Pantera Anniversary Edition

Pantera's 'Far Beyond Driven: 20th Anniversary Edition' is set to arrive on our metal laps on March 25. A special two-disc version that will include a newly remastered version of the album, along with a live performance from the 1994 Monsters Of Rock festival.
Long considered by some to be their greatest (and admittedly it does have a few classic tunes), I always preferred 'Great Southern Trendkill' myself but anything which keeps the band alive in fans memories is fine by me. Don't forget that two decades is a long time and there will be kids out there who won't be aware of the mighty Pantera (shocking to us older Metalheads I know).

Happy Birthday Dime!

Happy birthday Dime!! i will raise more than a few glasses in your honour tonight while kicking out the awesome music you helped create.

National Grilled Cheese Day

The LSD for dreams

Its National Grilled cheese Day today (is there a special day for everything?) so in its honour heres a pic of a drunken dish I knocked up a few nights ago. Cheese, onion, toast. A Holy trinity in the food world much like fish, mashed potatoes, parsley sauce. Grilled cheese is a particular favourite of this headbanger because (A) it reminds me of childhood, and (B) you can do quite a bit with it such as adding Worcester Sauce, baked beans, etc. I can (and do) go through a large sized hunk of cheese (say 350g) in a couple of days. Is that bad? Dont be silly, how can anything that tastes so good in a hundred different ways be bad? Preposterous idea!
And on the metal side of things, if you pop over to iTunes right now, you can download a 'forgotten' track off Pantera's awesome Vulgar Display Of Power album. Its called 'Piss' and a fine track it is too (check it out below). I bought my first iPhone yesterday so 'Piss' has become my first ever iTune purchase. Metal (and cheese) Forever!

P.S. did you know the Welsh word for cheese is caws? You do now!

Pantera in Newport

My ticket

The Pantera concert I saw at the Newport Center way back in September 1994 was one of the best moshing events ive been to. And ive been to quite a few! The metal world had recently been stunned by Kurt Cobain's suicide a few months earlier and this gig provided for much needed relief after the sad news.
The band had just released their Far Beyond Driven album, which was getting a LOT of play on my sound system at the time. Hey theres no faulting it, its a great f**king heavy record! And I was stoked to see them touring it. I would'nt spend a night in Newport for any old band. Laughs.
A cool thing I remember about this gig is while we were having a few drinks outside the venue, Pantera's head roadie Jeff 'Mayhem' Thompson came out and joined us Welsh headbangers for a bit. It added to what was a fantasic bloody night of good tunes and shredding guitar licks from Dimebag Darrell. I can't f**king believe these two awesome dudes are no longer with us. Such a b@stard shame.
And know this; to this very day I count myself not just lucky but BLESSED to have gotten to hear Dime play live. One of the best guitarists EVER!
Everyone had a blast in this gig, and I must have sweated the alcohol clean out of my system in the pits. (Don't worry, I put it all back in at the bar later). Ive seen some heavy bands in the Newport Center, including a brutal gig from Suicidal Tendancies, but I can safely say the Pantera guys DELIVERED the goods to Wales. F**king epic concert!

Pantera were supported by Downset.