Pedicures, Indoor Fireworks, Bipolar Handymen: The Wild Life of Dimebag Darrell | Page 2 | Revolver

Pedicures, Indoor Fireworks, Bipolar Handymen: The Wild Life of Dimebag Darrell

Late Pantera guitarist's girlfriend Rita Haney recounts craziest moments from 'Dimevision' home videos
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Dimebag Darrell (right) and Rita Haney during Pantera's 'Vulgar Display of Power' tour, Philadelphia, 1992
Courtesy of Rita Haney

In 2006, former Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul and Rita Haney, the longtime girlfriend of fallen Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, unleashed Dimevision Vol. 1: That's The Fun I Have. Released less than two years after Dime was gunned down onstage in Columbus, Ohio, Dimevision featured hilarious and heart-wrenching video clips of Dime's boozy antics and virtuosic performances both at home and on the road — all culled from hundreds of hours' worth of home video tapes dating back to the mid-Eighties.

Sometime last year, Haney dove into Dime's extensive A/V vaults again to assemble the forthcoming Dimevision Vol. 2: Roll With It Or Get Rolled Over (out via Metal Blade on November 24th, and available for pre-order via PledgeMusic now), in which you can see your favorite Texas shredder lighting fireworks indoors (and tossing them at people), taking his handyman to get a pedicure, and ripping a killer Randy Rhoads tribute onstage with Pantera in 1988. "For this one, there's 43 segments from 43 different tapes," Haney tells Revolver. "But there's still tons of footage on those tapes that we haven't used, and there are tons more tapes that we haven't even catalogued yet."

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Rita Haney and Dimebag Darrell on a Southwest flight to Oklahoma City to see Metallica, 1986
Courtesy of Rita Haney

AT THE BEGINNING OF DIMEVISION VOL. 2, DIME IS TALKING ABOUT THE SHOW JACKASS AND HOW HE FELT HE HAD STARTED THE TREND OF VIDEOTAPING STUNTS WITH THE PANTERA HOME MOVIES. DID HE LIKE JACKASS WHEN IT CAME OUT?
RITA HANEY
Oh, he loved Jackass. And like he says [in the video], they took it to the next level of what he was doing. They were real daredevils who brutally hurt themselves. Dime was a huge Evel Knievel fan when we were growing up, and we used to build all these obstacle courses out of furniture and cushions at my cousin's house when his parents would go out. We were like eight or nine years old. So he loved Jackass — he just wished they'd asked him to be on the show!

It's funny because later on, after Darrell's death, I ran into Johnny Knoxville at this tribute thing for Merle Haggard. Johnny himself told me, "We all watched the Pantera home videos. Where do you think it came from?" So he confirmed it, which I thought was real cool. So we gave him a big thank-you in the credits for taking it to the next level.

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Haney and Dimebag with his 1972 Cadillac in front of his mother's house, 1990
Courtesy of Rita Haney

THERE'S SO MUCH FOOTAGE OF DIME LIGHTING FIREWORKS INDOORS AND THEN TOSSING THEM AT PEOPLE. DID HE EVER ACCIDENTALLY HURT ANYONE?
[Laughs] He was really lucky about not hurting anybody. You might have a small blister pop up on you here and there, but usually not. He maybe slightly burned himself here and there, but nobody lost a finger or an eye. I'm not sure how he always managed to pull that one off.

DID HE EVER THROW FIREWORKS AT YOU?
Oh, yeah! I was no exception. The one exception we did have was the sofa in the den. We'd just got this really killer couch from this place in Fort Worth — it was real bull hide. It was so soft that when you'd sit on it, you'd pet it. It cost ten grand, and we'd never owned a piece of furniture that was that expensive, so I told him throwing fireworks near that couch was off limits. [Laughs] Luckily, it prevailed. But there's a lot of burn marks in that house — on the carpet, on the mattress in the guest room, everywhere. [Laughs]

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Haney and Dimebag tailgating at a Dallas Cowboy game, 1993
Courtesy of Rita Haney

THERE'S SOME GREAT FOOTAGE OF DIME DOING A RANDY RHOADS TRIBUTE DURING A PANTERA SHOW IN DALLAS BACK IN 1988. DID HE TALK ABOUT HIS ADMIRATION FOR RANDY RHOADS MUCH?
Oh, absolutely. That was his third favorite guitar player, after Ace [Frehley] and Edward [Van Halen]. At one point, Pantera were playing three one-hour sets seven nights a week at this club. During the second set, he'd do that solo segment and he'd switch it up — one night it would be a Van Halen tribute; the next night Ace, and of course Randy. That was always one of my favorite parts of the show. He played so well, even back then.

