10 Stars Of Rock & Metal With Famous Second Bands

The notorious vocalist was the controversial frontman for Texas based Pantera, who rose to the top of the metal tree throughout the first half of the nineties with their albums Cowboys From Hell (1990), Vulgar Display of Power (1992) and Far Beyond Driven (1994). Far Beyond Driven peaked at No.1 on the US billboard charts, and the band were soon playing some of the biggest rock shows in the world.

But Phil Anselmo had started to distance himself from the other members of the band, which was ultimately run by brothers ‘Dimebag’ Darrell (guitarist) and Vinnie Paul (drums). He started to find comfort away from the road during his downtime in his native New Orleans, where he was close friends with key players in the metal scene. And he would get together and jam with musicians such as Kirk Windstein (Crowbar), Jimmy Bower (Eyehategod) and Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity). The friends would record a series of demos that would eventually become Nola (1995), the debut album for what was initially the side project of Down.

In the latter years of Pantera’s career, Phil’s distance grew, and following the end of the band in 2001, he was able to concentrate on a number of new projects. He experienced renewed success by revisiting Down in the first decade of the new millennium, who would go on to tour extensively and release the records A Bustle in Your Hedgerow (2002) and Over the Under (2007).