Known as one of the originators of the “groove metal” sound pioneered by Pantera in the early '90s, Rex Brown leaves his mark no matter what band he’s playing bass with, often flirting with the guitars long enough to keep the riffs tight before throwing something unexpected into the mix. It helps that he also throws down some of the heaviest string bends this side of Geezer Butler.
Unlike most bass guitar players, at least those outside the thrash metal scene, Brown has been required to hone a precision-engineered picking technique over the years. This was largely thanks to the superhuman downstrokes of his late colleague Darrell 'Dimebag' Abbott.
“On some of the really tight songs that we did, Dime recorded guitar tracks on left and right and a double in the centre,” Brown told Bass Player. “So when we were rehearsing, we would turn the drums off. I'd play with him, just guitars and bass, which sounds weird – but that was how we got it so tight. Nowadays you could sit there and get it perfect with Pro Tools, but I'd rather get it right beforehand.”
Since the early Pantera days, Brown has become more focused on heavyweight jams, a radical departure in that the bass now has more space to move around. "Yes sir, and I've enjoyed that! These days I'll listen to the demo on the day we go into the studio, rather than cram myself with it. I just go off instinct.”
He adds: “I love the feeling of recording naturally, rather than bouncing around with Pro Tools and all that. I'm not into that. Sure, Pro Tools is a necessary evil at different times: you can always take those recordings off the floor and move them just a hair. Sometimes it makes sense to do them that way, but I would rather get it right the first time. I hate punching in stuff. If you don't have your basslines down, man, you shouldn't be doing what you're doing.”
Over the course of Pantera's celebrated 1990 major-label-debut Cowboys From Hell, and four more studio albums, including Vulgar Display of Power, Far Beyond Driven, The Great Southern Trendkill, and Reinventing the Steel, Brown refined a brutally fast style and a midrange-heavy approach that proved metal bassists didn't have to live in the shadows.
Dimebag Darrell's murder in 2004 put an end to Pantera’s 23-year career. But the wiry Brown – always restless, always working – has never been one to be idle. His discography includes stints with Down, in which he joined Pantera vocalist Philip Anselmo; Crowbar, which he produced; Alice In Chains guitar hero Jerry Cantrell; the Sepultura/Soulfly-related Cavalera Conspiracy; melodic Dallas rockers Arms of the Sun, and the hard-rocking Kill Devil Hill.
In December 2022, Pantera reunited for their first tour in over 20 years. The new lineup features guitarist Zakk Wylde and drummer Charlie Benante.
Fans may have noticed that Brown still wears protective tape on his fretting hand when playing live. This stems from a dog bite over three decades ago. “That injury is still there, and it's gonna be there forever, because my dog bit through the nerve. First I used Band-Aids on it, and then duct tape, but I started looking around for something tougher because those things didn't work.
“Back then we were playing arenas, and a lot of them were hockey venues, so I found this hockey tape: the kind that players put around their hockey sticks. I went through tons of that stuff: I found a really cool roll in Kansas that had skulls and crossbones on it! I usually wrap that finger in three layers of tape, and when I get off stage, which is usually after an hour and a half, that tape is worn all the way down to the very first layer.”
Over the years, Brown has come to personify the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, and he's got the stories, and the scars – as well as the hard-won sobriety – to prove it. His action-packed memoir, Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story of Pantera, co-written with Mark Eglinton, is chock full of tales about Pantera's off-the-charts debauchery, but it also serves as a cautionary tale about what can happen to four extremely driven people who reach every goal they set out to achieve.