THERE'S ALSO STUDIO FOOTAGE WITH DAVID ALLAN COE THAT MUST DATE BACK TO WHEN HE WAS MAKING THE 2006 REBEL MEETS REBEL ALBUM WITH DIME AND VINNIE PAUL. WERE YOU AROUND MUCH FOR THOSE SESSIONS?
Oh, yeah. I had to do all the cooking. D.A.C. was real big on home cooked meals. He always wanted meatloaf and mashed potatoes. He'd say, "I always know when they're real potatoes and when they're them fake things. I like lumps in my potatoes!" So I always made lumpy mashed potatoes for him, along with my mama's meatloaf.

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Dimebag and Haney at her parents' house on Christmas, 1991
Courtesy of Rita Haney

DID YOU AND DIME GROW UP LISTENING TO DAVID ALLAN COE?
Yeah, he was an incredible songwriter. It goes back to both our parents listening to outlaw country. Then we went and saw him at Billy Bob's [in Fort Worth], which is where they met for the first time. The next time he rolled through, he stayed with us for a few days. Getting to know D.A.C. was incredible, because we learned about all this music that he'd written for other people that you didn't even realize he'd done. Total respect and admiration for D.A.C.

IN ANOTHER SCENE, DIME IS ON A TOUR BUS FILLING A WOMAN'S PLATFORM SHOE WITH CHILI AND VODKA BEFORE PUTTING THE WHOLE THING IN THE MICROWAVE. WHO WAS THE VICTIM OF THAT PRANK?
[Laughs] Damageplan were doing this radio promo tour at the time, so I think it was some chick from a radio station — or maybe the label. I think she was a guest of Wires, the soundman back then. Darrell had this pet peeve about leaving your shoes out on the bus because if you had to get up to take a piss, you'd stumble over them. You can't leave your shit out when you're in a tiny space like that. So when he found shoes out on the bus, watch out.

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Dimebag and Haney with birthday cake she made by hand, 1987
Courtesy of Rita Haney

THERE'S A RECURRING SCENE OF A BELLIGERENT NAKED DUDE WAVING A POOL SKIMMER AROUND AT A PARTY. WHAT'S THE STORY THERE?
That's our friend 23, who used to do our lawn and was kind of our handyman. I think that party was for my nephew's 21st birthday. 23 was bipolar, so he didn't drink or do any drugs because they didn't mesh with his system — and we knew that about him. But I remember seeing him turn up a bottle of liquor at that party and thinking, "Oh no …" [Laughs] So I called his wife to come pick him up, but the next thing you know he stripped down and jumped in the pool. It was the middle of November, so it was freezing — as you can see! [Laughs] He showed up the next week like, "Do I still have a job?" And Darrell goes, "You do, but you're gonna have to sign this release because I'm gonna need this footage somewhere down the line …"

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Haney and Dimebag at Pantera show in Munster, Texas, 1985
Courtesy of Rita Haney

HOW DID HE GET THE NICKNAME 23?
There's a weird movie called Driver 23 about some tweaked-out dude who kinda looked like our friend, who became "Driver 23" and then just "23" for short. 23 even calls himself 23, which you can see when Dime takes him for a pedicure …

I WAS GONNA ASK ABOUT THE PEDICURE. DID DIME DO THAT KIND OF THING REGULARLY?
Dime loved getting pedicures! He'd go with me all the time when we were out on the road. He was kinda particular about hygiene. He'd always scope out if people had dirt in their fingernails — or toenails, if you were wearing flip-flops. It wasn't like he was OCD — he just didn't want you being all dirty and rubbing shit all over him. [Laughs] Fingernails were a big thing with him. If I broke one he'd be like, "You're gonna fix that, right?" [Laughs] But I would recommend any man to go get their toes cleaned up.

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Haney filming Dime onstage in Milwaukee
Courtesy of Rita Haney

DIME'S FRIEND ZAKK WYLDE POPS UP QUITE A BIT IN DIMEVISION 2. HE'S OFTEN MENTIONED AS THE GUY WHO COULD DO THE MOST JUSTICE TO DIME'S PARTS IF THE OTHER MEMBERS OF PANTERA WERE TO EVER GET BACK TOGETHER. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT SCENARIO
I love Z, man. He's helped me through some pretty rough times. But I just don't think anyone who was close to Darrell should have that burden put on them. That's pretty heavy. I don't think those guys would ever come together and call it Pantera, just out of respect, because if you were missing any one of the four of them it would be impossible. But as a fan? Don't get me wrong — I'd love to see those fellas get onstage and bust out a few tunes. Don't call it Pantera, but maybe you get Zakk to do a few tunes, maybe you get Kerry King to do a few. That would be more Dime's style. But I totally respect where Vinnie is coming from. I couldn't imagine having to look over and not see my brother standing there.

Below, watch Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown and Anthrax perform Pantera's "This Love" and Slayer's "Raining Blood" at the 2013 Revolver Golden Gods: