Vinnie Paul didn't expect to live to old age, according to his longtime HELLYEAH band mate guitarist Tom Maxwell.
Paul, the late Pantera co-founder and drummer who passed away in June 2018 of a heart condition, made several comments over the years in which he expressed worry about how much time he had left.
Maxwell tells Midwest Beatdown that news of celebrity deaths always seemed to genuinely sadden Paul.
"Every time there was a death from one of our peers — the Cornells and everybody — he was always pretty taken aback by it," Maxwell recalled. "And he was always constantly checking his blood pressure. I just wish he would have went to the doctor sooner. Maybe they would have caught something. I don't know. 'Cause he was always really afraid that this kind of a thing was gonna happen, and it did. It's bizarre."
Paul completed recording the drum tracks for Hellyeah's forthcoming album, Welcome Home before his death. The album is due out September 27.
Maxwell says the band believes Paul would have wanted it to continue, noting how Paul started Hellyeah a few years after his brother "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott was murdered.
This spring, Hellyeah announced Stone Sour drummer Roy Mayorga would be taking over for Paul.
"The only thing we can do is keep the band and this music going, because it took a lot for him to will himself after Dime got shot and killed," Maxwell added.
"Vinnie was on a downward spiral — he was on a mission to join his brother. And we came along and kind of... He used to say we saved his life. And so I think if we were just to be weak and go, 'We can't do this anymore,' he would be pretty disappointed in us. Because he did it. And he was happy. He came out of it. So we have to kind of use that as an example."
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