Hellyeah Drummer Vinnie Paul Loves the New Van Halen Album

The Van Halen reunion has made Vinnie Paul a happy man. Paul, who brings his own brand of musical magic to the hard rock community with his band Hellyeah, as well as his past body of work with Pantera and Damageplan, has called the new disc from Van Halen his favorite new record.

In a recent interview with Noisecreep, Paul talked about VH's ‘A Different Kind of Truth,’ saying, “I feel like I'm in high school again when I pop it on [laughs]. It just has that energy and vibe of their classic records.”

Paul also talked about meeting Eddie Van Halen, a musical hero to both he and his brother Darrell ‘Dimebag’ Abbott. Paul explained the bittersweet moment, saying, "We actually got to meet Van Halen right before the horrible events that lead to my brother's death." Eddie just happened to be visiting the strip club owned by Paul, and called him up to come hang out. "I meet Eddie and we start talking about music right away. After about 5 minutes into the conversation, he says to me, 'Man, I feel like I've known you for a lifetime. We have so much in common!'"

Years later, the music community would suffer an unbearable loss when Darrell ‘Dimebag’ Abbott was the victim of a heinous shooting at a Damageplan show. However, Dimebag took his love for Van Halen along with him when he was buried with one of Eddie Van Halen’s historic Bumblebee guitars featured on the inside of the ‘Van Halen II’ album. A true testament to the shared love for music and mutual respect Eddie and Dime had for each other.

Paul also hopes that some day Van Halen and Hellyeah will join forces for a show, or even better a tour, "We were supposed to play with them last fall, down in Australia, but the tour got canceled because they weren't quite ready yet."

Read Vinnie Paul's full interview with Noisecreep here.