Reunited Power Trip Has Been Getting Heat for Touring with Pantera
You’d think that as a metal band hailing from Texas, the prospect of opening for any version of Pantera would be a no-brainer. And I’d imagine for the surviving members of Power Trip that’s what they managed to achieve when they accepted the opening position for Pantera’s upcoming European tour.
Yet there’s been a bit of a backlash online, as fans of the band have begun calling Power Trip out for associating with Pantera when the band’s late frontman Riley Gale expressly said he didn’t want to get involved with Phil Anselmo.
The consternation comes from the fact that Gale had expressed his distaste with the idea of working with Anselmo in any capacity following the now infamous “white wine” incident where Anselmo shouted “white power” and performed that all-too-familiar Nazi salute during the 2016 Dimebash event. Anselmo later tried to play that off like it was some stupid fucking in-joke about the white wine he said he was drinking backstage. (Though he apparently wasn’t drinking white wine…)
In a 2017 interview with the Toilet Ov Hell podcast — which you guys should absolutely listen to because they’re hilarious as hell — Gale made his feelings known about Anselmo, revealing that Power Trip had been asked to tour with Superjoint Ritual at one point but they turned it down.
“Superjoint Ritual asked us to go out… It was hard, it was hard, but you know what? It was one of these things where you know it was only a year ago since Phil got busted seig heiling on camera. And one of the guys from Pig Destroyer — I believe it was Blake — he plays in a band with Phil, and he was there, and he kind of explained what Phil was doing was actually being sarcastic, he was trying to address the hecklers.
“But you know what? He’s done some really… He’s done some stuff that made us too uncomfortable. And I didn’t want to go out there and feel like I needed to be the guardian for Phil Anselmo regarding his politics. And I certainly didn’t want to come out there and end up disagreeing and then being on tour with a band that hates us for our politics for the next few months. It was a really hard thing to turn down. I would love to see what Phil really is like as a person.
“I believe that he probably is a good person at the end of the day. And we’ve toured with Eyehategod and Jimmy Bower is a pretty good guy. So it was one of those things where, do we want to… It more so had to do with his fans that kinda follow him around. Do we want these sort of lower income, kinda trailer trashy metal guys who just worship Phil Anselmo, do we want them to be exposed to our band, and then maybe become associated with a scene or a group of people that we don’t necessarily agree with.
“So it was tough. I would love an opportunity to maybe play with Phil and get to know him as a person. But to commit to a five-week tour with a guy who has done and said some questionable things that we don’t agree with was something that we just kinda said wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth the risk. We didn’t need the tour, as cool as it would have been. Power Trip didn’t need to go on tour with Superjoint Ritual.”
Sounds pretty definitive to me. So naturally, that interview, as well as one he did with the Chicago Tribune a year later, pretty much spells out that Gale would be against this sort of arrangement without actually getting to know Anselmo. Fans are now online questioning the band on social media about why they’re willing to work with Anselmo and the rest of Pantera now that Gale’s gone.
As of this posting, Power Trip hasn’t responded to the criticisms from fans. It’ll be interesting to see if they ever actually address the issue or if they’ll just head out on tour and collect their bag.
European Pantera Tour Dates
Jan. 21 – Helsinki, Finland – Ice Hall [Tickets]
Jan. 23 – Stockholm, Sweden – Hovet [Tickets]
Jan. 24 – Oslo, Norway – Spektrum [Tickets]
Jan. 26 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena [Tickets]
Jan. 28 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live [Tickets]
Jan. 31 – Ljubljana, Slovenia – Arena Stožice [Tickets]
Feb. 1 – Ostrava, Czech Republic – Ostravar Aréna [Tickets]
Feb. 3 – Budapest, Hungary – Budapest Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 4 – Kraków, Poland – Tauron Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 6 – Hamburg, Germany – Sporthalle [Tickets]
Feb. 7 – Berlin, Germany – Max-Schmeling-Halle [Tickets]
Feb. 9 – Düsseldorf, Germany – Mitsubishi Electric Halle [Tickets]
Feb. 10 – Brussels, Belgium – Forest National [Tickets]
Feb. 12 – Bologna, Italy – Unipol Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 13 – Zürich, Switzerland – Hallenstadion [Tickets]
Feb. 15 – Paris, France – Adidas Arena [Tickets]
Pantera U.K./Ireland Dates:
Feb. 18 – Glasgow, UK @ OVO Hydro [Tickets]
Feb. 19 – Leeds, UK @ First Direct Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 21 – Dublin, Ireland @ 3Arena [Tickets]
Feb. 23 – Birmingham, UK @ BP Pulse Live [Tickets]
Feb. 25 – London, UK @ OVO Arena Wembley [Tickets]
