In a revealing new interview with Rexx Ruger for the Pod Scum podcast, Terry Glaze, the original voice of Pantera, reflected on his time with the band before Philip Anselmo joined. Glaze fronted Pantera during their early 1980s “party metal” era, recording the first three albums: Metal Magic (1983), Projects in the Jungle (1984), and I Am the Night (1985). Following his departure, he formed Lord Tracy and more recently, Axe Dragger (which is awesome).
Asked about looking back on those early albums, Glaze said: “Well, when you first start off, of course everybody’s gonna look back at their first efforts and go, ‘It’s not as good as my more mature efforts.’ But I think if you listen to that stuff, Darrell‘s guitar sounds amazing from day one, and especially by the second album, Projects, he’s fully formed.
“And so if you can look back past my glam singing and listen to the guitars, the rhythms, they sound very consistent to everything they ever did. Darrell‘s just a badass. So I’m very proud and really fortunate to be just a tiny part of the history of that whole thing. So, I think I would encourage everybody to go back and look up Darrell‘s playing, ’cause it’s just amazing.”
At this point, I’d like to make a personal plea to Pantera – just reissue the old shit. Even if it’s a box set like Black Sabbath did, people would be into this. Anyway.
Reflecting on the Abbott brothers themselves, Glaze shared: “I always remember Vinnie Paul and the rest of those guys, they were kind of like wrestlers – 24-7, and they never came outta character. They were just big, lovable rock and roll animals. So it was a lot of fun.”
On Dimebag Darrell specifically, he said: “Dime was a special little person. And he terrorized the crew, and no one ever got him back. I was always shocked that everybody loved Dime so much that he did some of the most crazy stuff to all the road crew and no one ever touched him.
“I don’t really have any of those stories that I wanna share out on a microphone, but every night was an adventure with Darrell. And you’re out there playing and you’re learning how to rock and you’re learning how to play live and you look to your left and you have a guitar player who can play literally anything.
“He was destroying [Eddie] Van Halen before YouTube. He was destroying Randy Rhoads before YouTube, and then adding his own flavor. How lucky was I that the first real band I ever get in, it’s in a band with Darrell and Vince? It was just an amazing opportunity and I don’t take it for granted.”
Glaze also recounted staying in touch with the Abbotts after leaving Pantera: “For sure. Before Vulgar [Display Of Power] came out [in 1992], Darrell came to see Lord Tracy play in Dallas. And after the show, we went out in his limo and he played me a cassette, the rough mixes of Vulgar.
“And he was sitting there air guitaring to ‘Mouth For War’. And he was looking at me just smiling. He goes, ‘Van Halen.’ And I was, like, ‘Yes.’ And then the next tour, when they came to California, I went out with them for a couple days with them and saw ’em, and it was incredible.”
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