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BLACK TOOTH GRIN
THE HIGH LIFE, GOOD TIMES, AND TRAGIC END OF
“DIMEBAG” DARRELL ABBOTT
Zac Crain
Da Capo Press
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
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Copyright © 2009 by Zac Crain
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crain, Zac.
Black tooth grin : the high life, good times, and tragic end of
'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott / Zac Crain.
p. cm.
Includes discography.
ISBN 978-0-306-81524-9 (alk. paper)
1. Abbott, Darrell. 2. Guitarists—United States—Biography
3. Rock musicians—Biography. I. Title.
ML419.A04C73 2009
787.87'166092—dc22
[B]
2008040662
First Da Capo Press edition 2009
Published by Da Capo Press
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
www.dacapopress.com
Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk
purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other
organizations. For more information, please contact the Special
Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut
Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145,
extension 5000, or e-mail [email protected].
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TRACK LISTING
Introduction: Blink of an Eye vii
SIDE ONE: METAL MAGIC (1966–1988)
1 AND THE CRADLE WILL ROCK 2
Born Country and Western, Raised Heavy Metal
2 HEAVY METAL RULES 18
“Diamond” Darrell Lance, Dime Bags, and Life on
the Road
3 FLAMING YOUTH 29
Brothers from Another Mother
4 RIGHT ON THE EDGE 41
Rita Haney, Ride the Lightning, and Philip Anselmo
BONUS TRACK: THE ART OF SHREDDING 57
The “Dean from Hell”
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iv – CONTENTS
SIDE TWO: COWBOYS FROM HELL (1989–1995)
5 BECOMING 62
Cowboys from Hell, by Way of Hurricane Hugo
6 A NEW LEVEL 76
“Metal Gods” and Other Monsters of Rock
7 RISE 94
From Skid Row to Spacewalking with Ace Frehley
8 DOMINATION 107
The Heaviest Album to Hit No. 1 on the Charts
BONUS TRACK: BY DEMONS BE DRIVEN 130
Devil’s Night, Dime’s Night
SIDE THREE: THIRTEEN STEPS TO NOWHERE (1996–2000)
9 YESTERDAY DON’T MEAN SHIT 136
The Highs and Lows of Rock and Roll
10 PLANET CARAVAN 151
Endorsements, Existentialism, and Endless Nights
11 PSYCHO HOLIDAY 159
Rebel Meets Rebel, Hockey Players, and Strippers
12 GODDAMN ELECTRIC 167
Don’t Call It a Comeback
BONUS TRACK: THIS LOVE 178
Good Friends and a Tray of Shots
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CONTENTS – v
SIDE FOUR: NEW FOUND POWER (2001–2004)
13 SHATTERED 184
The End of Pantera
14 HOLLOW 190
“Dr. Dime” Starts Over
15 REBORN 202
The Abbott Brothers Concoct a Damageplan
16 BREATHING NEW LIFE 207
On the Road Again
17 SHEDDING SKIN 222
Grinding a New Axe and the Birth of Krankenstein
18 SLAUGHTERED 227
Alrosa Villa, December 8, 2004
19 CEMETERY GATES 246
A Raucous Farewell to a Cowboy from Hell
BONUS TRACK: LIGHT COMES OUT OF BLACK 251
The Legend of the “Black Tooth Grin”
Epilogue: I’ll Cast a Shadow 261
Tributes, Lawsuits, and Riffs from the Great Beyond
Acknowledgments 267
A Darrell Abbott Discography 269
Selected Bibliography 273
Notes 277
Index 283
About the Author 303
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Introduction
Blink of an Eye
This was the boring part of Mitch Carpenter’s job, telling assholes
like the guy in the red Pontiac Grand Am they couldn’t park their
cars wherever they felt like it. If one were to break it down, what
Mitch did, it was like being a glorified hall monitor sometimes.
