Sometimes the most unlikely meetings present the most intense possibilities. And sometimes nothing’s more engaging than extreme opposites, with only their excellence and commitment to what they do as individuals, creating a whole new realm of reason.

Pummeling. Undulating. Propulsive. There is something about forces of nature merging that is as relentless as it is powerful. And so it was that Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, along with Pantera bassist Rex Brown, calling themselves the “Cowboys From Hell” joined forces with hardcore country iconoclast David Allen Coe for what would come to be known as Rebel Meets Rebel.

Captured at odd and off periods in each entity’s recording and touring schedule beginning four years ago, this wild child hybrid is a labor of love, passion and shared good times. With thrashing down strokes, intricate solos and Coe’s far-flung vocal attack, this is a seamless musical synthesis that exists beyond the realm of any genre, format or label. That’s what makes this one of the most exciting projects to come down the pike in a long, long time.

“Dime and I had been talking about this in interviews practically since we started making music with David,” says Paul in his easy-going, aw-Hell humility. “People were wondering when or if they’d get to hear it. We wanted to make sure we got Damageplan established. We always knew this music was special, it was just a matter of the right time to put it out.”

Hard to believe something that could hit with the force of Rebel Meets Rebel came about in such an off-handed way. Certainly Pantera fans were more than familiar with Coe’s hard-drinking anthem “Jack Daniels If You Please” from the no-nonsense band’s warm-up music… but it wasn’t until Dimebag decided to take in a Coe show at Fort Worth’s legendary honky tonk, “Billy Bob’s” that the seeds were sown.

“Once I saw the videos, I couldn’t believe this guy actually stood in the autograph line after the show with all the fans,” Coe acknowledged of their first meeting. “I mean, he could’ve identified himself to someone, told them who he was and been brought right backstage, but that wasn’t who he was… and I liked that immediately.”
A few weeks later, Coe was scheduled to be in Dallas and the pair decided to hook up and see if there was any magic. “Darrell was like, ‘You oughta come out to the house, get in the studio. Let’s jam.’”

Paul remembers Coe stating, “‘You guys are the heavy metal outlaws as I am the outlaw to country music. We gotta get together and write some songs.’”

“None of us had a clue, especially because he was a fucking legend, ya know? So when we first hooked up, we were really, really serious. Then we got drunk and that made everything good.”

Laughing, Coe, one of country music’s original outlaws along with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Paycheck (who took Coe’s “Take This Job (And Shove It)” to #1), picks up the story, “We were always drunk, which made the collaboration so intense. Looking back, it seemed like every 15 minutes that first day, they were bringing shots in.

“Dime was so musical. I’ve been into all kinds of music my whole life. But his musical knowledge was so much more advanced than mine. It lets you go places I couldn’t go on my own.”

“When it came to the gift of music,” Paul picks up. “my brother got it. He was the king of that shit. So when we got in the studio, we did what we normally do: started riffing, playing and the music really amped him (DAC) up. He was there, writing lyrics and then said, ‘Gimme the damn mic… It’s MY turn!’

“David was REALLY going for it. Me, Dime and Rex had written songs together for a long time, but he was like a whole other level. Having played the kind of heavy, heavy metal we were doing, we didn’t get to branch out as much as musicians. This let us open it up, show our Southern roots, the other kinds of rock & roll we grew up on.”

With one listen to “Nothin’ To Lose,” the way the sirens scream, the guitars whipsaw and burn the melody, the throb of the bass and the crash of drums, there is a frenetic rhythm that is far-flung, the product of people challenging each other’s limits and sense of what the other can do.

“I am a gambler/ I’ve been around/ I’ve lived it up/ Now I’m living it down,” snarls Coe as the track takes off in a burst of sparks and fire. And from there, there’s no looking back.

As the fearless vocalist says, “I think Vinnie was surprised at me as a writer, that I could just sit there and focus like that. But when you’re working with music this intense, you wanna go as far as you can, but you also want to maintain your standard.”

As a man who’s always been the extreme truth of working people, Coe more than maintained his quality. The ominously thudding “No Compromise” is the kind of brutal reality that draws a line in the sand – and stands by it, while “Get Outta My Life” brought the whole of the brothers’ musical experience to a boil.

“Dime always had a couple ways he’d solo,” explains Paul. “There’s the balls out, go for it, just shredders… there’s the theme leads, which were almost songs within the song… and then there’s the pure melodic leads. The lead on ‘Get Outta My Life’ really stitched it all together and showed what he could do. It’s one of his best leads ever in my opinion.”

Certainly, it opened up the doors of influences. For Coe, whose full-tilt kind of country was always a challenge to the Nashville establishment, Rebel Meets Rebel allowed him to be against the grain as he wanted. For Dime, Paul and Brown, it gave them the freedom to explore rather than expand the music they’d already defined.

“We’ve got a lot of rock and Southern rock in it,” Paul says. “ZZ Top to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath, Zeppelin to Hank Jr. and David’s stuff, of course. It was just a wide, open playing field. It’s still hard – and it still makes you wanna get a beer and have a good time.”

Indeed, the title track is all about the thrill of jettisoning expectations and seeking the thrills wherever they are. Certainly for the foursome, a studio in Dime’s back yard provided ample room to romp.

And while there was never a definitive plan for the project - always a vague notion of “some day,” the music remained as vital as when it was recorded during the establishment of Damageplan. Still, with record companies being as they were, Coe had chalked the project up to good times and little more.

Coe, who’s served prison time and recorded the classic “You Never Called Me By Name” stated, “With Pantera being so hot when we got together, I knew this was ‘slim to none to never’ comin’ out,” referring to the project’s reality. “I knew they needed to establish Damageplan and this project was on the shelf, so when Dime got murdered, I figured that was that.

“What pissed me off was the fact that so many people acted like it was their idea to put Garth Brooks with Metallica, or whatever. But these guys, they’re the ones who really started it.”

That was that until Coe got a call from Dime’s girlfriend Rita, asking how he’d feel about the music coming out. “I said, ‘What ever you need. Let’s make this work.”

After years of rumors, the most speculated crossbreed of heavy metal and country is seeing the light of day.

“It’s amazing, man,” Coe says, “When music’s real, people will find it. It’s just music - unfiltered, raw music. It doesn’t come out of heavy metal. It doesn’t come out of country. To me, it’s good or bad… and this is obvious; it’s intense; it’s hardcore and it’s good.”

“Yeah,” Paul agrees. “Music is made for people to hear. Music moves people, makes’ em happy, makes’ em do things, motivates them. So many people take music waaaaay too seriously these days. That’s what I like about this record. It’s a fun record! This stuff makes you wanna grab a beer, start drinkin’ and have a good time.”