ANTHRAX’s Charlie Benante admits he’s felt the scourge of certain PANTERA fans after joining the semi-reunited band
In a recent interview with Knotfest.com, Benante said that he spoke with EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt prior to playing his first show with PANTERA, due to his time playing guitar in SLAYER, replacing the late Jeff Hanneman.
“I felt Gary adapted so well [to SLAYER],” Benante said. “And more importantly, fans accepted him. Because he was Gary Holt. And it’s fun to replace a member in a band that’s been so established and people grew to love. And there’s a certain style that goes with it. It’s tough on the person coming in, of course, because you have to ask, ‘Am I going to be accepted? Am I hitting these things right? How much of myself do I throw into this?’ So it’s a little bit of a struggle. You either have to go full-on, or you don’t. I think Gary played a lot of Jeff’s stuff like Jeff, but he also had Gary in there too. And for me doing the Vinnie [Paul Abbott, late PANTERA drummer] thing, I’m trying to do it as close to Vinnie as possible, because that is so much of that PANTERA sound. The aggressiveness of those drums, the way they’re tuned: they cut through the rest of the instruments in the band.”
Benante went on to say that he and current PANTERA guitarist Zakk Wylde are resigned to the fact that they can’t please everyone when it comes to filling the shoes of Vinnie Paul and “Dimebag” Darrell.
“There’s one thing I noticed and it still makes me scratch my head,” Benante said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so judged in my life by people. And I don’t understand. People can be really rotten. I don’t think they have the ears or the eyes that most people do, and they’re so judgmental about it. It’s like, man, let it go. You know what I mean? Don’t personally attack me or Zakk for something that you have inside of you. You have a problem with something. And it’s like you gotta find some way that is somewhat…”
He continued: “I’ve been doing this for over 40 years. Don’t fucking judge me. If I if I didn’t do my homework, then fucking judge me. But I did my homework. And if something is off somewhere, is that the thing that you pick on? You don’t pick on the 95 percent of the other stuff where pretty much I tried to stay as accurate as possible?”
Wylde and Benante, along with surviving PANTERA members, vocalist Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, are headlining a number of major festivals across North America and Europe as well as playing some of their own headline concerts. They will also support METALLICA on the extensive “M72” stadium tour in 2023 and 2024.