Steepin' Out By Dan Lorenzo Photo credit by Estevam Romera   If you know anything about heavy music you don’t need an intro to a living legend: Phil Anselmo. Phil was the frontman for Pantera. He now fronts the equally amazing Down, but he is currently promoting his first ever solo CD Walk Through Exits Only. Phil has battled with heroin and was declared dead three times. Now clean, Phil told me he saw no bright lights or visions during his death, “There was a strange comfort so to speak.” Dan Lorenzo: How do you feel about doing so many interviews and the press in general these days? Phil Anselmo: Oh man, you know… it’s part of the f’ing game, it’s part of the rules. It’s no big deal to me at all. I enjoy talking to people. Most people on your level release solo albums with dozens of guest stars. Did you consider going that route? Not even at all. I’ve already done the “supergroup” thing with Down and I guess a few other bands and Down is still going on, it’s still a viable band so honestly, for me to do a solo record I thought it was important to have lesser known musicians, even unknown musicians because eventually this gives them more exposure. It introduces them to the public and basically gives them a leg up because these guys that I picked are beasts in their own way man. I’ve know Marzi the guitar player for… gosh, since the late 80s. This is something that he and I have always wanted to do. Finally it’s come to fruition. He deserves it, he’s a bad ass guitar player, been around for a long time. The kid from War Beast who plays drums, Jose is an incredible player. He’s 23 years old right now, he was like 19 when he actually began working with me. I think in the years to come he’s going to be known as one of the better heavy metal drummers around. To me it’s just common sense to use lesser known musicians, to help them out. You’ve always supported the underground. God damn yes! Your solo CD is brutal from beginning to end. Did you have any thoughts about making it more diverse or more radio accessible? Not even at all. No. The radio popularity contests and all that shit, I don’t give one F about at all. This was absolutely a record that I wanted to make. An extreme album in today’s climate where it doesn’t have to fall under death metal or black metal or any of those sub-genres. I wanted it to be a record that’s very hard to slide into a particular slot. To call it heavy metal, that’s fair enough, but to me I wanted to do an extreme record that was just as extreme as anything else but without, I guess the preconceived notions especially lyrically and topically, like when you listen to death metal or black metal you already kind of have a general idea where the lyrics are going to go. I wanted to sing about real things. Real things in my life. Listening to you speak makes me happy. This is the fi rst time I’ve spoken to you since you got straight. How did you fi nally get clean? It takes a lot of distancing yourself from the source of the problem. Also nipping the source of the problem in the bud. I was going through tremendous amounts of… physical pain and I addressed that by having major back surgery and that’s no walk in the park. I think once you embrace the physical rehabilitation part of it, and you really really buy into the program… only good things can come of it. Once the body feels better then the mind feels better- if that makes any sense. Of course. That goes hand in hand. Then there’s other factors like divorce which was defi nitely needed because I needed to get away from that particular person to move on. Then I also have a fantastic new woman… not really “new”, we’ve been together eleven f’ing years now. Her support is unending and undying and unwavering. To have this positive infl uence in my life is such a great thing. It’s up to the individual. If you put in the work and the time and you really want your life back… then it’s there to be had. It doesn’t matter what level of life you’re on or where you live or what you do. You can f’ing do it if you put your mind to it. You mentioned “get with the program”. Is that a reference to a 12 Step program or did you do it on your own? No, I actually did it on my own, but I can’t say that that’s the right way for everybody. I did on my own because I NEEDED it. Put it this way… when I look back at old interviews and I’m slurring words and I’m about to fall asleep in front of the f’ing camera it’s embarrassing. It sucked. And it STILL sucks. I use that shit as a beacon of sorts of where NOT to ever go again in my life. I felt like I was short changing myself, therefore short changing anyone that was ever a fan of my music. It’s bullshit. There’s always a better way. With a clear mind you can get more work done, you can get more personal work done and then you can extend yourself to other people in a more rational way. Even ifit’s a dinner date or producing a record. Every walk of life that you take you can at least be a reliable human being which is a very tough thing to come by in a lot of cases. I pride myself on being THAT guy. The words “reliable” and “musician” don’t usually go together, right? Exactly! You catch yourself when you’re f’d up… I used to call it “The heroin calendar”… people would ask me, “Hey Phil, can you do this?” and the fi rst answer out of my mouth is “yes” because it’s my character to say yes, but in all reality when you’re all f’d up on heroin or methadone or anything that’s going to discombobulate the brain… there’s no way you can see that promise through 100% if at all. To me that guy who could drop out at any second of an obligation, to me that f’in fl aky man and I am NO f’ing fl ake hence the reason why I really wanted to gain control of my life again. When you tell me you’re embarrassed of old interview footage… what are your biggest regrets in life or are you a man with no regrets? You know… I wouldn’t say no regrets, but I would say that I’m very very very human. I am NOT the first to make a drug mistake. I’m not the fi rst to be a part of a very popular