Paul Crook is a familiar name to metalheads from his days in Anthrax and to rockers for his work with Meatloaf.  Paul's latest gig is playing Brian May's guitar parts in the Las Vegas production of "We Will Rock You". 

antiMUSIC's Debbie Seagle interviewed Paul a few days after the tragic murder for a special feature on our sister site Rocknworld.com. While the main focus of the interview was on the musical, how Paul got the gig and Queen's influence, the conversation eventually turned to the senseless murder of Dimebag, who was a friend of Paul's. 

During their interview Paul told Debbie that Brian May is working to include a photo of Dimebag in the show during a sequence that pays tribute to rock icons that suffered untimely deaths. 

Debbie describes the sequence in her review of the musical. "Particularly moving is a sequence in the show when the song 'No One But You' is performed.  It is a beautiful tribute to all the rockers who died too young but gave so much.  Six huge plasma screens hidden in the darkness flash photos of these legends, making it look like they are looking in on the show and giving it their nod.  A finer tribute I couldn’t imagine, a respect for rocks roots and history."

Here is the portion of the interview where Paul discusses one of his favorite memories of Dimebag and the possible tribute. 

Paul Crook:  Oh Dimebag.  What an incredible person he was.  There’s a real funny story, we were on tour in North America and we were hanging out at a hotel.  We were in the hallway of the hotel sitting on the floor, on the rug.  I don’t know why, we were just sitting on the rug.  Had a bottle of Crown Royal, which was Dimebag’s favorite thing – whiskey.  And there were three of us.  It was me, Dime and his buddy Bobby.  And we started talking about the music biz and money and stuff and he says to me, he called me Kevorkian, Dr. Kevorkian.  He said “you know Kevorkian, I just hope that I have enough money to get a new liver when this is all over.”  And that’s Dimebag.  That was him. 

Debbie Seagle:  You know, if you’ve got the money, go for it!  Yeah, he’ll be missed.  I think we should put his name in the “Only The Good Die Young” sequence in the show. 

PC:  You know, I was talking to Brian about it, there’s that sequence in the show for" No One But You" when they show Randy Rhodes and Stevie Ray Vaughn and he’s going to do the best he can to get Dimebag in that sequence. 

DS:  Yeah, well, he belongs there.  That’s a fitting tribute. 

PC:  That song is completely different for me now when I play it. 

DS:  I’m sure it is. 

PC:  On Friday of last week, it’s the first time I played it after I heard about the shooting and I broke down up on stage up there.  I just lost it as I was playing it.

Let's hope that the producers do add Dimebag to the tribute sequence. While it is purely speculation, they may hold off a while so the tribute is taken in proper perspective as a tribute and not as exploiting the tragic murder. 

Click here if you would like to read Debbie's special feature review of 'We Will Rock You', including the full interview with Paul where he discusses the memorial service for Dimebag and how his murder has changed the metal community. 

more on Dimebag and Queen
 
 

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