Today marks eight years since Pantera and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell was killed onstage. Here, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford talks candidly about meeting Dimebag, working with him, and how he took the news when he heard about the shooting. A portion of the interview ran in

REVOLVER When did you first meet Dimebag Darrell?
ROB HALFORD Priest was in Canada rehearsing for the Painkiller tour. I was doing an interview from the hotel room and I turned the telly on to [Canadian music-video channel] Much Music. The sound was turned off, and I saw this guy and he’s got a British Steel T-shirt on. So I quickly finished the interview, and I turned the volume up and he’s just talking about his band, Pantera, and Cowboys From Hell. And just watching him and listening to him on the television, you just felt like, This is a great guy. Firstly, I saw a clip of the band. I was like, My God, this guitar player is fucking phenomenal, besides the rest of the band. And then just hearing him talk I thought, I really would like to meet this guy. So I called up Much Music and I said, “Was that Darrell? Is he still there?” It wasn’t Dimebag in those days, it was Diamond Darrell. They said, “Yeah, he still is” And he was like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe it, I’m wearing a Priest shirt.” And I said, “Yeah, I’ve just seen you on the Much Music.” He said, “Oh man, I’d love to see you. We got a show tonight at the club in Toronto.” I’m pretty much sure that it was Pantera and Stryper. So I went down there, and we had a great time together, and we just talked about metal, this, that, and the other. I think jammed “Metal Gods” with them. It’s a bit blurry, it should be more significant than this, but this is 1991. I was clean and sober then, but you know how things get jumbled up in your brain. So that was the start of that.

And I told [Judas Priest guitarists] Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing specifically after that, “I’ve seen this band. They’re absolutely fucking amazing and they are going to be huge. They are going to be huge!” And I said, “We should try to get him on the tour.” So, to cut a long story short, we brought them with us on the Priest Painkiller tour of Europe and nobody had a clue who they were. They had no distribution as far as I understood in Europe. So they went out blind, in front of Germans and French and whatever. I used to watch every show, and the first reaction fans gave them was, Who the hell is this? And it was like, Oh my fucking God, what’s going on in front of my eyes? They would just win an audience over in 30, 40 minutes. From playing fresh, new music that nobody had heard before. The communication was instant with that band. So there it was. So by the time we’d done the European tour, and they went back to the States, Cowboys was shooting up the charts. And that was it, they were off and running. They were just launched into the stratosphere on that first release.

You mentioned his British Steel shirt. He used to wear a razorblade necklace in honor of your album. Did he ever tell you about that?
Yeah, and he had it tattooed on his leg as well. He loved that record. It meant everything to him. It was one that he said was very inspiring to him as a guitar player and as a musician in general. That’s great, isn’t it?

Shortly after you toured with them, you worked with him on the song “Light Comes Out of Black,” for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack. How did that come together?
I was away from Priest. Sony were working on the soundtrack. They wanted Sony artists and asked me to write a song. I hadn’t written as a solo writer for years and years and years. But it’s one of those things where you don’t know what you can do until you put your nose to the grindstone. So I wrote “Light Comes Out of Black,” and I was stuck. And I got Dime’s number, and I called him up and I said, “Here’s the deal.” And he goes, “Let’s do it. Just get in the plane and come down to Dallas.” So that’s what I did the next day, went to the studio, laid the track down in a very short space of time. Phil wandered by, said “Oh, how’s it going, ‘metal god’?” So I told him and he said, “You got a spot for me?” I said, “Pfft, here’s the mic.” So Phil joins me on the back end of the song. And it turned out really god. It’s amazing to think that that’s a Pantera song really. It is Pantera with me on lead vocals, and Phil obviously doing the outro sections. But it’s a Pantera song really.

Did you play guitar on a demo and send it to him originally?
Yeah, I put my very primitive…I just don’t have the mental capacity to do what guitar players do.

