Swedish guitarist Ola Englund published a video on his YouTube channel and talked about Pantera, their tribute tour, and Zakk Wylde accompanying the band’s remaining members.
Englund commented on the backlash Wylde is getting and defended him:
“Zakk is getting a lot of flak for how he’s handling the Pantera tribute situation. I think it’s incredibly unfair because he’s doing a kickass job, in my opinion.”
Ola also shared his opinion about what would late Dimebag Darrell think about Zakk’s performance, as fans criticised the guitarist for not resembling Dimebag enough:
“[In] my personal experience, from all the stories I’ve heard about Dimebag… getting the vibe from him, I think Dimebag would want Zakk to approach this just as he [has]. I think Dimebag would think that it would be weird, to see Zakk completely imitating him to the exact note. No, I don’t think he would’ve appreciated that. He would’ve appreciated seeing what Zakk is doing right now.”
About the negative comments online, Englund said:
“Zakk is getting a lot of flak online, but at the same time, it’s just online. People are going to the shows, people are seeing it, they’re loving it.”
In another interview, Dimebag Darrell’s guitar tech Grady Champion talked about the criticism Zakk was getting. He expressed:
“I hate all those internet ‘experts’ expecting Zakk to clone Dime note for note, sound exactly like him, use his guitars, blah, blah, blah. So many people think that’s the way to go, but it’s not. That’s not what this celebration is all about.”
Ola previously talked about the Pantera tribute tour with Zakk, who recalled the process of him joining the tour, stating
“Phil called me up. And then one night, he was just like, ‘Zakk, I was talking with Rex, we’re thinking about doing it, we were wondering if you wanted to honour Dime.’ I was like, ‘Of course, man.’ How could I have said no?”
Pantera is still on tour with their next show scheduled on July 13 in Wisconsin. You can check the dates here.
You can watch the whole video below.