The Grand Am had pulled to a stop next to the fence border-
ing the patio area at Alrosa Villa. The low-key, stucco-sided
building had been hosting heavy metal shows in Columbus,
Ohio, for more than three decades. Albert Catuela and his wife,
Rosa—hence the name “Alrosa”—opened the club in 1974 and
just about every hard-rock band worth a damn had graced (if that
word was appropriate) the stage since then.
The driver of the Grand Am, a burly six-foot-something with
a shaved head, had been heading for Alrosa Villa’s front door,
probably in search of tickets for tonight’s show. He’d have to
wait. Mitch turned him around and made him move his car.
Mitch walked back to his post in the parking lot. It was only
9 P.M., but he’d already been working for almost three hours.
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viii – INTRODUCTION
Having his brother, David, here with him, working security in
the parking lot, too, might make the time pass a little quicker,
but it didn’t do a damn thing about the weather. If winter wasn’t
here yet, it was at least close enough to count. Maybe later he
would duck inside, get out of the chill, and check out some of the
show. Two of the guys from Pantera were in a new band that was
headlining tonight and—wait.
Christ. Now the red Grand Am was parked by Alrosa’s sign,
which, besides marking the club’s location off Sinclair Road, also
happened to be a no-parking zone. Dammit. What did he want,
valet parking? Mitch waved the driver away: “Hey, can’t park
there either.” The beefy guy at the wheel nodded and—again—
eased out of his illegal space without putting up a fight.
Maybe it was going to be one of those nights, a trying shift
that found Mitch having to practically hold everyone’s hand like
a kindergarten teacher. Or maybe not. Maybe it would be a bor-
ing night, the kind you hope for when you work security. What-
ever. It was cold and getting colder. Yeah, he’d duck inside for a
bit later, just inside the door. At least he’d be out of the wind.
Mitch noticed the Grand Am’s misguided owner was heading his
way. Looked like he ended up parking across the street. Why
couldn’t he have just done that in the first place?
“Hey, buddy. You OK?”
“Yes, sir. Sorry about that.”
AARON BARNES was the last guy left on the tour bus tonight,
which wasn’t unusual. The Abbott brothers, Darrell and Vinnie
Paul, hall-of-fame hell-raisers for more than two decades, liked
to be out among the fans, buying shots and posing for photos.
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INTRODUCTION – ix
Barnes had been with them almost the entire time. The only
thing the Abbotts, and Darrell in particular, liked better than
having a good time was making sure everyone else had a good
time, too—whether they wanted to or not.
It was a few minutes after 10 P.M., and the show was about
to start. Then there would be an after-party, because there was
always an after-party, and Barnes wouldn’t be alone again until
he hit the sack, whenever that happened. Definitely wouldn’t be
for hours.
There wasn’t much time to enjoy this rare moment of solitude,
but no one really got into the music business for that anyway. It
was time to go to work; Barnes, the band’s sound engineer, was
needed inside. He stepped off the bus, locking the door behind
him, and turned into the face of a muscle-bound man in a Colum-
bus Blue Jackets jersey with a hooded sweatshirt underneath. He
was bald, or close to it anyway, and anxious about something.
The Columbus Blue Jackets fan wanted to know if the Abbotts
were still on the bus, or if they’d already made their way inside the
club. Barnes wasn’t surprised by the question. People always
wanted to hang out with the brothers, before and after the show,
and they were rarely turned away. That wasn’t exactly standard op-
erating procedure with most bands, but it was in the Abbott camp.
Barnes told him the brothers were already backstage, preparing
for the night’s gig. He shrugged off the missed opportunity, a los-
ing lottery ticket bought with a dollar he found in the street.
“See you inside,” the big man said, and walked away.
LIKE MOST rock-show audiences, the crowd that night was
acting as a human motion detector. Any hint of action onstage
Description:Black Tooth Grin is the first biography of Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, the Texas-bred guitarist of the heavy metal band Pantera, who was murdered onstage in 2004 by a deranged fan24 years to the day after John Lennon met a similar fate.Darrell Abbott began as a Kiss-inspired teenage prodigy who w