What was exceptional about working with Dime?
His interpretation of the song. His phrasing, the feel was unique. Let’s face it. You look at rock and roll. You’ve got Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, you’ve got Eddie Van Halen. I’m just going through a list off the top of my head, you obviously got Dimebag. Obviously, Glenn [Tipton, Priest guitarist], [Iron Maiden’s] Adrian Smith and Dave Murray, all of these significant lead heavy-metal, hard-rock guitar players. And Dimebag…I’m mentioning them now because they’re very influential. All of those guitar players have been very influential to not only music but specifically to other guitar players around the world. And there’s no doubt that Dimebag’s impression was just monumental. If you took Dimebag out of the equation, metal would sound totally different right now, without a doubt it would, definitely.

What was the last time you talked to Dime?
I’m pretty certain it was Aladdin in Las Vegas on the Halford Resurrection tour with Iron Maiden. It might have happened maybe once, twice after that.

Where were you when you heard Dime had died?
I was in my house in Phoenix. I think somebody texted me or somebody called me, and my legs went from underneath me. I just hit the deck. This can’t be real. I put the TV on, and it was actually on CNN. I just sat there in disbelief. And then I balled like a baby, like you should do. I just cried my eyes out. And you just don’t know what to do. You’re full of confusion, you’re full of anger, you want to fucking smash things to pieces. You want to play the music; you want to call Phil. All of these things are going on in your head. And obviously, Pat [Lachman] was singing for Damageplan at the time. I wanted to call Pat. Do you call, do you not call? What the fuck’s going on? Just a bazillion things are going around your head at the same time. But it was just terrible. It’s just seems inconceivable. I don’t think, now, that’s never happened to anybody else, has it? I mean, we lost people through self-induced things, like booze and drugs. We’ve lost people like Ronnie [James Dio] with the kinds of illnesses. But to be fucking brutally murdered is just insane. Absolutely insane. John Lennon is the only other person, isn’t it? They’re both in good company, as far as what they mean and how they’ve lived on in our lives. How Dimebag will always live on. That’s the only bit of solace you’ve got. It’s that the work that they made will live forever. That’s the blessing.

Dimebag photos by Lorinda Sullivan

The event took place at the Key Club in Hollywood, California, with openers Kill Devil Hill—the supergroup featuring Dime’s former Pantera bandmate Rex Brown, Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell), Mark Zavon (Ratt, W.A.S.P.), and Jason “Dewey’ Bragg.

With all proceeds from the show going toward the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund, last night was also a tribute to the former Heaven and Hell frontman who passed away, due to stomach cancer, last year. The set list duly reflected this, with songs performed including Pantera’s “Walk” and “Cemetery Gates,” as well as Dio staples like “Heaven and Hell” and “Mob Rules.”

Yesterday marked seven years since Pantera and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell was killed onstage. This week, we are posting remembrances of him by his friends and peers. Today, Rex Brown (pictured left)—Dime’s bandmate in Pantera, who has also played in Down and Kill Devil Hill—remembers the impact Darrell had on his life. The new, 100th issue of

“I miss Dime every day that fuckin’ goes by. Dime was driven from the time he picked up that guitar. I was around when Darrell couldn’t play a barre chord. Then he discovered Ozzy’s first two records and he started practicing 11 hours a day. And he just came out to be this prodigy.

“It never ceased to amaze me what he was capable of. He always had something in his mind going on musically, and if it wasn’t that, it was a prank to entertain himself because he was always entertaining to people.

“He was the best man at my wedding and he was the warmest cat I’ve ever seen to people that he didn’t know. At the same time, I think Dime really needed to take a little break and have a little seclusion from himself and all the craziness. And he would take those times and sober up and get his stuff together and then write all these amazing riffs while he was taking a shit.

