In a new interview with Sense Music Media, COAL CHAMBER and DEVILDRIVER frontman Dez Fafara was asked if he would be open to playing shows with the new iteration of PANTERA. The current PANTERA lineup includes surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals) and Rex Brown (bass), with Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE) on guitar and Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX) on drums. Dez responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Oh, I talk to Philip all the time. He’s writing the foreword to my autobiography right now. I love that band and I love what they’re doing for the brothers, and for people who never got to see it, they get to see it now.
“For me, people will say METALLICA, but PANTERA is the best heavy metal band on earth. End of story. I know he’s [Philip] got a sordid past and he said some things and this and that, and don’t get me caught up in any of that,” Dez continued, alluding to the incident eight years ago when Anselmo made a Nazi-style salute during the January 2016 “Dimebash” event at Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood, held in honor of late PANTERA guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. “I follow the music, and that’s what I follow. I toured the world with him for three and a half, four years, and multiple times, and I lived at Anselmo’s house for years. Whenever I didn’t have a home and I came back, I either stayed at a hotel in L.A. or went to his house. So that being said, I’m glad that they’re out, and people should go check it out.”
Fafara added: “I took my wife on our first date to see PANTERA and BLACK SABBATH at the Forum in Los Angeles. She disappeared with Sharon Osbourne [who managed COAL CHAMBER for a period] for like three hours. When she came back, Sharon told me, ‘She’s the one.’ I was like, ‘Of course I know she’s the one, but you took her for three hours. So where did you guys go?'”
