When Dimebag was asked to join bands early on, as he once was with Megadeth for example, it was also always a package deal that included his brother Vinnie on drums. As a person, Dimebag never really changed even after having hit the big time.
He lived at his Mom's house long after he had need to, and was known to pay off all of her credit card bills whenever he returned home to Texas after a tour. By all accounts, Dimebag always treated fans and other strangers the same as he did his friends - especially when he had a few trays of shots in him.
Abbott's rise to fame with Pantera, from playing keg parties in Texas to headlining sold out arena tours and gracing the covers of guitar magazines is also recounted here in detail. As is the case with most rock and roll stories however, so is the band's fall - a messy breakup fought out in the pages of the music press between the Abbott brothers and former vocalist Phil Anselmo.
The final section of Black Tooth Grin finds the Abbott brothers back to square one - touring the country in a bus and playing club dates with their new band Damageplan. The arenas were long gone, but Dimebag's outlook remained upbeat right up until that fateful night in Columbus. He was the ever gregarious King Dime right up until the end.
Zac Crain's biography is a fast and thoroughly entertaining read - a definite page turner that I actually read through in a single sitting. For fans of Dimebag Darrell, Pantera, and heavy metal in general it's a must. But even if you never banged your head in the moshpit to "I'm Broken," Dimebag's story, like a good, stiff drink, is one you wont want to put down.
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