band like Pantera and had it break up. I am absolutely not the fi rst so I realize this and immediately that takes a little bit of pressure off of myself BUT as far as regrets go, I think the biggest mistake ANY band can make and this goes for every band I’ve been in, is lack of communication. The more a band is able to sit down and discuss problems or ideas that might not sit well with others or in general, the ability to talk to one another as people for the better of the cause I think that’s a MASSIVE massive lesson learned for me on my part. I have made that mistake in the past where I wouldn’t answer the phone and it wasn’t just for my band… it was for anyone. I guess the easiest way to put it is drugs, alcohol, and booze, all that shit especially when you’re abusing the living F out of it, it erodes the will so to speak. It erodes willpower and eventually you just don’t even want to hear anything. You just want to fade into oblivion. To me that’s a cop out. I regret only that lack of communication because being in a band is very much like being married and if you can’t speak to your partner and let them know your truest deepest feeling on ALL levels then there’s a big barrier there. As the years go on that barrier gets bigger and bigger till it becomes this thing called a f’ing problem. Any young bands out there just take my word for it. If you’ve got a problem on your mind speak it out, talk it out. It’s worth it. On the back of Rex Brown’s new book he writes about how he still has dreams and nightmares about Pantera. Do you dream about Pantera? Truthfully for me… every time I have a Pantera dream it’s something good actually. I don’t have nightmares about Pantera. My memories are of the early days, the good days. Believe it or not, my dreams revolve around before we were signed to a big major label deal and we were still going to gigs in the old blue van and every-body’s cracking jokes. Really amazing, you wake up and you feel like, “Where did that go?” . That’s what my dreams consist of. You mentioned “get with the program”. Is that a reference to a 12 Step program or did you do it on your own? No, I actually did it on my own, but I can’t say that that’s the right way for everybody. I did on my own because I NEEDED it. Put it this way… when I look back at old interviews and I’m slurring words and I’m about to fall asleep in front of the f’ing camera it’s embarrassing. It sucked. And it STILL sucks. I use that shit as a beacon of sorts of where NOT to ever go again in my life. I felt like I was short changing myself, therefore short changing anyone that was ever a fan of my music. It’s bullshit. There’s always a better way. With a clear mind you can get more work done, you can get more personal work done and then you can extend yourself to other people in a more rational way. Even ifit’s a dinner date or producing a record. Every walk of life that you take you can at least be a reliable human being which is a very tough thing to come by in a lot of cases. I pride myself on being THAT guy. The words “reliable” and “musician” don’t usually go together, right? Exactly! You catch yourself when you’re f’d up… I used to call it “The heroin calendar”… people would ask me, “Hey Phil, can you do this?” and the fi rst answer out of my mouth is “yes” because it’s my character to say yes, but in all reality when you’re all f’d up on heroin or methadone or anything that’s going to discombobulate the brain… there’s no way you can see that promise through 100% if at all. To me that guy who could drop out at any second of an obligation, to me that f’in fl aky man and I am NO f’ing fl ake hence the reason why I really wanted to gain control of my life again. When you tell me you’re embarrassed of old interview footage… what are your biggest regrets in life or are you a man with no regrets? You know… I wouldn’t say no regrets, but I would say that I’m very very very human. I am NOT the first to make a drug mistake. I’m not the fi rst to be a part of a very popular band like Pantera and had it break up. I am absolutely not the fi rst so I realize this and immediately that takes a little bit of pressure off of myself BUT as far as regrets go, I think the biggest mistake ANY band can make and this goes for every band I’ve been in, is lack of communication. The more a band is able to sit down and discuss problems or ideas that might not sit well with others or in general, the ability to talk to one another as people for the better of the cause I think that’s a MASSIVE massive lesson learned for me on my part. I have made that mistake in the past where I wouldn’t answer the phone and it wasn’t just for my band… it was for anyone. I guess the easiest way to put it is drugs, alcohol, and booze, all that shit especially when you’re abusing the living F out of it, it erodes the will so to speak. It erodes willpower and eventually you just don’t even want to hear anything. You just want to fade into oblivion. To me that’s a cop out. I regret only that lack of communication because being in a band is very much like being married and if you can’t speak to your partner and let them know your truest deepest feeling on ALL levels then there’s a big barrier there. As the years go on that barrier gets bigger and bigger till it becomes this thing called a f’ing problem. Any young bands out there just take my word for it. If you’ve got a problem on your mind speak it out, talk it out. It’s worth it. On the back of Rex Brown’s new book he writes about how he still has dreams and nightmares about Pantera. Do you dream about Pantera? Truthfully for me… every time I have a Pantera dream it’s something good actually. I don’t have nightmares about Pantera. My memories are of the early days, the good days. Believe it or not, my dreams revolve around before we were signed to a big major label deal and we were still going to gigs in the old blue van and every-body’s cracking jokes. Really amazing, you wake up and you feel like, “Where did that go?” . That’s what my dreams consist of.