Growing up in the Dallas/Fort Area in the late 80’s & early 90’s Pantera & specifically the Abbott Brothers Dime & Vinnie behind the band were impossible to ignore. This was obviously waaaay before the internet & YouTube where anyone with a wi-fi connection can blast their music to the masses. This was the time of converting people to fans one person at a time. When my family first moved to Texas from Arkansas in 1987, we hadn’t been there 2 weeks before my 13 year old self met some older dudes who were going to one of their now legendary shows at Savvy’s in Arlington.
All these years later, it’s still unthinkable & yet totally normal that THOSE DUDES went on to be one of the biggest & certainly most influential heavy bands in history. Even more unthinkable is that they are both gone. Dime’s long time girlfriend Rita, still keeps the flame burning with 2 yearly events, the hometown Ride For Dime held in Arlington & Dimebash in & around Los Angeles. This year’s was the biggest yet.
Dimebash 2019 – January 24th – The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
Held at the start of the annual NAMM Convention that brings literally the entire music world together, it’s a great strategy for booking talent for the event as everyone either lives in Southern California or is in town for the convention. And just look at what talent was set for this incredible evening ahead.
First person I see when I walked backstage was my old buddy Oscar, long time Tour Manager for Clutch, who is standing next to a long table where a team of half of dozen people are preparing slow cooked BBQ for the assembled masses backstage only to recognize the head chief as Dave Grohl
Dude was doing it all, including serving the food, that’s him handing a plate to Dug Pinnick from King’s X – Dug is our initial reason as to why we were here. We are in town to film Dug’s performance as well as his time at NAMM & at home for a feature length documentary I’m writing, directing & producing on King’s X.
Dug Pinnick
Other highlights included an unsuspected Sen Dogg from Cypress Hill coming to do lead vocals on Slayer’s Mandatory Suicide with original drummer Dave Lombardo which he KILLED on. Had a great & friendly conversation with Sen after & he told me that he & Lombardo’s parents both knew each other back in Cuba & settled separately in California, only to discover that they lived on the same street & he & Lombardo even attended the same High School together. Amazing what the perception versus reality is – You probably coudln’t assume that CH was so heavily influenced by Slayer but they were immensely.
Sen Dog & Lombardo
A great aspect of an event like this is the unlikely pairings – kinda like the old WWF Survivor Series where you’d see teams do one time fun matches.
Speaking of wrestling a perfect example of that was Chris Jericho (who is in a successful Metal band Fozzy in his own right) playing with Nita Strauss who you also might have seen a few of the higher profile WWE events.
Jericho & Strauss
And of the course the finally was bananas & one for the ages – Now just because their was THIS level of talent up there doesn’t always translate as awesome, it can often result in a train wreck but that was not the case here. Grohl, Anthrax’s Scott Ian & Charlie Benante, Pantera’s Rex Brown with Slipknot’s Corey Taylor on vocals delivered an unforgettable set.
Admittedly I’ve never been a fan of Slipknot but I know how beloved Taylor is and I think I finally got it – He KILLED & was such a strong presence onstage.
A great night, one surely that would have been approved by the Abbott Brothers – Till next year.
Pictures –
Roy Turner
