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Hellyeah’s Vinnie Paul Talks Download, Drinking And Dimebag

Vinnie Paul is kickin' it Southern-style with 'Stampede'

Former Pantera and Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul has spoken of his excitement about the release of Hellyeah's new album 'Stampede', as well as the band's upcoming Download appearance.

"After touring the first record we realised the Southern aspect was an important element of our sound, and we looked at bands like Skynyrd and ZZ Top and their influence crept in a little more," the drummer said.

"We all understand what Hellyeah’s about. We don’t have to sit down and discuss it; if we’re writing music and something isn’t right then we know it right away. There’s a great chemistry that runs in this band. There’s no tensions – we want to be successful and take it to the biggest level possible but at the same time we’re doing it for the right reasons.

"We never let the party get in the way of the music, though. We’re not a band who plays loaded – we wait until after the show. We don’t let our performance suffer. The show is Number One. You spend 22 hours a day waiting for that hour, and the last thing you want to do is give a shitty performance. One thing I really love about this band is we turn it on – everyone gives it everything they’ve got. I’ve never seen Chad have a bad show, he’s probably one of the most consistent singers I’ve ever been with. He’s solid as a rock, and if the crowd isn’t giving it back to him then he’s going to let them know."

Of the band's upcoming appearance at Download, Paul said: "We want to take this band internationally, so we wanted to kick the second record off in England by playing a lot of it at the festival. It’s a very broad, diverse record that’s super-groove-orientated."

The inspiration to focus so fully on Hellyeah, Paul revealed, was a decision he took after much soul-searching. After his brother Dimebag Darrell was brutally murdered onstage in 2004 during a Damageplan show, the drummer was unsure whether he'd ever take the stage again.

"I didn’t know if I would ever be involved in playing music again after what happened to my brother. That was a complete loss – I’d done everything in my life with him, and when these dudes called me up and said I might be the right drummer I was very hesitant. We met and had a barbecue and a drink and had a lot of the same feelings… and the next day we wrote our first song together. We then wrote seven songs in the first eight days together. It felt like what Dime wanted me to do, and I have to keep carrying on for both of us.

"From the first note we played, I felt like ‘Man, this is what I’m supposed to be doing’. I was lost for a year and I had no direction, but when I sat back down behind the drums I knew what I was made to do. Thank God these guys were here.

"I think Dime’s very proud of us. When we were writing the first record we did it in his recording studio, and he’s part of this band."