Zakk Wylde claims Dimebag Darrell has been sending him “signs” from beyond the grave about Pantera’s reformation and “willing it to happen”
“There’d be signs all over the place,” says Wylde.
![[L-R] Zakk Wylde and Dimebag Darrell](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Zakk-Wylde-Dimebag-Darrell@2000x1500.jpg)
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Zakk Wylde has spoken about the “signs” he’s received from the late Dimebag Darrell green-lighting Pantera’s ongoing tour.
Speaking to Ultimate Guitar’s On The Record Podcast, Wylde — who’s currently on the road with a reformed Pantera lineup featuring surviving members Philip Anselmo (vocals), Rex Brown (bass), and Charlie Benante (drums) — says that he ‘feels’ the late guitarist “all the time”.
“Even when we were getting ready to do the rehearsals, and they were just figuring out how we were gonna do this, there’d be signs all over the place,” says Wylde [via Planet Radio]. “Whether a licence plate that would be, like, ‘333’ [three being Dimebag’s favourite number] or I’d run into like a Dimebag licence plate in the middle of nowhere.”
“It was just like him just pushing this thing along, willing it to happen. So he’s just always around.”
He adds: “When we were in New York, just like signs, when we just did the Madison Square Garden my wife Barbaranne was, like, ‘Check this out.’ Something came up and it just reminded us of Dime, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’”
“Or we would look on our phone and it’d be ‘333’. It’s just these signs everywhere. And I could see Dime just doing it, going, ‘I hope these idiots realise it’s me sending these signs’ [Laughs].”
In related news, Pantera bassist Rex Brown recently shared his thoughts on the decision to reform the band now, stating that they’re not doing it for themselves, but “for the name and the brand Pantera”.
“Dime was a very unique guitar player, and he was my best friend, and it’s good to see those boys up on the screens and with us. And that’s what this is about tonight, for me,” Brown said [via American Musical Supply].
“There’s many ways that we wanna keep this legacy alive, ‘cause the music is still played all over. We have a whole new generation of fans that probably wouldn’t have heard this stuff if we weren’t out here playing these shows.”