Artist Direct recently spoke to Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo about the band's Far Beyond Driven record and what the writing process was. Anselmo says he was "fucking angry" during the writing process and basically had a lot to say at the time. I love his answer because it seems like not only did he know exactly what he wanted to do with the record, but what the fans wanted out of the record as well. Seriously, while reading his answer try not to feel at least a little angry. It seems like he's still plenty pissed after twenty years, or at least that's super evident in his music, past and present.
"There was a lot of speculation out there about what type of record we were going to make. I definitely had a chip on my fucking shoulder because there was no way in hell I was going to go the fucking commercial route. At the time, I think we were very aware of other heavy metal bands that had found a little bit of fame and taken that "commercial route," so to speak, with their music. I very much instilled that there was no fucking way I was doing that into the other guys. I think they were on board quite a bit. It's like when you have a favorite band, you follow their entire career, you wait anxiously to buy their new record, you open up it, you put it on, and it's a letdown. That's a shitty feeling. We knew what our fan base wanted. We were very focused on delivering what our fan base had come to know and come to know of us. A lot of people like to say we did things in reverse. Meaning, we didn't start out this heavy fucking band and get more commercialized. It was kind of the other way around. That was the main focus there. When I laid my vocals on that fucking record, I wanted people to feel the fucking spit on their faces coming out of the speakers. I meant every fucking second."
Oh man, the passion! The fury! With a record that kicks off with "Strength Beyond Strength" it's kind of hard not to notice there's a lot of anger going on there too, and Anselmo has been pretty public about some of the reasons he was super pissed especially when touring on the record. From a band that was writing cheesier record (let's be honest here) like Power Metal, to the heavier Cowboys from Hell and Vulgar Display of Power, Far Beyond Driven is just like getting hit by a thousand dump trucks filled with smaller dump trucks.
