Rex Brown, Guitar World, June 1996

Look behind most great guitarists and you're sure to find a great rhthym section. Jimi Hendrix had Noel Redding; Eric Clapton, in Cream, had Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce; Eddie Van Halen has his brother Alex and Michael Anthony...and Dimebag has Vinnie Paul on drums and Rex on bass.
"They are as solid as a rock and it makes for one hell of a foundation," Darrell gushes. "They've been jamming together since the tenth grade, and they definitely have their own formula. They're a fucking machine. I'm real thankful to be in a band with what you would call a real bass player -someone who's a solid motherfucker who doesn't try to be a star."

GW: How do you view your musical role in Pantera?

Rex: Bass player. (laughs) That's what I do. I just try to keep that low end as firm as I can with Vinnie and make sure that Dime's got a beer in his hand at all times!

GW: Dime's guitar sound is incredibly bottom-heavy. How does this affect you when you're dialing in your tone?

Rex: We shot for a lot more mid-range on this record for that very reason. Dime's low end is real fat coming off tape so we had to compensate for that. We wanted that 900hz to 2k region good, solid and punchy because Dime's guitar is dipped so much in that area. Boosting the mids definitely gives my bass more cut in the mix -it's more in your face.

GW: Did you keep any of the guide tracks that were recorded when Vinnie laid down his drums?

Rex: Yeah, some of my "guide" tracks were kept. We went back and listened to what I did to see whether we liked it or not. Then, depending on what kind of microscope mood I was in at the time, we'd keep certain things and redo others. If I'm in the mood to get it real good and goddamned tight, I'll sit there and fuck with it for a while. The entire bassline on "Floods" is straight from the guide tracks. It's everybody's favorite so far, so maybe I should keep doing that! That song is all fingers, too.

GW: The majority of your playing is done with a pick though, isn't it?

Rex: Yeah. With this style of music fingerpicking just doesn't cut it. You don't get enough initial attack off a string with your fingers unless you use a real "twanky" tone. And I'm not real crazy about "twanky" bass players. I only fingerpick slow shit.

GW: Have you changed your setup at all for this album?

Rex: No. We tried a couple of different SVT setups but they didn't work out, so I went back to what I used on the Far Beyond Driven tour-Spector Basses, SVT IIP preamps, Crest 8001 power amps and SVT 8x10 cabs.

GW: You've also got a SansAmp PSA 1 in the studio. Did you use that as well?

Rex: Yeah. We recorded a direct track as well as the miked sound of the cabinets. Then, when we mixed, we ran the DI tradck through the SansAmp to get a really dirty sound that we worked in. We got a good straight-ahead bass tone happening by mixing the amp and the straight DI tracks together, and then we ran the dirty channel over the top.

GW: Pantera's forte is definitely live performance. Do you find it hard to get motivated in the studio when you can't feed off the audience's energy?

Rex: No. We still have our alcohol and our weed, so we're fine!