We’re Bummed That Phil Anselmo’s Memoir Is Kaput
Phil Anselmo is a dude whose life I would definitely read about. Having slowly grown from ultra-confrontational to thoughtful and hilarious, he’s a dude whose journey I think could teach metalheads a lot.
Alas, when we talked to Phil last week on The MetalSucks Podcast, one thing he mentioned was that he’s no longer planning to publish his memoir, Mouth For War: Pantera, Pain, & Pride – Heavy Metal Highs, Drugged Out Lows, & The Battle For My Life, in part due to lasting hurt surrounding the death of his co-author Corey Mitchell.
Phil said the following:
You know what? Here’s my take on it… After reading Rex’s book and then all that’s been said and whatnot about Pantera, I don’t wanna do it right now.
…with Corey—rest in peace and bless his heart—we’re gonna continue on with the horror festival in his honor, because he was the hardest worker and… he was a tremendous believer in the horror fest. So, really, out of our union and supposed work and the book and whatnot, really, it was the horror fest that came out the truest and to be the most real and in-common thing that we had with each other: the love of horror films and extreme music. I think that was a lot more fun for him to do than any of the bullshit we did with the book. We didn’t even get past… barely past puberty as far as talking about the fucking book…
It feels like doing a book is going backwards constantly—backwards, backwards, backwards—and it just doesn’t feel noble, it doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t feel true to me. What feels true to me is moving forward in life and doing different shit and doing creative shit and being the best asshole I can be moving forward, you know. Fuck it.
If you missed it, listen to the podcast here.
If you ask me, Phil’s got the right idea. It’d be one thing if, like Rex Brown, he wasn’t doing too much musically, but between Down, the Superjoint revival, Phil Anselmo & The Illegals, and producing bands like King Parrot, Phil’s got plenty to occupy his time. A memoir should be written when there’s not too much left to do but look back on a life, and it seems like Phil’s got miles to go before he sleeps.
So while it’s disappointing that we won’t get Phil’s book, it’s also understandable. In the meantime, let’s hope another interesting metal star decides to write their story. In the meantime, listen to the podcast below, with Phil’s commentary on the memoir starting at approximately 24:20.
