Jason Bittner – An Xperience Interview

Jason Bittner – An Xperience Interview – by Jason Skinner.

December 8th, 2004 is a day that will live in infamy amongst the metal community. On that fateful day, an iconic guitarist by the name of Dimebag Darrell Abbott was murdered on stage in front of his fans and bandmates. A few days before, his band Damageplan visited the Capital Region to perform a show of epic proportions.

Pantera officially broke up in 2003, leading guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott and his brother and bandmate Vinnie Paul to start another band named Damageplan. Once established, Damageplan released an album titled “New Found Power” and vigorously toured. In the fall of 2004, they were scheduled to tour with Shadows Fall and the Haunted.

Jason Bittner, drummer of Shadows Fall, stated, “One of probably the top five tours I’ve done in my entire touring existence, which is now going on 30 years.” He said, “The whole tour was great. Obviously, Dallas was insanity because it was the home of Pantera. It was epic!”

A local radio station announced a Christmas show at Northern Lights in Clifton Park, NY, with Damageplan and Shadows Fall – a date that wasn’t on the original touring schedule but was added on along with a few other shows leading to the holidays.

Bittner stated, “The only reason the Haunted wasn’t at Northern Lights is because the actual official tour ended the day before, in New Jersey.” And that, “We came back up to Northern Lights because we’re going back to Massachusetts.” He also said, “Damageplan was coming back this way because they’re going to Texas, they’re going to play some shows on the way back home. So we did this Northern Lights show together.”

Once the night of December 5th, 2004 commenced, the onslaught of stage antics began, with Dimebag at the forefront. Equipped with what would be goods from a Spencer Gift store, Dimebag hazed Jason and Shadows Fall during their performance, shooting silly string and baby powder out of an air gun at the band mid-performance.

“So first of all, he sneaks up behind a monitor, and he’s just hanging out watching us play,” Bittner recalled. “Just something about the way he was; like, I don’t trust him right now. So then I felt this gust of air over my shoulder. So now I can’t see him because he strategically placed himself behind the monitor. Then, over my head, over the monitor, comes the gust of wind, followed by this shower of baby powder that has now encompassed me and my drum set. He’s behind there, laughing his ass off, and when I realized what’s going on, the silly string comes out. Then the rest of them are on the side of the stage, and they’re just dousing the shit out of us with silly string. I still have a cymbal that I have up on my memorabilia wall from my kit off that tour, and I left the silly string on it.”

Once Shadows Fall was finished with their performance, the stage crew started to set the stage up, and Damageplan began their set. Performing most of their new album in the first half of their set, they started playing Pantera classics, getting the crowd in an uproar. At one point, they invited Jason onto the stage to play drums. Unbeknownst to Vinnie Paul, Jason was backstage preparing for this moment.

A few days leading up to the event, Bittner stated, “I said to Dime, I got this idea. I don’t know if your brother is going to get upset. I was going to dress up like your brother in Albany and come up and play ‘Walk’.”

“Dime just starts cracking up, he looks at me. He said ‘you absolutely have to fucking do that. He’s not going to get mad.’”

Backstage, preparing for the ordeal, Jason and his bandmates found it hard to compose themselves for the occasion.

“I was standing in the dressing room at Northern Lights. I was trying so hard to put the electrical tape on my face, I was laughing so hard; every time I’d look up in the mirror and see the rest of Shadows Fall, Jon’s crying behind me. We’re just like, this is ridiculous, it was so good,” said Bittner

Bittner was welcomed to the stage dressed like Vinnie Paul with a bandana tied over his head, Damageplan work shirt on, and (of course) the black electrical tape on his face to portray the iconic Vinnie Paul beard.

“When you see the Mini Paul footage, when they flash over, and he looks over and sees me there, there’s a quick moment where he just rolls his eyes real quick and was just like, ‘Oh you motherfucker’,” said Bittner. “Pat (Lachman) dubbing me ‘Mini Paul’ was what made it magical. We had no idea that was even going to come out of his mouth.”

After the guitar solo in the song “Walk,” Jason handed the sticks back to Vinnie Paul. Vinnie then finished up the song and, eventually, the set. An absolute banger of a show. By the end of the show, it was more of an actual party than a rock concert. Being front row, it seemed like you were living within one of the 3 Pantera Home Videos, but nothing lasts forever.

Jason said that the show was “bittersweet.” He stated, “We said our goodbyes during the day. [Dime] had been asking me for a pair of sticks for like 10 days, before the tour ended. He’s like, ‘Hey! Make sure you give me a pair of your sticks before the tour is over.’” Jason then told Dime, I have something better than that!” Then he proceeded to give him an 8” Splash cymbal before the end of the tour.  Due to prior engagements Jason was unable to hang around after the show at Northern Lights was over.

“I was pissed off I had to go to jury duty the next day.” And he stated, “I can’t believe I can’t stay here and hang out and party,” Bittner said. “This is bullshit!”

Jason got all his equipment packed up and was rushing out of the venue. Everybody had plans to see each other at the Guitar NAMM show in January, only a month away. Jason located Darrell at the bar and went to say farewell.

“I remember vividly, I walked up to the bar, and he was holding court with people. I walked up to him, and he was like, ‘What are you doing?’ I’m like, I got to go. I got jury duty, dude. He gave me hugs and he’s like, ‘I’ll see you at NAMM.’ Kissed me on the cheek, and that’s it. That’s the last thing he said to me, so I remember it well.”

A couple of days later, on December 8th, 2004, at the Alrosa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, a gunman stormed the stage during the intro to Damageplan’s set and opened fire on Dimebag Darrell, killing him instantly. A total of four people were killed and multiple injured. The gunman was killed by an off-duty police officer. The metal community mourned the loss of Dimebag for years to come.

Bittner exclaimed, “I’m not trying to maximize this or make it bigger than it was, but for me, and for the metal community, this is like saying, ‘Yeah I remember where I was when Kennedy was shot.’”

On the day of Darrell’s memorial service, emotions were high. It it well-known that Eddie Van Halen famously placed his original Van Halen II guitar in the KISS casket with Darrell. But what was not known, under the blessings of Rita and Vince, is that they chose to place the 8’’ Splash cymbal in the casket, that same one Jason had previously gifted to Dime.
Bittner disclosed, “I walked up to it [the casket] and I literally collapsed to my knees sobbing. And then Vinnie Paul picked me up off the ground and brought me over to the pew and I said, ‘I can’t believe that’s in there (referring to the cymbal next to Dime),’ and Vinnie said ‘I told you man, he loved you.’” Jason said he was “like, totally, blown away.”

Bittner said, “We didn’t know those guys for long. Like we had met them in passing before. They could have been the biggest rock star pricks, but they weren’t, they were just these awesome guys from day one.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Damageplan and Shadows Fall show at Northern Lights. A show that will go down in history as one of the last performances from Dimebag Darrell. This show was extra special for myself, because I was in the front row and in front of Dimebag for the shows entirety.

If you would like to see footage of this show, Shadows Fall’s “The Art of Touring” DVD has a dedication to Dimebag, and the video of Jason playing “Walk” dressed up as Mini Paul.

When asked, “Did you receive any real advice from Dime and Vinnie before they passed?” Jason replied, “Yeah, keep doing what you’re doing, and make sure you have fun while doing it.”

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