But I remember the funny thing was, ’cause there was no warm-up shows; we didn’t do any club shows. So the first show was the one in front of forty thousand people or whatever it was… For me, I felt there’s… Like the adrenaline, kind of like my first Ozzy [Osbourne] show, that I did in an arena when I was, like, 20 years old. So for me, I was just, like, ‘Wow, this is pretty insane.’”
Benante continued:
“This is the first time people are gonna see it. And then it’s gonna be everywhere after tonight. So if we don’t bring it, it’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, I saw it. It wasn’t so good.’ And like I said, I had a hundred things going through my head: ‘I don’t wanna play this too fast. I wanna catch that groove as if I’m riding a surfboard.’”
Brown added:
“And we did. And it paid off. And it was great.”
Benante concluded:
“After that show, it was, like, ‘Phew.’”
[via Blabbermouth]
Metal Anarchy 
You must be logged in to post a comment.