Oh, man, the first concert I ever went to was Boston and Sammy Hagar, and it was absolutely incredible. I was just blown away by both bands, and, once again, it was my first concert, so that made it super, super special.
— Vinnie Paul
A lot of young drummers have a tendency to really overplay. Sometimes simple is better, and the notes that aren't played between the spaces are bigger than the notes that are.
My life has been one gigantic comic book, and on the other hand, it's been one gigantic book of laurels and amazing accomplishments, and on the other hand, it's been a book full of horror stories. It's a big book.
Probably some of the most impressive drumming I've done is on the 'Far Beyond Driven' record.
If you take the riff from the song 'Cowboys From Hell' and really break it down, it's almost a hillbilly guitar riff: dekka dekka dekka dekka dekka dekka dekka dek.
When I have parties, I have little sandwiches. I always make sure I have two or three fresh habaneros, and I only put them on one or two. There's always someone who comes running around the corner, 'Oh my God! I don't know what was in those, but my mouth is on fire! What do I do?'
It's called the music business. We've all gone into it 'cause we love the music, and a lot of people end up with nothing at the end of the day, after they've done all of this great music, 'cause they never learned any of the business side.
I think the sound that I have had on all the records that I've been a part of have been important and special.
Music is made to be heard, whether you hear it in concert, you hear it on the radio, or you hear it in your car. It's not for two people to sit in a closet and go, 'That's my band, the only band I've ever heard, and I'm the only person that's going to hear it.'
You don't get anything easy when you come from a big band and you go and start another one. You learn real fast that, 'Wow! I went from the top of the mountain to all the way back to the bottom, and I've gotta start over.'
I'm not married.
Vodka is much easier on your system than dark whisky and stuff.
Nobody knows the pain I've been through.
The relationship in Pantera and with Damageplan is the opposite of the traditional rhythm section. It's me and Dime, not the bass, locking in always. Dime's such a strong rhythm player that we just walk in, and we're good to go. We've been playing together forever, and when he goes somewhere, I instinctively know where he's going.
I can appreciate people for being able to go that fast with their left hand, man. But I just can't groove to that beat. I'm sorry. It's just like somebody sweeping the floor or something - tik tik tik tik tik. It just doesn't really jam to me.
As a drummer, I always approach things as, 'I want to play just enough to keep other drummers interested, but not enough to go over the average listener's head.'
Alex Van Halen... I loved his playing because he had so much energy; he made those songs exciting, along with everything else that went with him.
I wouldn't want my funeral to be a sad, sappy thing.
You have a natural groove inside of you, but the more you practise, the more comfortable you will be with your instrument.
That was one thing I wanted to win because, my mom, she didn't really know much else in music, but the Grammys were special to her.
Even though Peter Criss is a pretty simple player, he played with great feel and made the music get up and go.
My dad was a country musician, so we had David Allan Coe and lots of other country music playing around the house all the time.
When I was a little kid, I always wanted to be an oceanographer.
I don't understand why somebody would wanna scratch their name in somebody's tombstone or anything. But fans are rabid, man; they do unheard-of things.
We are firm believers that the first time somebody hears a brand new song from the band, it shouldn't be on a cell phone camera with the distortion or anything where you can't make it out. We want to present it right.
We like to play to a lot of people - that's what it's all about.
It's a dangerous world, man. You've gotta keep your eyes and ears peeled and be on the alert all the time.
I still feel like a 19-year-old kid, man.
The most important thing about drinking on the road is just you've gotta do it in moderation, first of all. You've gotta know your limits.
I'm a veteran of Ozzfest.
My drum parts are a song within the song; that's the way I look at writing my drum parts. They follow patterns, and they're written to interact with the rest of the band. There's quite a bit of thought that goes into it.
That's where I think a lot of these guys today are just, 'I'm the drummer, man. Check it out. Here's my lick. I just learned this new drum lick. I'm just gonna blast all over the place.' It's like, 'Man, you've got to let the song breathe.'
To me, I always felt like drums have to be the support and the driving factor in a song, and there's places where the drummer has to show off and do things and get the spotlight, but not all the time. You've gotta pick and choose. And it's always gotta be about the song. That's really the bottom line.
John Bonham, probably the greatest drummer ever - all of us wanted to play drums like him.
I don't ever have any bass in my monitors at all; I instead like to lock in with the guitar. I know the bass player has got to be locked in with the drummer, but to me, metal music is about the guitar and drums locking in and operating like a machine together. I played with my brother forever, and we were magically locked in together.
I'm a rock drummer. I couldn't sit down and pretend to be a jazz drummer.
I had some proper training, but that was only on snare drum. Learning all the techniques in marching bands and realizing how important it is to play tight set a standard for me for when I did get into a band.
The first time I heard Kiss, I knew that was the type of music I was attracted to.
I love cooking fajitas. I'm from Texas, and it's not a difficult thing to do, but a lot of people burn the chicken.
Jacques Cousteau was my hero.
There are numerous different kinds of drum sounds - some are more ambient and roomy and this, that, and the other, the John Bonham kind of thing. Then there's kinda what I did with Pantera, which was much more attacky, and then with what I did for 'Blood For Blood' on the Hellyeah record is kind of a combination of all of that.
Dime knew the importance of every aspect of playing the guitar.
'The Will To Survive' is a great track.
I don't have any kids.
I've been married to music my entire life. I've been dedicated to it. I know what it takes to do it. And ever since my brother has been taken from me, I feel like I have to live for both of us.
I remember, in 1999, when we did the last Ozzfest that we were part of, and I think Disturbed was on it, Static-X, obviously Ozzy, us, and we were the only band on the tour that had a rider that had any alcohol. Nobody else had it.
My playing is always just a little on top of the beat. I can't lay down the kind of groove that Brad Wilk can. I'd really have to lay back to do that; it just doesn't feel natural to me.
People ask me all the time, 'Why don't don't you ever do drum clinics?' And my reply is always that I like playing music; I want to play with a band.
I think there's a lot of death metal or doom metal dudes that somehow or another find a groove in it.
Tommy Aldridge is the guy that made me wanna play double kick, man.
