Vinnie Paul - Drum Solo Artist

Vinnie Paul

Vinnie Paul (Vincent Paul Abbott) was born on Wednesday, March 11, 1964 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He is a heavy metal drummer and producer.

His unique style of drumming involves the standard heavy metal use of two bass drums, but generally with more complex rhythms and dynamics than is the norm for the genre. Vinnie also incorporates elements of progressive rock and swing into his playing.

Vinnie is the son of Jerry Abbott, a country music songwriter and producer and the brother of the late Dimebag Darrell, a heavy metal guitarist. His professional musical relationship with his brother often earned them comparisons to hard rock musicians Eddie and Alex Van Halen. Vinnie formed the critically and commercially acclaimed heavy metal band Pantera in 1982 with Dimebag Darrell (guitars), Rex Brown (bass), and Terrence Lee (vocals). They made three albums before recruiting vocalist Phil Anselmo to replace Lee in 1988. By 1990 the band had been signed to Atco records and released Cowboys from Hell which proved to be the band's turning point.

In 2001, Revolution Is My Name off of the album Reinventing the Steel was nominated for a Grammy award in the Best Metal Performance category.

Anselmo eventually left Pantera to devote his energies to a side project. While between bands, the brothers teamed up with country artist David Allan Coe in a project called "Rebel Meets Rebel".

Eventually the Abbott brothers formed the heavy metal band Damageplan, along with tattoo artist Bob Zilla (bass) and former Halford guitarist Patrick Lachman (vocals). Damageplan recorded one album, New Found Power, which was released in February of 2004. On December 8, 2004, while on tour to support the album, Dimebag Darrell was gunned down onstage by Nathan Gale.

Vinnie currently has endorsement deals with Pearl drums, Sabian cymbals, and Vic Firth drumsticks.

Drum Set Configuration:

8x14 Wood snare, 14X14 Rack Tom, 15x15 Rack Tom, 18x18 Floor Tom, 24x24 Bass Drums (x2)

Cymbals:

14 AA Rock Hi-Hats, 18 AA Rock Crash, 20 AA Chinese, 19 Hand Hammered Rock Crash, 19 Hand Hammered Rock Crash, 22 Hand Hammered Power Bell Ride, 20 AA Chinese, 14 AA Rock Hi-Hats, 19 AA Rock Crash,

Vic Firth Sticks:

American Classic Rock.