Former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach spoke to KNAC.COM about his decision to perform a cover version of Pantera‘s “Cemetery Gates” on his current tour as a tribute to the late, great Vinnie Paul Abbott. The singer said “We’re not trying to do ‘Cemetery Gates’ exactly the way it is on the record,” he continued “We’re trying to pay tribute to Vinnie, and the screams at the end — I’ll be the first one to tell you — I can’t do them exactly like Phil [Anselmo]. But I can do it pretty fuckin’ close! [Laughs]”
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He continued: “It’s my version — and even for any singer to get up in that register, I’m not doing it exactly like him but I am almost doing it like him. Y’know, that album [Pantera’s ‘Cowboys From Hell’] was recorded in ’89… And it’s two thousand fucking 18, so my voice can still get up in that area.
“We’re not doing that song for any other reason other than to pay tribute to our friend who died, and all of our friends loved Pantera, and there is no more Pantera,” he explained. “So, how rare is it and how cool is it to hear a band play fuckin’ Pantera? And my drummer Bobby[Jarzombek] was one of Vinnie‘s favorite drummers.”
Sebastian went on to say that “the saddest thing” about Vinnie‘s death is that “he loved living so much. If you had to pick a guy who loved life, it would’ve been Vinnie, because he always was rockin’, and it was just sad,” he said. “But he doesn’t get to enjoy his old age. He got wiped off the planet, and it’s not fair. He should’ve had the opportunity to be an old man and look at his scrapbook instead of fuckin’… y’know, just be a human being, and he didn’t get those opportunities.”