Vinnie Paul on His Favorite Band, Van Halen

“Van Halen was and still is my favorite band of all time. Me and my brother always modeled ourselves after them. They were without a doubt our biggest influence. We had so much in common with them it’s unbelievable. The first time I met Eddie Van Halen we just hit it off. We had been talking for a brief time and he looked over at me and said, “I’ve only been talkin’ to you for fifteen minutes and we have so much in common I feel like I’ve known you a lifetime.” I laughed and just said, “You don’t know how much we have in common.” I always felt like Pantera was the heavy metal version of Van Halen. Without Van Halen, music would have never had charisma!”

— Vinnie Paul

And he loves their new album, too. “My favorite new record is ‘A Different Kind of Truth‘ from Van Halen. I feel like I’m in high school again when I pop it on [laughs]. It just has that energy and vibe of their classic records.”