“I think about him all the time. I’ll come up with something and go, ‘Man, what would he think of this?’ And I’ll never be able to get an answer. But I’m still close to Rita

Dimebag photo by Lorinda Sullivan

“Today marks the seventh year, which still doesn’t seem like a reality to me,” said Rita Haney, longtime girlfriend of Dime and the person who knew him best, in a statement. “Sometimes I think, Boy, this sure is a long-ass tour, but then I focus back in and realize what I’m working on at this moment. And I just have to smile and be thankful for all the amazing people that surround me—thanks to him. I hope everyone enjoys this event as much as we like bringing it to them. It’s nothing more, nothing less, than ‘about a damn good time!’—one of my favorite Dime pastimes and phrases. There are no words to express my thanks to all the artists who make this event special and give ‘us fans’ a night to remember two truly amazing people and the music they created! I am forever at your beckon call, so c’mon out and experience the evening with us. It’s going to be quite magical!!!”

The Key Club Hollywood will play host to all-star jams featuring the vocal talents of Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell, Disturbed’s Dave Draiman, Velvet Revolver and Loaded’s Duff McKagan, System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, Suicidal Tendencies’ Mike Muir, and Sebastian Bach; the guitar of John 5, Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Machine Head’s Phil Demmel, Ratt’s Warren DeMartini, Ben Harper, In This Moment’s Chris Howorth, and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello; and the rhythms of King’s X’s Doug Pinnick, James LoMenzo, Rob Zombie band member Ginger Fish, Whitesnake’s Brian Tichy and Slipknot’s Joey Jordison, with many more superstars lending their vocal and playing skills to the metal proceedings. The whole shebang being emceed by That Metal Show’s Eddie Trunk and his cohosts, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson. In addition, kicking off the event will be Kill Devil Hill, featuring the legendary Vinny Appice and former Pantera bassist Rex Brown. Also on deck are Dio Disciples, featuring the great Rudy Sarzo and vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens, with a special appearance by Glenn Hughes.

The entire proceeds from the event benefit the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up & Shout Cancer Fund. Additionally, attendees will be able to land some limited-edition merchandise and purchase Monster Energy cocktail drink specials with 100 percent of the proceeds benefitting the cause as well.

Ticket prices are $20 and are on sale now here.

Doors open at 7 P.M.; Show begins at 8 P.M.

For more information go to MonstErenergy.com or Facebook.com/MonsterEnergyMusic.

Dimebag had a reputation for being a prankster. Did he ever get you good with a prank?
He did this one he loved so much that he did it twice. I used to wear these engineer boots all the time. And he got like a hundred dollars worth of pennies, and he sent a roadie to run out in the middle of our show and fill pour the pennies into my engineer boots so that they wedged all around my feet and ankles, and they felt like they weighed a hundred pounds. It was just so heavy I could hardly move. And I’d come off stage, and he’d say, “Junior,” he called me Junior, “did you feel weighed down?” He was just fucking with me.

He did so many things. He used to do this horrible character where he put on this old man mask and a cape. He had this huge plastic dildo thing. And he would whip open the cape, and somehow he filled it with dish liquid or something. And somehow that large projecting thing would just start squirting all over everywhere. And he would do that right in the middle of our show.

He did so many pranks constantly. He did the one million and one Super Balls, I think it was St. Louis. Another time, at the end of the tour, they got a snow machine. And they made it snow on us for like an entire song. And all this fake snow was in our gear and fucking up everything. It would just never stop. It was onstage, offstage. He put a big inflatable shark on top of our bus. Everything had some significance and meaning to him, but I don’t remember what that could’ve meant.

Did you ever get him back?
Oh yeah, there’s a photo in my book. He was always talking about his stomach being “clubbed up “when he felt fat. So I had this back brace, because I’d broken a rib on tour, and I made it Darrell’s “club holder,” and I labeled it and slapped it on him. Another time, I think this was actually in a Pantera video, on our first tour with them, Dimebag always used to wear this Nine Inch Nails shirt. So I got this roadie to go on his bus and get his clothes out for me, and then a hat, and then his guitar. I had a little troll doll that had hot pink hair, it looked just like Darrell’s beard, and I taped it on my chin and kind of just mimicked him for a song or two. That was pretty funny, But yeah, whatever we could do, we were just trying to entertain each other all the time. The other thing was he always said “three” when somebody stuck a finger in their ear. Me and my friend in Tokyo made these huge fingers with the number three on them and we were jabbing him in the ears onstage.

