"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott died in 2004 while performing in Ohio after he was shot by an obsessed fan named Nathan Gale who was reportedly angry about the breakup of Abbott's former band Pantera.
Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoDimebag Darrell playing with Pantera in 1994.
The death of Dimebag Darrell in December 2004 was a tragic day for the heavy metal community. Best known by his stage name, Darrell Abbott was considered one of the greatest metal guitarists of all time. He started the band Pantera with his brother, Vinnie Paul, in 1981, and over the next two decades, the group achieved worldwide fame. When tensions caused the band to splinter in 2003, the Abbott brothers went on to form a new group called Damageplan, and many of their fans followed them.
But just as they were getting started with Damageplan, tragedy struck. On Dec. 8, 2004, less than a year after the release of Damageplan’s first album, a 25-year-old man named Nathan Gale attended a metal show at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio. During the band’s opening song, Gale stormed onto the stage and fatally shot Dimebag Darrell. He also killed the band’s head of security, an employee of the venue, and a fan in the audience.
In the chaos that followed, the crowd fled from the nightclub. A few people rushed to the stage to help Abbott, but it was too late. There was no stopping Dimebag Darrell’s death, but Nathan Gale didn’t make it out alive, either. He was gunned down by a police officer after he took a hostage.
An investigation revealed more about how Dimebag Darrell died and the man who shot him. Gale was reportedly obsessed with Pantera and angry about their split, and some people believe that he thought Darrell was responsible for the breakup. However, because he was killed, Gale’s true intentions on the night of Dimebag Darrell’s murder may never be known.
Dimebag Darrell And The Origins Of Pantera
Music was an important part of “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott’s life from the time he was born. His father, Jerry Abbott, was a country music songwriter and producer who played guitar himself.
In a 2010 interview with Guitar World, Jerry spoke candidly about raising his sons and encouraging their interest in music. According to Jerry, Darrell initially wanted to be a drummer, “but Vinnie hogged ’em and wouldn’t give his brother a shot. So Dime decided he wanted to play the guitar. It was literally an overnight thing. All of a sudden we had another guitar player in the family.”
Rik Goldman/Wikimedia CommonsDimebag Darrell was considered one of the best metal guitarists in history.
Vinnie Paul would ultimately go on to play drums in both Pantera and Damageplan. And because of his father’s support, Darrell became a skilled guitarist. Jerry taught his son everything he could about the instrument. Even after Jerry and his wife, Carolyn, divorced in 1979, Darrell would “get on his bike and come over pretty darned regular.” By the time he was 14, Dimebag Darrell was winning major guitar competitions. In fact, he won so many that he was eventually asked to judge them instead so that other people had a chance.
The Abbott brothers’ shared love of music brought them closer together than ever before, and as they reached their mid-teens, they started playing songs together. They soon came up with the name “Pantera,” and their father began booking them gigs. They had no idea the band they were building would ultimately lead to Dimebag Darrell’s death.
How The Abbott Brothers Went From Pantera To Damageplan
Pantera began as a glam metal group, and they stuck with that genre for their first three albums. However, their sound eventually started to change, largely due to the departure of their original vocalist, Terry Glaze, and the hiring of their new singer, Phil Anselmo.
Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoA photo of Pantera in 1992. From left to right: Dimebag Darrell, Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown, and Vinnie Paul.
Shortly after Pantera released their fourth album in 1988, a record producer told Jerry, “Your band is too good. It does too many things well and it’s too diversified. They need to decide what they want to do. Do that one thing and somebody major will sign this band.” The band members began turning toward the heavier and more aggressive thrash metal genre.
Pantera did ultimately sign to a larger label, Atco Records, and went on to release nearly 20 more albums, several of which went platinum. They constantly pushed their sound further and further, and Dimebag Darrell stood out as both an exceptional guitarist and the band’s “life of the party,” as his brother described him. However, things started to fall apart in the late 1990s.
