Polyphia paid tribute to Dimebag Darrell on what would have been his 56th birthday with a rousing cover of Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell classic, Domination, at their recent show in Boise, Idaho.
After tearing through both staples and newer cuts alike on August 20 at the Knitting Factory – including Champagne, Playing God and Neurotica – the Texas prog instrumentalists delighted fans with an encore, starting with New Levels New Devils banger G.O.A.T., followed by an impromptu rendition of the Cowboys From Hell classic.
Seconds after wrapping up G.O.A.T. – and without announcing it to the crowd – Tim Henson, Scott LePage, Clay Gober and Clay Aeschliman launched into Domination’s outro breakdown, before Henson channeled the spirit of the late Pantera legend with its extended alternate picked solo.
It’s unclear at this stage whether Domination will make its way onto Pantera’s setlist when Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown perform – with the help of Zakk Wylde and Anthrax’s Charlie Benante – on a 2023 reunion tour.
Back in July, Zakk Wylde said he was “beyond honored” to be joining the reunion dates.
“When Vinnie was still alive, when the fellas were all talking about doing it, I just always told them, ‘Guys, of course I would. If you asked me, why would I not do it?’ I’m gonna honor Dime,” he told Danny Wimmer Presents.
“It’d be like Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell asking Eric Clapton if he would go out and honor Jimi [Hendrix], and Eric playing Jimi’s stuff and playing Jimi’s songs, and they are going out as the Jimi Hendrix Celebration – and then they honor his buddy and he is going to play his songs.”
In an interview in the new issue of Total Guitar, Tim Henson detailed his approach to crafting his boundary-pushing guitar lines on Polyphia’s upcoming album, Remember That You Will Die.
“I’ve been a firm believer, even before I picked this [Ibanez Talman] up, that when you compose something, it should sound good and complete in its most bare state,” he explains. “Once it sounds good by itself, you can add whatever you want in post-production, or move it to a guitar with a whammy bar. If it sounds good on [a nylon-string], it’s most likely going to sound good on anything.”
He adds that his already-enviable playing has been pushed further since he used a nylon-string acoustic guitar on the album’s first single, Playing God.
“You have to be a bit more accurate,” he says. “The meat of your finger has to land exactly where it’s supposed to and stay very stable. You end up mainly vibratoing like a bass player where you’re shifting between two frets. Bending the string doesn’t really give the same tonality.”
