Dimebag Darrell

Categories: 1966 births | 2004 deaths | Pantera | Heavy metal guitarists | Dallasites | Murdered entertainers | Entertainers who died in their 30s

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"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott performing live with Pantera, circa 2000.

"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott (August 20, 1966 – December 9, 2004) (also credited as Diamond Darrell) was the guitarist in the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan.

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Early life

Darrell Lance Abbott was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of country songwriter, Jerry Abbott. His father owned a recording studio in Pantego, Texas, where Darrell had seen many blues guitarists play, inspiring him to take up the instrument himself. At an early age, Abbott began entering statewide guitar competitions and by the age of sixteen had been banned from entering because he had won too often.

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Bands

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Pantera

Main article: Pantera

Pantera, originally known as Pantego, formed in 1981 with Dimebag's brother Vinnie Paul on drums. In the band's early days, Pantera could be considered what would later be referred to (sometimes in a derogatory sense) as glam metal, but the band eventually evolved into "true" metal (a term used by many scene purists) – often classified under the subgenre groove metal, or, by the band's own definition of it "Power Groove." Pantera went on to become one of the most influential and popular heavy metal bands of the 1990s. The band officially quit in 2003 due to conflicts with vocalist Phil Anselmo.

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Damageplan

Main article: Damageplan

After Pantera broke up, Darrell and his brother Vinnie decided to continue their music careers with a new band, Damageplan, with Patrick Lachman (vocals) and Bob Zilla (bass guitar). Their debut album, New Found Power, reached number 37 on the charts in 2004. The band was effectively ended with Dimebag's murder, and Vinnie Paul has not announced any musical projects since his brother's death. In early 2005, Damageplan manager Paul Bassman announced that a second Damageplan album was nearly finished at the time of Dimebag's death but there is no word yet as to whether this material will ever be released to the public.[1]

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Other projects

Sometime between the breakup of Pantera and the formation of Damageplan, the Abbott brothers teamed up with country singer David Allan Coe for a project called "Rebel Meets Rebel."

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Musicianship

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Magazine appearances

Dimebag frequently appeared in guitar magazines, both in advertisements for equipment he endorsed and in readers' polls, where he was often included in the top ten metal guitarist spots. In addition, Dimebag wrote a long-running Guitar World magazine column, which has been compiled in the book Riffer Madness (ISBN 0769291015).

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Equipment

In his early career as a musician, Dimebag used Dean ML guitars (Most notibly the "Dean From Hell" that was cutom painted in a lightning bolt design), but later switched from sponsor when Dean guitars went out of business he switched to Washburn. Dimebag used Washburn guitars for the greater half of his career (1996-2004), endorsing various signature models. Seymour Duncan also has a signature pickup co-designed by Dime, called the Dimebucker. Dimebag proudly endorsed Seymour Duncan and used the pickup in all his guitars in his Damageplan days. As a tribute to the late great Dean Guitars released the new Dime Tribute line of ML guitars. These guitars come in various models, ranging from lower end ones that have a stop tail piece, a bolt-on neck, Basswood Body, and lower quality pickups, to higher end models with Dimebuckers, a Floyd Rose bridge, and set neck construction. Dean has also produced a unique Dime signature-design guitar, called the "Razorback," reminiscent of Dean's classic ML design, but with a more modern twist. During the height of Dimebag's fame, he also worked together with MXR and Dunlop to produce the MXR Dime Distortion and the Dimebag "Crybaby From Hell Wah respectively. Dimebag's rig also included Randall Warheads and cabinets loaded with vintage Celestions, Korg tuners, and more towards the end Krank amplifiers, Rocktron silencers and Digitech Whammy pedals, amongst other gadgets in his arsenal.

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Influences

Among Dimebag's other influences were Eddie Van Halen and Ace Frehley. In addition, he cited many of his contemporaries among his influences, including Slayer's Kerry King, Zakk Wylde, Metallica's James Hetfield, and Helmet's Page Hamilton. He also credits Vito Rulez of Chauncy for convincing him to try Bill Lawrence pickups.


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Abbott's murder

Abbott was murdered while performing on December 8, 2004 at a Damageplan concert at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio. Nathan Gale, 25, of Marysville, entered the nightclub at about 10pm., just after the performance began, after scaling an eight-foot fence and being chased into the building by club security. He entered the left side of the stage and proceeded across to the right where Dimebag was standing. Gale then grabbed Dimebag and shot him twice in the head with a Beretta pistol at point blank range. Dimebag received a total of five to eight gunshot wounds.

Three others were killed in the shooting: attendee Nathan Bray, 23, of Columbus; club employee Erin Halk, 29, of northwest Columbus; and Damageplan security guard Jeff "Mayhem" Thompson, 40, of Texas. The band's drum technician, John Brooks, and tour manager, Chris Paluska, were also injured.

According to police, Gale fired a total of fifteen shots, taking the time to reload once, remaining silent throughout the shooting (although early reports indicated he made disparaging remarks about the breakup of Pantera). When security staff and audience members climbed the stage to try to stop him, Gale fired at them, killing Halk and Thompson and wounding Paluska. Gale then took Brooks hostage, holding him in a headlock position after the technician attempted to wrestle him to the ground. When the hostage moved slightly, Columbus police officer James D. Niggemeyer, who was the first officer on scene, shot and killed Gale with a 12 gauge police issue shotgun in the back of the head.

During the rampage, nurse and audience member Mindy Reece, 28, went to the aid of Abbott. She and another fan administered CPR until paramedics arrived [2]. According to some reports, victim Nathan Bray was also attempting to render assistance when he was killed.

The shootings occurred on the 24th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon, but there is no indication that this was a factor in Gale's actions.

In May 2005, Officer James D. Niggemeyer went before the Franklin County grand jury, which is charged with formally investigating police shootings. As expected, Niggemeyer was cleared and commended on his outstanding police work in the time of a crisis. He was recently accorded a national honor for his service, and is considered a hero by many fans of Dimebag.

Originally, it was thought that Gale acted on rumors of a Pantera breakup, but later investigators have also ruled out the theory that the killing was over a public dispute between Dimebag and Pantera singer Phil Anselmo. [3]

The song "In This River", from the Black Label Society album Mafia was written before Dime's death and later tributed in loving memory to Dimebag by a very close personal friend Zakk Wylde.

Also featured on the newest Nickelback album, All The Right Reasons, is a song titled "Side Of A Bullet" which features lyrics dedicated to Dimebag and an outtaked guitar solo from the Far Beyond Driven era.

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External links

fi:Dimebag Darrell fr:Dimebag Darrell nl:Dimebag_Darrell no:Dimebag Darrell pl:Dimebag Darrell sv:Dimebag Darrell ja:ダイムバッグ・ダレル