Lead singer Phil Anselmo developed chronic back pain and turned to alcohol and heroin for relief. His drug use began taking a toll on his bandmates. Anselmo would go on troubling rants mid-show, and the group’s live performances suffered. Eventually, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul had enough.
WENN Rights Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoPhilip Anselmo circa 2013.
“In the end, we felt it had gone too far and we really needed to do something,” Vinnie Paul told Metal Hammer in 2008. “I remember, Dime had made some demos, and Jerry Cantrell [Alice in Chains guitarist] was over. We were hanging out, pretty depressed. Dime took Jerry out in the car and played him the demos — which later became Damageplan — and Jerry said, ‘You need to move on and do your own thing.'”
They followed Cantrell’s advice, and Pantera officially came to an end in 2003. From the ashes rose Damageplan, and the new band released their first album in February 2004. Damageplan started touring to promote both the album and the group itself — but Dimebag Darrell’s death later that year brought the tour to a tragic end.
Dimebag Darrell’s Death And The Columbus Nightclub Shooting
On Dec. 8, 2004, Damageplan was set to perform at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio. As several other bands took the stage earlier in the evening, a 25-year-old man named Nathan Gale stood in the parking lot outside. The club’s manager eventually sent an employee to tell Gale to leave.
Gale didn’t listen. Instead, as soon as Damageplan began playing, Gale jumped over a six-foot-tall fence, burst through the venue’s side door, and rushed onstage. Just 90 seconds into Damageplan’s first song, Gale pulled out a gun and shot Dimebag Darrell in the head.
Rob Watkins / Alamy Stock PhotoFans around the world were shocked when they learned how Dimebag Darrell died at just 38 years old.
Witnesses recalled that Darrell was headbanging to the music as Gale approached him and seemingly didn’t even notice he was there until he fired the gun. The crowd was confused. Some people thought it was a hoax, while others began to panic.
Gale then began firing into the crowd. Damageplan’s head of security, Jeffrey “Mayhem” Thompson, tackled Gale before he was fatally shot. An employee named Erin Halk, who tried to restrain Gale, and a fan named Nathan Bray, who jumped onto the stage to help amidst the chaos, were also killed. At least three other people were injured.
The police arrived within minutes. Gale had taken a drum technician named John “Kat” Brooks hostage, but Officer James Niggemeyer bravely approached and killed Gale without harming Brooks.
The ensuing investigation revealed the disturbing truth about Nathan Gale. He was a former U.S. Marine who was discharged after just 18 months. Gale reportedly told the manager of a tattoo shop he frequented that he left due to mental health problems and that he was taking medication for his bipolar disorder.
The man who killed Dimebag Darrell had also made bizarre statements about Pantera. He’d been a fan of the band for years, but he once claimed that the group had stolen songs he wrote and he was going to sue them for it. He was also angry that Pantera had broken up, and he may have murdered Dimebag Darrell because he thought the guitarist was responsible.
Paul Soth/Wikimedia CommonsFans mourning outside of the Alrosa Villa nightclub, where Dimebag Darrell died.
Regardless of Gale’s motives, Dimebag Darrell died on the stage in front of his brother, his bandmates, and his fans. Vinnie Paul Abbott later recalled to Metal Hammer, “The last thing that really matters to me is the last thing we said to each other before we went onstage. We were warming up on the side of the stage like we always did and we were both really excited — we only had two shows left and we were gonna be going home for Christmas and to begin work on the second record.”
Vinnie Paul continued, “Our code word to let it all hang out and have a good time was ‘Van Halen,’ man! And that’s the last two words we ever said to each other. I said, ‘Van Halen,’ and he said, ‘Van Halen,’ and we high-fived each other and went on the deck to do our thing… and a minute-and-a-half later I’ll never see him again.”
After learning how Dimebag Darrell died, go inside the death of Quiet Riot’s Randy Rhoads. Then, read about the mysterious death of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones.
