Pantera's manager Kim Zide-Davis, who worked with Abbott 1994 to 2003, was overwhelmed by the news of his death. She told the AP she often told the guitarist he was "a living cartoon character."
"He would do things that you wouldn't believe a real person was capable of," she said.
She said there was a sweet and caring side of Abbott that many people never saw.
"Everything you saw from him was real. That was who he was," she said. "He lived and unfortunately died by his guitar. What you saw on stage was his enjoyment."
Abbott and his brother left Pantera in 2003 and formed Damageplan. In recent years, he also made recording appearances on Nickleback's "The Long Road" and with one of his influences, KISS' Ace Frehley.
*Quotes from the metal world via Maria Ferrero:
Doug Sabolick - A Life Once Lost
"A sad fucking day for sure, some miserable 20 something fuck killed a
legend. A man who inspired so many to rip and thrash. Pantera was and still
is my favorite group and Dimebag was the one who inspired me the pick up the
axe , the bottle and the joint and just fucking RIP! I remember being 13
years old and just blasting "Far Beyond Driven" all day long. Darrell was
who I looked up to, someone who did things on his own terms and still
succeeded!
"To the dumb fuck who did this I hope you rot in hell you miserable
scumbag!"
Phil Labonte - All That Remains "I don't know what to say the whole band is
shocked our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone!
Cory Brandon of Norma Jean - "I think it's insane and scary and most of all sad that this had to happen. how lame. hearing about this sort of stuff
pretty much pisses me off! Metal will miss that dude for sure. I liked him.
RIP "cowboy from hell."
Dan Jacobs - Atreyu
"It's a sad day when being such a good guitar player can get you killed.
Metal will never be the same."
Keith Buckley - Every Time I Die " There are alot of counterfactuals
involved in senseless deaths like that of Dimebags. What if it had been one
of our shows. What if there are more people than we know capable of such
atrocities. What if it had been me. But these "what-ifs" only come about
after a period of reflection. The more sincere questions are the most
immediate. Mine was this. "Why did Pantera break up in the first place".
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Aaman
Typo in my trackback - I'm evidently affected - it should be Darrell Abbott, not Vinnie Abbott. Personally, I was more a Pantera fan than Damageplan.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Marty, incredibly awful - both the Pantera and Damageplan sites seem to be down right now, overwhelmed no doubt
3 - Andrew Ian Dodge
Yes, no matter what you thought of either band, this is a terrible event. I was a great gig last night (review to follow) but my enjoyment has been a wee bit tainted by this tragic news. Whether a musician or a fan this is a very sad day for heavy metaldom.
4 - Aaman
Don Imus is playing Pantera right now on his show - he also notes that the gunman apparently had 'issues' with the guitarist
5 - Aaman
Andrew - were you at the venue?
6 - Andrew Ian Dodge
No, I was at the DSF/Girlschool gig at the Garage in London.
7 - bhw
This happened in Ohio, where I believe carrying a concealed weapon was recently made legal.
Great law.
8 - Eric Olsen
The Columbus NBC affiliate seems to be keeping up with the latest news here:
The shooting took place shortly after 10 p.m. at Alrosa Villa, located at 5055 Sinclair Rd.
A crowd of about 250 people was inside for a concert by Damageplan, a heavy metal band. Two former members of the band Pantera formed the group.
The band took the stage shortly after 10 p.m., and minutes later, a man, who was wearing a hockey jersey and hooded sweatshirt, began firing at point-blank range at least four times at guitarist Dimebag Darrell, NBC 4's Kyle Anderson reported.
Darrell Abbott, who was known as "Dimebag Darrell," was pronounced dead at the scene, NBC 4's Kyle Anderson reported. Police released the names of two others who died. They were Nathan Bray and Erin Halk, both audience members.
"(The gunman) came on stage, from the back, like he knew what he was doing and went straight to Dimebag Darrell immediately," an unidentified witness said."
The alleged gunman reportedly shot and killed another member of the band before firing shots into the crowd.
Columbus police were flooded with 911 calls from concertgoers right after the shooting. Some witnesses said the alleged gunman took someone hostage. Minutes later, a Columbus police officer entered the nightclub and shot and killed the man, Anderson reported.
9 - Eric Olsen
their video report, which seems to be only audio is here
10 - Andrew Ian Dodge
BHW, making a political point before rigor mortis has set in...classy mate, classy.
11 - bhw
Sorry, Marty, I don't let other people dictate when I can make my comments.
12 - rick
i submitted the story to ohioans for concealed carry. you can too here.
13 - Andrew Ian Dodge
Fair enough BHP.
But I am guessing the off-duty cop had a concealed weapon permit as well. He is the hero who took out this arsehole before he could any more people.
14 - Eric Olsen
I'm not sure if the officer was off-duty or not
15 - Andrew Ian Dodge
That is what Fox is reporting. They have the name of the guy now but no idea of motive.
16 - bhw
From what I read earlier this morning, the cop really did do an outstanding job.
17 - JR
The cop would have been carrying his gun even without the new concealed carry law; I'm sure he gets some kind of exemption. And the shooter would have been carrying anyway, because he was already planning to break the law. So the new law made no difference.
However, concealed carry laws do seem to promote guns as a valid tool for conflict resolution.
18 - Temple Stark
Is it kind of weird that I deleted "This Love" from my iTunes playlist yesterday morning? Why, yes it is.
I read somewhere else about this and wasn't 100 percent sure that it was the Pantera guy. The Reuters story I saw didn't mention Pantera.
So I came here to see if there was anything. If not, I was going to post. But there was and it answered my question.
Ohio seems to be the place for high-profile mass shootings.
19 - D.B.Cooper
This happened in Ohio, where I believe carrying a concealed weapon was recently made legal. Great law.
This crime had NOTHING to do with that law. I am going to take a wild guess (though I know I am right), and say the shooter Nathan Gale had no such permit. Blaming this crime on concealed weapon laws in Ohio is blaming the state rather than Gale, a demented fuck with a damn death wish.....
20 - Craig Lyndall
Ohio seems to be the place for high-profile mass shootings.
Was that a callback to Kent State or something?
Also, I don't like the conceal and carry law just because I don't really do the gun thing anyway, but this crime was going to be committed regardless of some conceal and carry law. As I stated on my site, I want to know why this happened. I have been getting frisked at the doors of shows for a long time now and while that certainly isn't foolproof, they should be able to come up with a concealed weapon at the door check.
21 - Dawn
How horribly sad.
What JR and Craig said about the law and the crime going to be committed anyway is correct. Guns are pointless tools of destruction in the hands of anyone but law enforcement officials, but of course, that's because I believe that cops don't go around looking for excuses to kill people.
Thank goodness this police officer acted bravely and responded quickly.
I for one am glad the shooter is DEAD -that's one less useless asshole.
22 - Aaman
This moron apparently shot Dimebag because they broke up Pantera - and 'cause Phil did not join DamagePlan.
Also from the same post -
"There's some blood on my ticket stub, so I'm going to sell it on eBay or keep it or something. I know DBD is in heaven (or ripping some mad riffs in hell)."
Apparently another band member has also been killed
23 - Aaman
I just realized - December 8 was also John Lennon's death anniversary 24 years ago.
24 - Andrew Ian Dodge
Yes, ironic innit?
25 - Eric Olsen
though still not officially stated anywhere, it appears the other band member killed was the singer, Patrick Lachman