From 1996: Dimebag Darrell discusses Pantera's The Great Southern Trendkill.

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Despite its sales, Far Beyond Driven was pretty much ignored by radio and MTV. The chances are high that The Great Southern Trendkill will suffer the same exact fate. Does that bother you?

Fuck no! We've been around and we will be around regardless of that shit. We're an honest band that just does what feels right to us and tries to do our best at everything we do. And hey, if you wanna play our music, then play it. If not, that's fine too. I was never let down by the fact that Vulgar wasn't played a lot on radio or on MTV. I thought we made some pretty good videos last time out, but fuck, MTV ain't gonna make or break Pantera.

Has the success of your previous albums put extra pressure on you?

It depends. It kinda comes and goes. To an extent it's almost up to me how much pressure I feel because I'm the type of dude that always expects more from myself all the time, anyway. I have a certain idea in my head of where this band is heading and for me to be satisfied I have to hit that mark. I guess that's where the real pressure is. It comes from within. So, it's up to me to screw my head on and get serious with myself and my music, because no one else is gonna do it for me. No one outside of this band is gonna come up with those bad-assed riffs, no one else is gonna do shit for us from a musical standpoint.

Do you pay much attention to what is going on around you in the Nineties rock world?

Yes and no. I'm aware of what's going on around us musically, but it doesn't really concern me because it ain't gonna affect us in any way, shape or form. I'm into what I do and I know what's right. I don't know how to put it any other way, except to say that I feel confident that we can hold our own and move forward.

A lot of so-called "experts" have declared metal dead. As you've often described your music as metal, I take it you don't agree.

Fuck no, man, it's definitely not dead, at least not for us. I know for a fact we can sell out a concert anywhere in the world right now and I know that we have diehard fans that know we ain't gonna let 'em down. Unfortunately, metal as a whole definitely ain't on top right now. I can remember when heavy metal was flamed up and boiling but it just comes down to the fact that there's not a bunch of bands putting out good shit right now. It's been a long time since something new has come out and blown me the fuck away, that's for sure.

What was the last thing you heard that blew you away?

Old or new, man? I keep on going back to my old records and getting a nut on. Like Go For What You Know by Pat Travers -- good God, that's the shit right there! That's what I'm into. A band that can get up and do it live. Pat Travers and Pat Thrall [the two guitarists on the live LP] complement each other perfectly on that album. And, of course, I still jam on my old Judas Priest and Van Halen records. I'm trying to think of the most recent thing that beat me down in the dirt. It was probably Master of Puppets.

And that LP is a good ten years old now!

Like I said man, there's just not enough ass-kickers out there tearing it up right now! But metal -- or whatever the hell you wanna call it -- ain't all used up. I don't know why everybody thinks they need to make their shit sound like somebody else's and follow what's currently considered cool. Try playing with some new ideas, dude. Go buy a new pedal or one of my guitars or something. [laughs] Get a new attitude on and get inspired. Fuck what's "hip," brother -- trendkill!

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