Vinnie praises UK audiences

Vinnie Paul says UK and European audiences "live and breathe" metal while American crowds see it as "here today, gone this afternoon."

The Hellyeah leader and former Pantera drummer believes European fans are more likely to follow and support a band as opposed to many US fans, who he says are more interested in downloading a group’s hit song.

Paul tells Manchester Rocks: “Back in the day, there really wasn’t much of a difference. However, these days, Europe and the UK still lives it, loves it and breathes it. It’s a part of their culture and their lifestyle.

“If you dig metal, you can still have that faith and belief in it in Europe, and the metal bands will always have a place to play here, because the people will never forget. Whereas in the US, it’s very much, ‘Here today and gone tomorrow. Here today, gone this afternoon.’

“It’s just so driven by the people trying to get that one song they want off the internet, instead of buying a record and following a band. So the fans in the US still get it, but I don’t think they touch what goes on over here in Europe and the UK.”

Hellyeah released fourth album Blood For Blood earlier this year. The band sacked bass player Bob Zilla and guitarist Greg Tribbett before recording the record, replacing them with Kyle Sanders and touring guitarist Christian Brady.

Despite the sacking, Hellyeah frontman Chad Gray says he and Tribbett could get back together again to kickstart Mudvayne at some point in the future.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.