Stone Sour's Roy Mayorga says that his intentions are to help Hellyeah pay tribute to Vinnie Paul Abbott and he would never try to fill the legendary drummer's shoes.
Mayorga was recruited by Hellyeah's Chad Gray to play with the band when they launch a recent tribute show to the late Pantera icon back in May. He sat down with 101 WRIF in Detroit to talk about playing with the band and Vinnie Paul.
He explained his approach to playing with the band. "I'm just here helping him, and the band carry the torch, man. That's it. No filling shoes, none of that stuff. People are saying, '[Those are] some big shoes to fill,' but I keep saying, 'Look, it's not about filling shoes. No one can fill his shoes. His shoes are with him. And that's it. And I'm here just helping the band and honoring him.' And that's it."
Roy also discussed learning how to play Vinnie Paul's drum parts. "I definitely changed a lot, to the point where I even changed my setup a bit more. I'm using bigger drums than I normally do. The fronts of my drum kit changed a bit. I went from a size 12-13 tom to size 13-16 tom, just to get a bigger sound, 'cause his sound's f***ing huge. So, now my drums are like 13-, 16-, 18-inch toms. And, actually, you know what? I'm probably gonna keep it that way; it feels so comfortable. I'm, like, 'I should've done this a long time ago.' I'm even, like, starting to play with the back end of my sticks again, which I haven't done in years, and for this kind of music, it definitely calls for that. It's more simple - more punch and move, like a heavyweight boxer would do. With a little bit of gracefulness in between, but f***ing meat and potatoes bang that sh*t - hit that drum. Make it sing; make the room sing."
He also shared his views on what made Vinnie such a unique musicians, "The big thing, the real thing with Vinnie, it was about his feet. He had the sickest footwork I've seen on any drummer, ever. I mean, I think every drummer out there would agree with me that [Pantera's] 'Becoming' is probably his ultimate footwork. It's the weirdest thing. Like, he leads with his left foot on that, and all those double triplets on his right, it's backwards.
"In fact, I can remember, there was one time when we were on tour together, I was on my practice kit and he just happened to be walking past the dressing room, and I was playing 'Becoming', but differently and, obviously, wrong. He walked past my room and he's, like, 'Mayorga!' I'm, like, 'What, man?'. He always called me by my last name too. He's, like, 'What the hell are you doing?' I'm, like, 'Playing 'Becoming'?' He's, like, 'That's not how you do it.' I'm, like, 'Then please f***ing show me.' So he gets on my kit and shows me. 'It's the other way. It's like keeping the time with your hi-hat. Your left foot's gotta be keeping the time and your right's doing the doubles.' And he's breaking it down to me, like, really slow. And it's, like, 'Holy sh*t.' I still can't do it to this day. It's a mind-f***, man. Some people can do it. God bless you. I wish I can. I cannot, for the life of me."
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