ZAKK WYLDE Is Open To A PANTERA Live Album, Says There Have Been No Discussions About Writing New Music

In a recent interview with Brazilian music journalist Igor Miranda, guitarist Zakk Wylde discussed the potential future endeavors of Pantera’s current lineup. Addressing Charlie Benante‘s remarks about a possible live album, Wylde, emphasized a relaxed approach: “Yeah, whatever the fellas wanna do, we knock it out. Let’s be real — it’s a live album every night. People with their phones and everything are recording it anyway, so it doesn’t matter to me. You go up there and you play to win every night.”

Obviously, the real elephant in the room is the possibility of this line-up writing new material. However, Wylde clarified that there have been no discussions about writing new songs. Instead, the focus remains on refining their live performances and integrating new tracks into their sets, such as the addition of “Floods” in recent rehearsals.

“No, we haven’t sat and talked about, like, ‘Oh, guys, let’s get together and write songs,’ or whatnot; there hasn’t been anything like that. I mean, the only discussions we’ll have are just what other new songs we wanna put in the setlist. Like when we put ‘Floods’ in and then we got together at rehearsals, got together over at Phil‘s house, we just rehearsed everything. But no, nothing like… We haven’t been sitting around writing riffs and things like that.”

When asked about the nature of their collaboration and whether it resembles a tribute, Wylde offered a different perspective: “Yeah, that’s what I feel it is. It’s not even a tribute. It’s more just a Pantera celebration. Like whenever we go out and do the ‘Experience Hendrix‘  tours, which I always have a blast when I do, it’s all of us going out and celebrating Jimi’s greatness. To me, this is a Pantera celebration. We’re celebrating all the mountains that Pantera conquered. So that’s what this is.”

Touching upon his approach to playing the late Dimebag Darrell‘s guitar parts – which he doesn’t reproduce note by note – Wylde expressed reverence for each guitarist’s distinctive tone, drawing a comparison with Randy Rhoads and expressing his admiration for Dime.

 “Oh, yeah, even if Dime was up there playing the solo to ‘No More Tears’ or ‘Mama I’m Coming Home’, it’s gonna sound like Dime playing the solo to ‘No More Tears’. ‘Cause he has his touch and his feels. Like when Randy Rhoads was playing Black Sabbath songs, it sounded like Randy Rhoads playing Black Sabbath songs. You listen to the Tribute album from Ozzy Osbourne, when Saint Rhoads was playing ‘Iron Man’ and he was playing ‘Paranoid’ and ‘Children Of The Grave’, it sounds like Randy playing Black Sabbath songs. It’s Randy‘s guitar tone and Randy‘s touch and Randy‘s playing. But that’s what makes it cool. Yeah, to me, it’s just common sense. Dime just sounds like Dime no matter what he’s playing.”