Here's an interesting tidbit that we didn't know before this week. Longtime Pantera videographer Daryl “Bobby Tongs” Arnberger said in a new interview with Landry.audio, that a month before Dimebag Darrell was tragically murdered, Dime told Daryl that Dime was going to do "whatever it takes" to reunite Pantera.
“The last time I saw [Dimebag] was in November of 2004… I went over to his house. I was just talking to him briefly about everything. He was, like, ‘We’re gonna go out and do this [Damageplan] tour through December, and I’ll see you for Christmas and everything. After that, we’re gonna have some new shit going on. And it’s not gonna be this. Whatever it takes, we’re gonna get these guys back together and do it right.’
“He was saying he was gonna do everything he could. He was pretty much done with what they [Damageplan] were doing at that point. He wanted to move on and go back to Pantera.”
“He didn’t think the other guys [in Damageplan] were as into it. He obviously didn’t feel the magic as much as he did with the other two guys [Phil Anslemo and Rex Brown].”
Sadly, the world never got to see this Pantera reunion as Dime was tragically murdered in December of 2004.
In recent years, there was talk of doing a Pantera tribute with Phil, Rex, Vinny and Zakk Wylde on guitar, but Vinnie Paul was adamant about not doing it. Tragically, Vinnie passed in 2018. Since then, Wylde has said that he would be open to doing tribute shows with Phil and Rex.
Dimebag's longtime girlfriend, Rita Haney, said in a recent interview with Eric Blair, that she would not be opposed to tribute shows, as long as they don't call it a reunion:
"I don't think there could be a Pantera reunion, but I think that his two remaining brothers, Rex and Philip, if they wanted to honor Darrell and Vinnie, as far as where I'm coming from and what I believe Darrell would believe — because he was the most forgiving person that I know — I believe that he would be honored. It's kind of a cliché to say, but he truly would be grateful that he meant that much to them. And I think if they wanna honor their fallen brothers with a tribute, I think that that's great. But as far as trying to say put Pantera back together, Pantera tribute, this and that, no — that's distasteful without those other guys. But I think as a tribute, it would be a really great thing. Because I know, from a fan's point, if I hadn't been able to see them play or hear those songs — the songs, they mean so much to me; I can imagine [they do to] other people as well. I think it's great that they can at least see it performed, and by people that truly love 'em. So, yeah, I think it would be a really cool thing."
