In a new interview with Loudwire, Rex Brown recalled how he found out about the passing of his onetime PANTERA bandmate Vinnie Paul Abbott last June. "It was just another phone call of, 'Are you sitting down?' And I'm, like, 'Oh my god. Who is it now?' Never in a million years would I have thought it would be Vinnie. It's just wild, and it's insane." The 54-year-old bassist, who lost another PANTERA bandmate, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, 14 years earlier, continued: "I had to reflect on it and it's something you have to process. I learned the first time with Dime, and it took me years in therapy to get the fuck over. "When those tragedies hit, you just pull your boots up as much as you can and you go," he said. Brown looked back fondly on his time in the legendary metal band. "We just had a hell of a rhythm section, and it hasn't been touched since," he said. "I don't want to sound egotistical about it, but we were pretty fucking tight, dude… even at our sloppiest [Laughs] … even at our drunkest [Laughs]." He added: "I played along with Vinnie and to Vinnie, and Vinnie would play off of Dime. It was very integrated, and we knew exactly where each other were going to go. I think all those years we played in the clubs just made us a tighter band. That's why we had that big sound with the guitar, and everything just had its place. "Vinnie was just an incredible drummer and I really miss the camaraderie of years past," he said. Rex went on to say that he is proud of PANTERA's legacy. "We get new fans daily," he said. "Somebody who hasn't heard of PANTERA may hear of it from their dad or from other kids. I may go to the mall like once a year to get something, and I'll see brand new PANTERA shirts all over the fucking mall. Kids are still wearing them. It's everywhere. It's a weird phenomenon that I've been incredibly blessed with. We did something right and we made a mark somewhere and it still stands the test of time and is something to be proud of." Vinnie Paul's death came about a year after he slammed Rex's memoir as "a bunch of mythology." In Brown's 2013 book, "Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story Of Pantera", the former PANTERA bassist referred to Vinnie as "a strange person" who "was always all about the 'party, party, party'" but "only got laid maybe one out of ten times." Brown defended his comments about Vinnie Paul during an interview with the "Energize With Lonn Friend" podcast. "I didn't go out of my way to maliciously hurt any individual," he said. "But at the same time, if you're gonna tell the truth, by God, you'd better be on the skinny… If [you're] not [being completely truthful in your memoir], I think it's all a bunch of charade… And why would you wanna do that?" Rex's debut solo album, "Smoke On This…", was released in July 2017 via Entertainment One (eOne). The effort marked the first time in Brown's career where he served as both lead vocalist and guitarist in a band. A follow-up LP is tentatively due later this year.
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