11/24/25 Page 9
Before very longtime HardRadio friends PANTERA became one of the most iconic metal bands, they were just a "family band" of teenage kids building their own stage in a Texas garage, as REX BROWN - bass player and epic storyteller, puts it. But that was all about to change when he met a "skinny skater kid with a perm" named Darrell. In this exclusive clip from Icons on Gibson TV, bassist Rex Brown reflects on the early days of Pantera and how everything changed when he met Dimebag Darrell, and how he and the rest of the band came to discover their would-be vocalist Phil Anselmo. He remembers watching Dime disappear into his room with Diary of a Madman and Van Halen, and coming out a "prodigy dude" who made Rex feel like he had to up his musicianship to keep up with him. Phil moved in and didn't leave for three years. In that time, the band went from opening with cover sets to selling out 3,000-seat venues with their own songs—leaving the world of cover songs behind and going on to eventually dominate the heavy metal music scene. "We were probably the hottest little band in Texas," Rex says, and when Philip joined, "it went next level." This is the untold story of how Dimebag and Phil joined Pantera from the man who was there from the start—Rex Brown. Watch below:
