I think they might have gone heavier, but Pantera would have never happened the way it did.
GW Is it your belief that had Phil Anselmo not joined Pantera they would have been a very different band? Then, when Phil became a creative part of the band in terms of writing, that pushed it over the top, and you got Cowboys. But after Power Metal he started coming into his own and getting into the whole hardcore scene. And of course, prior to Pantera, Phil had been in a bunch of glam bands too, so he had that same background as the other guys. It was written with the old singer in mind. I wasn’t there for the recording of the album before it, but as far as I know that record was conceived pre–Phil Anselmo. O’BRIEN It was definitely a lot of Phil’s influence. What do you think sparked such a drastic leap? GW Cowboys from Hell signaled a massive change in direction from Pantera’s earlier glam-metal records. That’s the whole thing! That’s gonna be your nickname for the rest of your lives. And Mark and I were like, “You gotta be kidding. And I remember at one point there was talk that they didn’t want to include the song on the album. I didn’t have a role in the making of it, but I would go down and sit around and watch while they were recording. GW You were in the studio with them during the recording of their major-label debut, Cowboys from Hell. And they all said, “Well, we thought that’s why you were here!” And that was it. O’BRIEN I went backstage after that show and begged them to let me be their manager. GW What was your first meeting with the band like? By the second song I said to Mark, “I’ll do anything to manage these guys.” Dimebag and Rex were flying all over the stage, Phil was taking leaps off the drum kit, Vinnie had the unbelievably fast double-kick going. Pantera hit the stage and it was total pandemonium. And the place was jam-packed-there were probably a thousand people there. If nothing else, I’ll get a nice dinner out of it! We went to see them at Dallas City Limits, a bar with pool tables. He said, “You gotta see them live.” So I thought, What the hell, I’ll go. O’BRIEN Mark Ross, who worked in A&R at Atco, asked me to go down to Dallas with him to see the band play. But I do have this new group I’d love to have you manage-Pantera, from down in Texas.” And I went, “Oh, no, no, no. Derek said, “I don’t really want to sign a band that’s been around the block a few times.
Now, around 1989 I was working to get one of my other bands, Metal Church, a new record deal, and I went to see a friend, Derek Shulman to see if he was interested in signing them. Power Metal was a little better, but they still had the yellow spandex and stuff, and it wasn’t my cup of tea. Obviously, Dimebag was a great guitar player, Vinnie was a great drummer and Rex was a great bass player, but the frontman at the time just didn’t do it, and the songs just didn’t do it. The band was very glam, and they were in spandex, and I just didn’t think that much of it. And I would always say no, because basically the records were terrible. When the band was putting those first few independent records out, pre–Phil Anselmo, they would send me copies and ask me to manage them. WALTER O’BRIEN It’s actually a funny story. GUITAR WORLD How did you come to manage Pantera?
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