Star-Telegram.com spoke with former Pantera tour manager Guy Sykes in the wake of the death of drummer Vinnie Paul, who passed away on June 22nd at age 54. Following is an excerpt from the story.

Guy Sykes, who had a long tenure as Pantera's tour manager, had known Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell Abbott, the Arlington-raised founders of the metal band, since they were teens. On Saturday, for the second time, he attended one of their funerals.

"I've known 'em since about 1982," Sykes said in a phone interview Saturday night, hours after the funeral for Vinnie Paul Abbott, who died June 22 at age 54 (an official cause of death has yet to be determined). "You can't really separate one without talking about the other. You can't talk about Vinnie without talking about Darrell, and not just because they were brothers. Their bond was stronger. It was music, their passion for music."

Sykes was Pantera's tour manager from 1986 to 2003, and worked with Damageplan as well. The '90s were peak years for Pantera, when they were one of the most popular metal bands in the world, but Sykes' association with the brothers starts well before then, when they were a bar band developing a loyal North Texas following.

"I can remember the first time I met them," Sykes says. "I was just out of high school. Back then, the drinking laws were a little more liberal in Texas, I think the drinking age was 18 or it had just turned 19. I had a job a job as a bartender at this place called the Rock of Texas in Denison. ... One weekend we had this band booked in called Pantera, and — amazing."

Between Pantera, Damageplan and Paul's time in Hellyeah, the Abbotts left a legacy that Sykes says will continue.

"Even after the loss, Vinnie and Darrell's spirit lives on," he says. "I always see a Pantera shirt. It makes me smile that younger kids who never got to see the band live get to know the music like I got to learn who Black Sabbath was when I was a kid, 15, 20 years after the first Black Sabbath record."

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