Editor’s Note: Unearth has recently released their album entitled “Extinction(s)” via Century Media Records. At the Vans Warped Tour, Trevor Phipps, vocalist of Unearth, reminisced with us about Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. Madness To Creation remembers Dimebag Darrell on the anniversary of his tragic death. He was gunned down while on stage performing with his band Damageplan 14 years ago to this day in Columbus, Ohio. Fans can find Unearth at the following locations:
Fans can find Unearth at the following locations:
www.facebook.com/officialunearth
www.twitter.com/unearthofficial
www.instagram.com/unearthofficial
Madness To Creation: I love that you have a heart for the world and a heart for humanity. I know that Unearth has to get on the stage later, what are some thoughts on legendary drummer Vinnie Paul who recently passed?
Trevor: Pantera is my favorite band of all time. I’ve seen them 11 times growing up, saw them on every album cycle from the tail end of “Cowboys From Hell”, I was too young to go to the club show in Tennessee when they toured with Exodus, I was 14 or 15 and I was too young, and the club was 16+, it was small, but I saw them on a followup tour that they did direct support for Skid Row, “Vulgar Display Of Power” wasn’t out yet, it was pretty amazing, and I got a Diamond Darrell pick before he turned into Dimebag, and a bunch of times after I was always in the pit and caught a bunch of Dimebag Darrell picks, and fast forward to 2004, and we got on a seven week tour with Damageplan, it was Damageplan, Hatebreed, Unearth, Drowning Pool, so we got to party with those guys for seven weeks, and they came as advertised, they were the nicest dudes you could meet. They treated us as the best of friends. We were just an up and coming band and they treated us as peers, to this day it was the coolest tour that we have ever done, they were my idols growing up, and they taught us how to tour, and they taught us to party and to be professional, they would drink a few before they went on, but afterwards, they partied. The next day, they would rehydrate have the Pedialyte, the water and the Gatorade, in order to stay pro for the next day, and they would always treat the other bands and the crew with respect. They were like our touring uncles or something, it was the coolest thing from these guys. We did a Headbanger’s Ball appearance with them, we rolled dice on the air, and I won, I got trip 2’s, it was sick! We stayed in contact with Dime until he died, he called me three days before he was shot and killed, that was the most devastating thing I had to deal with in this job, he was my idol, and became a friend and now was murdered on stage at clubs that we would play at all of the time, it just threw all of us for a huge loop, and then Vinnie Paul died of a heart attack, and that’s tragic as well. Saw him a couple of years ago when we had an off day in Winnipeg, and we saw him, awesome guy, good drummer, just that legendary Pantera style of play, that you still hear today.
Madness To Creation: I’ve had yet to hear anything bad about Vinnie.
Trevor: I’ve never heard anything bad about Vinnie or Dime, it’s just knowing them on the level that we did, and I can’t imagine anyone ever having anything bad to say about them, and on that tour we played in Vegas, and I was also in New York, New York at a casino and Dime handed me a $100 bill and said “triple it motherf*****”, out of nowhere, and I was like “thanks man” and when we would roll dice, and he would say let’s roll for $100, and I’m like, “I don’t have $100”, and he would hand me a $100 bill and say “I just want to see you sweat”, all kinds of good memories with them, it was fun.
On Monday, April 1st, 2019, Unearth will be sharing the stage with Darkest Hour at Arena Wien in Wien, Austria. For tickets and further information, click here.
Check out the music video for “One With The Sun” below.
ICYMI: Check out our interview with Trevor Phipps of Unearth at Vans Warped Tour here.
