Vinnie Paul Used to Follow Sevendust on Tour Just to Party Every Night

Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose says Pantera's Vinnie Paul Abbott was not only one of his biggest influences but one of his best friends. 

Rose says he was devastated when he learned the news of Vinnie Paul's sudden passing over the weekend. 

Rose recently shared some of his best memories with Paul on Eddie Trunk's podcast. Rose said Paul and his brother "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott were such good friends with Sevendust that the brothers once followed Sevendust around Texas in a tour bus just so they could hang out together every night.

"When we would tour through Texas — I remember we were in Lubbock — and all of the sudden, here comes a tour bus," Rose recalled. "I'm like, 'Who's tour bus is this?' And it's Vince and Darrell in a tour bus with [engineer/producer Sterling Winfield], and I'm like, 'Oh, this is not good; they're not on the bill.' They got their own bus and they're coming off the bus...they're like, 'We're rollin' with you guys through Texas.'"

So the Abbott brothers and their producer would keep the party going on their own tour bus 24/7 in the wake of Sevendust's tour. 

"I remember just me and [guitarist Jon Connolly] on the bus with them...we would just ride with them sometimes through Texas, following our own tour on their bus," Rose said. 

In the days following his passing, Paul has been remembered by friends, fans and contemporaries as a kind-hearted man, who always wanted those around him to have a good time. Rose says his experience with both Abbott brothers was the same.

Musically, there was no band like Pantera, and no drummer like Vinnie Paul, Rose said, counting the band as one of his biggest influences. 

"It's a joke," Rose said of what Paul was capable of doing at a drum throne. "I tried to get him to tell me what was going on, and he never wanted to tell me, you know? That was the mystique. He's got his thing...[It's] is a totally different groove. The kick drums are ridiculous. It was him and Darrell. These brothers come in and wipe the floor with everybody. They just killed everybody. And they continued to get better at it." 

Rose says Sevendust's sound is a direct result of what Pantera started doing with heavy metal in the '90s. 

After learning of Paul's death Saturday morning, Rose shared a photo of the two of them, writing that his heart was "broken in half," but that he took comfort in knowing Paul was going to be with his late-brother Darrell. 

"Thank you for everything you did for us," Rose concluded. "You changed our lives."

Sevendust is on tour through the winter, supporting its latest album, All I See Is War. Get all the tour dates here. 

Photo: Getty Images