It sounds like you were very close. Did you keep in touch after the tours?
Yeah, he was really like a brother to me. We were so close. I hadn’t talked to him in a little while when I moved to New Orleans. We lost a little touch. He was still out there touring. I was unfortunately at the funeral, and it was just very surreal. It’s still impossible to believe that he’s not with us.

Sean Yseult photo by Marina Chavez // Dimebag Photo by Lorinda Sullivan

Tomorrow marks seven years since Pantera and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell was killed onstage. Over the next few days, we are posting remembrances of him by his friends. Today, Black Label Society frontman and former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde (pictured left) explains Dime’s legacy and what they had in common. The new, 100th issue of

REVOLVER Why was Dimebag important to heavy music?
ZAKK WYLDE When people ask me, “What was Dime’s guitar playing like?” I say, “With Dime, it wasn’t just what he brought to the table, with the blues-y feel and the beyond-fucking-heavy riffs.” When you really think about it, he actually inspired a genre, like how Tony Iommi inspired a genre of music. Not just Dime’s ripping solos and all that bullshit, I’m talking about like the actual style of the fucking music.

What is it about Pantera’s music that signaled something new in metal?
They were head and shoulders above anybody that did that style of music. The rhythms are super tight, the musicianship was fucking slamming. I’m talking production, the musicianship, you know, ’cause it wasn’t just like fucking Pantera was making loud, fucking stupid shit. It was just the combination of the four guys, like Zeppelin or whatever, where the chemistry is perfect together. As as far as Dime goes, aside from sounding influenced by Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen, which you can hear in his solos, you can’t say his riffs were influenced by Black Sabbath or Metallica. Even though Dime would say, “Man, I love those early Metallica recordings,” I would tell him it doesn’t sound like it. He created his own sound.

Before they invented their own style, Pantera were playing glam metal on their early, out-of-print independent records. How did Dime feel about those albums?
When you listen to early Pantera, Dime used to say, “We all gotta start somewhere until you find your identity.” We’d always laugh about the early Pantera records and he goes, “Ah, fuck it, Zakk. I’m not ashamed of those fucking records.” He goes, “What the fuck? I was into that shit at the time.” You look at your high-school picture and you go, “Well, that’s what I was into, man.” I mean, if anything, I look back at that shit and I think it’s fucking awesome, because it’s like fucking hysterical, man.   Like me, when I first started with Ozzy, I had big, puffy hair. I know some dudes that are like, “I ain’t fucking signing a picture of me looking like that.” But I go, “Dude, this is fucking gold, man.” It’s just like what Dime was saying about not being ashamed. We’d always laugh about that shit.

Wylde photo by Clay Patrick McBride // Dimebag photo by Lorinda Sullivan

“We were so close to him. He was one of us. Dimebag was the sixth member of Anthrax, because he played on the last few records. I thought paying tribute to him in song was a great idea.

“I lost a brother 13 years ago. He was murdered. And then to have Dimebag go in such a bad, traumatic way—he’s one of our brothers. Dimebag was like a brother to me.

“We had a lot of good times. That Anthrax-Pantera tour , that was a scary tour. The shows were great. But on that tour, I brought a parasite home with me from Mexico in my stomach. So I couldn’t hold anything in my stomach including liquor. Now imagine being on a Pantera tour without drinking liquor. At one point, it was so bad because everything I put in my body, it was like a funnel–it came right out of my body. So I would have to run from these guys and hide. Because Dime’s chasing me with this Black Tooth . He’d be yelling, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!’ So I’m shooting this thing with a beer right after it.

“Dude, I swear to God, as soon as it went in my system, I was right on the bowl. So I laugh at that now, because I remember Dime laughing at me. As soon as I shot the Black Tooth, he’d go, ‘You’ve gotta go now, right?’ And he’d laugh. It was a great time. Of course it was painful for me, but it was a great thing for Dimebag. Those are the things you remember. It’s a time in your life I’ll never forget. I love them and I miss them. Only the good die young.”

Dimebag photo by Lorinda Sullivan