Given the passing of his co-author Corey Mitchell late last year, Philip Anselmo (Down, Superjoint, ex-Pantera, etc.) has decided to scrap the current plans for his memoir, “Mouth For War: Pantera, Pain, & Pride – Heavy Metal Highs, Drugged Out Lows, & The Battle For My Life“. Speaking via MetalSucks’ podcast, he offered:
“You know what? Here’s my take on it… After reading Rex‘s book and then all that’s been said and whatnot about Pantera, I don’t wanna do it right now.
I’m 47 years old. I think I’m pretty open with the press these days; I ain’t got shit to fucking hide, and I tell my side of the story. And it’s, like, I’m an open book as it is—you could ask me fucking anything, and I’ll tell you the fucking truth. And that’s about that. And as far as my private life goes, my private thoughts, and this and that, I’m not so goddamn sure that I want the rest of the world knowing all my goddamn business. It’s, like, there’s gotta be some limit or line there.
So, with Corey—rest in peace and bless his heart—we’re gonna continue on with the horror festival in his honor, because he was the hardest worker and… he was a tremendous believer in the horror fest. So, really, out of our union and supposed work and the book and whatnot, really, it was the horror fest that came out the truest and to be the most real and in-common thing that we had with each other: the love of horror films and extreme music. I think that was a lot more fun for him to do than any of the bullshit we did with the book. We didn’t even get past… barely past puberty as far as talking about the fucking book.
So, like I say, man, I don’t wanna do it, but maybe somewhere down the line, hopefully, thirty years from now, if I’m that fucking lucky, or if I’m on my deathbed, then fuck it, I’ll speak and spout it out and tell everybody what the fuck and whatever. But right now, I’m not real interested in doing that. I’m more interested in writing new music and producing bands and moving forward.
It feels like doing a book is going backwards constantly—backwards, backwards, backwards—and it just doesn’t feel noble, it doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t feel true to me. What feels true to me is moving forward in life and doing different shit and doing creative shit and being the best asshole I can be moving forward, you know. Fuck it.”
