Charlie Benante is feeling confident about his position in the newly-reformed Pantera lineup. In just a couple days (December 2nd), the groove-metal pioneers — now comprised of core members Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown joined by longtime friends Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society) and Benante (Anthrax) — will take the stage for the first time in over 20 years at Mexico's Hell & Heaven Metal Fest, kicking off an increasingly busy tour schedule that's set to traverse South America this winter, and eventually hit Europe and the United States later in 2023.
Naturally, Benante, who's filling the place of founding drummer Vinnie Paul behind Pantera's kit, has big shoes to fill, but in a new interview with Bravewords, he didn't appear shaken by the high-pressure opportunity. "I wouldn't want to see anybody else up there but me doing this," the drummer confidently commented.
"I've always talked to Philip throughout the years… then Phil called me up, and we just talked on the phone," Benante said of his eagerness to play with Pantera. "When he said it to me, I said, 'Absolutely!' I was ready to do it with them because, as I explained it to him, this was more emotional to me than anything else. It wasn't about financial gain, or anything like that. I know what those guys meant to me; especially [Dimebag] Darrell, I was very close with him. And the same with Vinnie too. But I would talk to Darrell a lot.
"The one thing that made me feel good about Philip and Rex, they said, 'There's no one else that we wanted to do this but you.' Not just because of my ability, it goes back to my friendship with these guys throughout the years. That hit me on an emotional level. I wouldn't want to see anybody else up there but me doing this.
"After I got off the phone with Philip, I was like, that's it. I'm getting my shit together and I'm doing this the right way. And that's exactly how I approached it."
That said, Benante didn't try to pretend that he isn't nervous for the first time he takes the stage with Pantera.
"Hell yeah. I'm a nervous wreck dude," he said. "I may — not I may, I will — have a few shots before I go up there, just to fucking loosen up and take that edge off. I know those two are going to be watching me. So, I want this to go so great. I just want to be in the moment."
Elsewhere in the interview, Benante revealed what the atmosphere has been like at the Pantera practices, which have been ongoing for several weeks with Anselmo, Brown and Wylde.
"We were down there for over two weeks — Rex, myself and Philip. We got together in September. So, we had more hours just playing, before Zakk got there. We were pretty much in sync with each other. By the time that second week came around, we were grooving.
"People who were there, there's some old Pantera crew members that are coming out with us. To hear them say things to me like, 'Dude, I close my eyes, and it sounds like Vince is up there.' That was my goal. When someone said that to me… that's what I wanted to hear. That made me feel really good."
